Are You Certain You're Right?

"The people on the extreme sides of such questions often seem very certain about the right answer. But some people would rather be certain than right."
-Bruce C. Hafen

I like this quote because it has a lot of truth to it. I think that the fear of being wrong partly stems fromt the fact that we are human, and simply don't like to be wrong. Period. The end. In other regards, I also think that we don't want to be wrong because the truth is hard; it hurts.

Take the situation of Person A currently dating Person B. Person A has dated Person C a period of time ago. Person A and Person C meet together and have lunch. Later that day, Person B asks, "Where were you at lunch?" Person A responds, "Oh I had some homework/meeting/work thing to attend to." Person B is certain Person A is lying, and yet tells himself or herself "There's nothing to worry about." This is a microscopic example of how people would rather be certain than right. Person B's intuition is that Person A is lying, but is so sure, so confident that person A would never ever lie to himself or herself. So he or she deludes himself or herself into the lie.

Although a small example, the same process occurs with bigger issues on a communal, national, even global scale. When the truth manifests itself, the world comes crashing down. We relise that nothing is what we want it to be, and more importantly how we think it should be. Although people usually laugh when the phrase, "the truth hurts," this statement really hits home. Unfortunately, sometimes there is more comfort in a lie than in a truth.