Did you have a nice holiday? How did it rate on a scale of one to five? Joined by relatives? How would you rate them?
Have you noticed lately how often we’re asked to broad-brush complex answers with a simple numeric rating?
I subscribe to a Web-based service that mails us movies. With every movie returned, I’m polled for my one to five rating. The fewer the choices available, the harder it is to respond. I pick No. 5 rarely; I think “Casablanca” was the last one. Five proclaims perfection and closes the door to something better coming along. No. 1 is so low it’s insulting, and I don’t wish to be unkind (but “Spiderman 3” really stunk). That leaves No. 2- No.4 and little room for subjectivity.
Schoolteachers are limited to A, B, C, D, F, so why do I have difficulty? But teachers sidestep the problem by using pluses and minuses to take the edge off the bad news and temper the good news. Assuming no teacher’s so heartless as to assign an F-minus, that still leaves 14 grade options.
Our busy society has many reasons to reduce the complexity of evaluation and opinion to a set of clean statistics. Hair color is black, brown, blonde, red or gray. Of course, there are thousands of hair colors, but who needs that detail?
When my performance has been rated, say, after giving a presentation, my attention goes to the comments people write, more than the statistical summaries. When someone takes the time to express their viewpoint in writing, you know they’re thinking about it, and that has value.
Still, I wonder how much commentary reaches the people in charge. Occasionally the office of an elected official will say something like, “Of the 2,500 letters and phone calls received about Proposition B, the pros are leading the cons 62 percent to 38 percent.” Is there nothing, no hypothetical situations or extenuating circumstances, located between pro and con?
I empathize with the passionate citizen working hard to express herself to her congressmen in the form of a long letter. But instead of gleaning the passion, one-of-a-kind perspective and maybe the brilliant idea within the letter, some congressional junior staffer quickly scans, concludes “con,” and advances the tally. Sad.
Americans form an extremely influential statistic by answering the question, “Do you feel things in this country generally are going in the right direction, or do you think things seriously are off on the wrong track?” It’s just not that simple.
Maybe not with movie ratings, but this oversimplification comes with a price. Too many Americans chose George Bush because he seemed likable. Sadly, that evaluation substituted for understanding his track record, experience and philosophy.
It’s no surprise that we pay closer attention to superficial factors such as churchgoing, hunting, haircuts, sound bites and birthplaces. It’s harder, but more important, to understand a candidate’s experiences, opinions and tangible proposals for tackling specific issues. I confess I can’t figure out my own health insurance let alone the umpteen proposals for universal health care. But I must.
By making smart choices this year, we can restore decency and hope to our government, both locally and nationally. Therefore, on a scale of one to five, here’s my No. 5 for 2008: Study the choices in-depth, ask probing questions and formulate opinions. Then, make choices based on belief and knowledge.
