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| George Washington Out of Context, 2025 Geoffrey Sutton and Artspace.ai |
How Do You Interpret the News?
How Do We Put Today's News in Context?
When asked what something means, we usually respond based on our context, which involves an interaction between ourselves, other people, and our location. By location I mean our geographic place and our historical timeframe.
For example, the words ‘Civil War’ evoke different associations if heard in England or the USA, or through media from different nations. These two events occurred some 200 years apart.
There is a connection. President George Washington’s great-grandfather John Washington was a royalist who supported King Charles I against Parliament. Thus, context is not just about spatial location but also time. President Washington and the Continental Congress likely considered the issues of the Civil War (the English one).
When significant changes occur in a nation, as reported in the news today, we try to put them into context. Unfortunately, we all have different contexts, with various associations tagged with positive or negative emotions or a mix. Often, we respond to images, names, and words without much thought (system 1 thinking). It takes effort to examine a matter carefully before deciding how to respond (system 2 thinking).
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Each day, those who read social media posts and news are exposed to contexts linked to different perspectives on history.
Those of us who have lived several decades may well have different opinions when it comes to associations with specific people and concepts that have not crossed the news feeds of younger citizens.
Context is our current situation and our view of events in that context is influenced by our ever-changing worldview.
Suggestions
On matters of great importance, invest time to think carefully about what a proposed policy or law might mean for us and others. How does it fit in our context like the US Constitution or our local laws?
Religious people might consider their core values and ponder how those fit with a proposed policy or law. What does it mean to have religious freedom?
How does your context influence your views of some classic virtues?
If you value loyalty, are their conditions when you would end that loyalty?
If you value respect for authority, under what conditions would you act to replace that authority with another?
If you value equality, how do you intend to deal with factors placing people in unequal situations such as differences in family wealth, access to high paying employment, ability to perform exceptionally well in various venues like music and sports, or other endeavors where inequality is present?
If you value fairness, then explain what you mean by fairness?
If you value freedom, then how free are you willing to let someone else live without imposing your values on them?
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Here are a few people and concepts that may trigger quick, automatic emotional associations for some Americans. Factors like age, ethnicity, religion, political ideologies are likely to contextualize a response. A "blank expression" may be the response of those lacking a stored context. Others may have a context "injected" by friends or relatives.
Communism
Feminism
Racism
Russia
Hydrogen Bomb
Korea
Vietnam
Richard Nixon
Bill Clinton
Birmingham, Alabama
Little Rock, Arkansas
Freedom of speech
Freedom of the press
Freedom of Religion
China
Constitutional, Unconstitutional
Ukraine
Christian
Muslim
Atheist
9/11
You get the idea.
Resources
Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is www.suttong.com
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Dr. Sutton’s posts are for educational purposes only. See a licensed mental health provider for diagnoses, treatment, and consultation.
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