Bathwatergate
It is easy to forget what we have achieved, how well we live, how interdependent we are on each other, and how fragile is our technological, ecological and spiritual civilization. When trying to solve problems, the danger is that radical and extreme solutions create far worse problems than they solve. When you are at 85% of optimal, it is hard to improve another 5%, but it is easy to fall 50% or more with bad or poorly implemented solutions, no matter how well intentioned. A Dark Age can be triggered. When making changes big or small, long or short, wide or narrow, we must remember that the most dangerous analytical mistake we can make is: –
Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater!
This is a very strange phrase! How could anyone throw out something so valuable, so loved, so important as a baby? The earliest record of this phrase is in 1512, in Narrenbeschwörung (Appeal to Fools) by Thomas Murner; and the woodcut illustration below shows a woman doing just that. Even 500 years ago, the concept was clearly understood, but how could it happen?
Consider the environment in which they lived. Acquiring water for washing was an arduous task. You only had one tub to wash yourself, your family, your dishes, and finally your baby. Clean was a relative term, and the phrase reminds us that in dirty dark water, it might be possible to throw out something of value that was hidden in it, so pay attention to what you do and :-
Do Not Throw the Baby Out with the Bathwater. We all know the phrase and what it means, but just as we had to invent an antonym for entropy, we need a word for this phrase because – There isn’t one! So, if you can invent a universally effective word that describes this concept, please send it to us, we will forward it to all dictionaries for inclusion, and credit you as its creator. So, do you have all the facts? In all this “dirty water”, are you well and accurately informed?
Is it possible you could act without first checking for the ‘baby’? The answer is:- ‘Yes You Could’!
How could you possibly be well informed when you have been overwhelmed all your life by talking TV heads pushing fear, anger, and discord? How could you not be beaten down by the columnists of carnage and catastrophe? This is brainwashing, yet it leaves you feeling ‘unclean’! When is the last time you were able to quietly stop, ask questions, gather and test information, filter credible facts, discover and discard hidden falsehoods, perform rational analysis, form an opinion, test it, arrive at a credible conclusion, formulate a plan of action and then implement it with efficiency and accuracy. I know I must fight long and hard to do good well, and it wears me out to wade through what turns out to be fake, not fact. In today’s turbid waters, clean is a relative term, and we need that ‘new word’ to remind us that progress requires careful measurement, analysis and planning. Antropy is Progress
