The Wolf Will Always Be Bad If We Only Listen To Little Red Riding Hood
Not everything we hear is true. We know it and, therefore, we have to accommodate ourselves to the uncertainty that this generates. Because we are aware that behind kind words, sometimes dark interests or clever manipulations are hidden. On the other hand, we also know that it is not good to confuse the truth with the opinion of the majority.
Classical philosophers such as Plato or Aristotle defined truth as that which corresponds to reality. Now, the real problem is that the truth is like a crystal with many faces that can be seen from different perspectives.
My truth will not be the same as yours, because I see the world through my personal experience, my emotions and my biases.
It is often said that “the wolf will always be bad if we only listen to Little Red Riding Hood” and, although it is true that it is not appropriate to consider an opinion as valid by attending to a single voice, sometimes a single person harbors a truth in himself authentic. It is necessary to know how to intuit and discriminate the simple noise of noble sincerity.
The haunting problem of truth in everything we hear
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a young Nigerian writer of success thanks to books like medium yellow sun . In many of his lectures he usually talks about an interesting concept that he has called “the danger of unique stories.”
Adichie comments on how disturbing it is to have to confront certain minority discourses capable of influencing the great masses on aspects that they do not even know. In his case, he must correct every day all those who think that Nigeria is just a country of lions and giraffes, inhabited by uneducated and savage peoples.
People often have the feeling that the ideas we hold and defend are THE TRUTH and that we have come to them freely. But, in reality , these psychological constructs are determined by assumed STEREOTYPES and by value biases acquired almost unconsciously by many of these “unique stories”.
It is necessary to know how to recognize all those imposed truths, those stereotypes that we have internalized and understand that our reality is made up of multiple points of view, voices and particular cases that contain in themselves the beauty of our world.
The power of small groups
We are sure that after reading these explanations you will think that the problem of everything lies in the weight of the large social groups ( politicians, the press, high organizations in the shadows …), those cause us to assume certain ideas as true when in reality they are not. altogether.
Now, the psychologists Tajfel, Billig, Bundy and Flament (1971) defined what is known as a minimum group to explain how many times our own family, friendship or work “microworlds” transmit their preferences, ideas and stereotypes to us. in such a subtle way that we are integrating them almost without realizing it.
The truth is within you
Thinking that the solution to our problems, as well as that the truth of all things is within us is, without a doubt, something difficult to assume. Our mind is full of prejudices, fears and limiting attitudes, intermingled in turn by that external noise that modern life brings us.
According to numerous ancient Greek texts, in the temple to Apollo at Delphi, a phrase that has endured over time was inscribed, but not on the monument itself. It was the following:
” Know yourself and you will know the gods and the universe.”
These wise words give us a clear example of what self-knowledge means : it is having a strong self-esteem to seek our own truth without falling into conformity. It is knowing how to listen and empathize to understand others as we understand ourselves, and thus understand the reality of everything that surrounds us. Without fear and with a critical sense.
The truth is only intended for the brave, for those of us who listen, for those of us who dare to ask and for those who, with a noble heart, wish to know the sensibilities of this world.
