This and That

A variety of blog/vlog post titles, including many of my own, use This and That; I'd like to share some of my thoughts about that briefly.

Context is something that is unavoidable, and is also unique to every individual, at every given moment.  You are continually gaining more context for things, and also shaping your existing context.  Without being able to assume a universal context for something, it can be difficult to talk accurately about it.  This is where having a comparison or lens to approach the subject becomes a little more useful.

Using another something to compare or contrast with your original subject provides a few parameters to "frame" your subject, and hopefully give direction and "effective limitations" to the context of the argument or discussion.  The world is complex, and I feel as though providing a boundary for the conversation helps enforce the idea that there is much more that can be discussed and considered valid- in other words, by saying "let's look at it this way", it arguably supports a notion that you could "look at it that way".
Note: This touches on an invalid argument that "good begets evil, right demands wrong", which does not accurately convey the complexity of human experience, our reality.

I think I have to cut that train short, because it becomes a difficult argument about open-discussion/free-speech against "empowerment by acknowledgement" and "agency by validity", which are difficult concepts but not wholly wrong by any means.  The world is complex, and any discussion can be difficult to navigate, and I think that brings me back nicely to the topic of the post, the usefulness of parameters for discussion.

Having a lens or frame for a discussion allows you to discuss something complex in a simpler way, but by nature presents itself as a limited view of the subject(s).  This is also useful because it takes a large, complex machine of context and gives you a potential sight into how that machine might work.  We do this all the time as we learn about the world around us - we use what we know to figure out what we don't, we compare, contrast, we observe and we create.

Just remember, you can never see the whole of something through any one lens.

Trot On Everypony,
Alturiigo