Not All Dichotomies

[minoanmiss]

are between good and bad.

So I was going to write one of my peripatetic rants about the Art vs Science Dichotomy. I sometimes wonder how many people think I'm on one or the other side. Seeing people denigrate science as soulless drives me mad. So does seeing people denigrate art as brainless. I love both and I think they synthesize awesomely.

And then the advice letter I wrote abuout in this post reminded me of another supposed dichotomy where I will passionately defend 'both sides'. Because really, beneath the SAHM vs WOHM* dichotomy is the question of whether a woman can rationally decide on a particular way to manage her family structure and her own happiness, or if we're incapable of such higher thought.

*[Working Outside the Home Mom]

And that's the thing about so many of these supposed dichotomies, isn't it? Someone loudly declares one side to be the one that owns all the sentience, and then defenders of the other side say "no OUR side is the meaningful one!" and we're off to the races.

I have no solution for this, of course, just annoyance. (I'm grumpy today.)

Comments

[alexseanchai]

counterargument: the SAHM vs WOHM dichotomy doesn't exist outside the context of the near-total non-existence of the SAHD vs WOHD dichotomy. also the gender pay gap and the assigning nurturing skills much more to one gender role than the other. if fathers were generally expected to give at least as much and at least as serious consideration as mothers are to being the stay-at-home parent, such that about half of stay-at-home parents were fathers…

[minoanmiss]

the SAHM vs WOHM dichotomy doesn't exist outside the context of the near-total non-existence of the SAHD vs WOHD dichotomy

word. so much word.

[sabotabby]

THIS.

[cellio]

There is too much "either/or" and not enough "both/and" in society. A world that lacked either science or art would be woefully deficient. Very few things are binary and exclusive. I wish more people acted as if they understood that.

[alexseanchai]

yeah, like, the sad thing to me about the scientific advances made possible by Jurassic Park and Interstellar and etc is nobody cared enough to fund that science until a big-budget movie wanted to be as accurate as possible about their art

everything else about that synergy is many kinds of delightful, it's just that both science and art are suffering from nobody (or nobody who has money) caring

[minoanmiss]

Yes, this is the essential issue that bugged me enough to write a cranky entry in my diary. Well phrased. :)

[sovay]

Very few things are binary and exclusive. I wish more people acted as if they understood that.

+3.

[lunabee34]

+4

[brooksmoses]

I read that subject line (including the continuation) and my brain immediately cross-referenced it to kiya's general strong opinions on the subject.

Following that cross-reference, I note that I am rather fond of the alternate view of dichotomies that one would get from the core dichotomy in Kemetic theology, which is manifestly between the red earth of the desert and the black earth left behind by the Nile floods, and is metaphorically between order and chaos. Live thrives only at the interface of these, at the point of right balance.

Art and science are totally a dichotomy of things that exist in balance. Even the purest of science cannot exist without the art of explaining the results to others, and even the purest of art cannot exist without the science of creating the media in which it is made.

(I was going to say that the latter was a little bit hyperbole, but it's not; even dancing naked uses our human bodies which would not exist in their current state without science.)

[minoanmiss]

You know, this response 1) taught me something and 2) made me feel a lot better not least by 1) teaching me something and 3) inspiring me. Thank you, a lot.

[brooksmoses]

Oh, lovely. Thank you for saying so! That gives me a happiness too.

[sovay]

I have no solution for this, of course, just annoyance.

I am in sympathy with your annoyance. Sometimes they aren't even dichotomies at all, but people so love to draw lines.

[annonynous]

Three (NOT two!) cheers for trichotomies.

Ann O.

[anna_wing]

And also, not everything is for everyone!

[minoanmiss]

I forget who said "if we all liked the same things what a haggis shortage there would be". :)

[amaebi]

Yup.

(Whispers *capitalism vs socialism*)

[princessofgeeks]

The world is full of false dichotomies. Humans seem very prone to creating them and of course the pop culture and new media that is shallow promotes it as well.

It's really restful for me to remember that they are indeed false.

HUGS

[lb_lee]

Look, I only read two types of comics generally, and one of them is nonfiction info comics, which includes science comics.

I have a stupid little comic/zine about the development of French lithotomy (surgical removal of bladder stones) and a piece of music inspired by the composer's own lithotomy, and it gives me delight every time. Science + Art = POWER COUPLE!

[stranger]

I read in an Asimov story (I'm sure he wasn't the first to say it) that the existence of a category of two things implies the existence of more than two -- opens up a dimension or a range.

[vettecat]

Very well said.