"It is
difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon
his not understanding it!"
While true up
to a point, this seems both incomplete and partly off the mark.
In some cases
there is a lot more than a salary at stake, and it may be less a matter of a
man’s not understanding something than of his understanding it only too well
but refusing to accept it or admit that he knows it.
If someone did
accept or admit that they know and understand an inconvenient truth, they might
be expected or forced to do something about it. This might entail taking a
stand; it might mean the loss of their existing role and plan of action; it
might mean the loss of acceptance, credibility, any chance of promotion and
even their professional reputation.
Ignorance
really is bliss in many cases.
The first step in solving a problem is to admit that it exists. If someone will not understand or admit that there is a problem, they need not do anything about it.
Bureaucrats
often have a vested interest in not listening and in refusing to discuss matters.
I have experienced this many times myself.
Now that I
understand what is behind it, I no longer blame myself if I can’t get through
to someone. I have stopped thinking that I must have not made myself clear,
that I must not have been forceful or persistent enough or that I didn’t
provide sufficient information and examples.
It is not me, it is them; they just don’t want to know.
I now try to
determine exactly what is at stake for the other people in these cases. If, in
spite of all I have learned, I ever again get the feeling that I am up against
a brick wall when dealing with someone, I will know that there is something I
need to understand, accept and admit to knowing no matter what the implications
and the cost.
Upton Sinclair’s
quotation has often been paraphrased and re-worded. This is the original
version:
