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Groupthink |
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Groupthink, Iraq, the Bush Administration, and WMD 11/20/05Once again my hat is off to one of my favorite of our "links for truth" - www.factcheck.org. Their latest article is called, "What Did Congress Know, and When?", and in a world where "truth" seems difficult to find, that site's reporting often seems the most objective available (my opinion only). The only commentary that I'd like to add to this article would simply be to underscore the central point of my book and my humble work. Conventional wisdom can be so very wrong! And when we latch on to it, perhaps due to any number of known causes including groupthink ("a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics " - according to Webster), or a need to validate our pre-existing views (which may or may not be correct), there can be serious consequences. In fact, even if WMD was not a primary rationale for going to war, there are still HUGE consequences of having fallen to the conventional wisdom that they existed. "Decisions through dialogue" is a mantra of mine. The best decisions come from intellectually honest discussions where independent, educated, dissenting opinions are welcomed and considered - based upon the merits of the arguments and the evidence put forth. (I strongly recommend "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki as scientific proof that diversity of thought is extremely powerful). No single human is immune to numerous cognitive illusions and tendencies for emotion-driven thinking. Not even a president. Not even his opponents. I have a serious concern that neither political party today is very interested in eliminating groupthink, and seeking truth (though I suppose politics has always been a tough place to find objectivity and intellectual diversity). But as for Iraq, the likelihood remains that many nations and intelligence services fell to the conventional wisdom that Saddam had WMD (for some seemingly good reasons). In the end, however, all were apparently dead wrong about the WMD. And yes, there are consequences to the action taken (though some argue it was not taken for this reason). Nonetheless, this entire mess, regardless of your political view, seems an unfortunate example of the critical point - there can be consequences to accepting conventional wisdom as truth - especially true when we take action based upon that "truth". |
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