wickedflea | maybe I'm part Canadian, eh (Reply)

I used to have a running argument with a friend of mine about a quotation we'd both heard or read -- something about being "paralyzed by the ability to see all sides of an issue." That's what I thought it was, anyway; my friend insisted that it was "cursed by . . ." I've never been able to find the quotation again, however, and I've no idea what it's from.

I do feel like that a lot, though -- reluctant to state an opinion because I can see other possibly valid viewpoints. It's a drag sometimes. Anyway, a passage in the Neil Young biography I'm reading mentions this very thing:

--Filmmaker, and Canadian, David Cronenberg feels there is a tendency to consider all sides of the story to the point of paralysis: "It's a Canadian thing, this balance. Up to a point it's virtue, beyond that it's neurotic."

I agree with that. There's something in Canada that teaches you that you always gotta look at both sides. See how other people could figure out why what you're saying is wrong before you're so sure you're right.

--Songs like "Rockin' in the Free World" or "Change Your Mind"--you think there might be something Canadian in the ambiguity of those songs?

Yeah. That's all it is, heh heh.
I don't really have the confidence to stand behind things that I say--because I really don't think I know that much. I'm not confident that I know what I'm talking about. That's better than somebody who's confident that they know what they're talking about and they're sure--because that leads them down a path. I never believe what I know is good or not, so I'm always scanning. Even the things I believe in the most, I doubt. And so when I see something that I've said, or hear it--it makes sense to me that I might not feel the same way the next time. Because that's the way I am.