“I don’t know” has become a popular retort to many questions
asked to Republicans as of late. Now,
admittedly, in some contexts there that type admission might be refreshing. In
a world where everyone seems so certain, sometimes even arrogant about their
own certainty, the occasional acknowledgement of ignorance is nice.
But after two such statements by Scott Walker in one week,
with respect to evolution an Obama’s faith I am skeptical about this feigned humility.
It is said that above the temple of Apollo, where the Oracle
of Delphi resided, was the inscription “Know thyself.” A contemporary
interpretation of this might be: “Figure out who you are. Get to know your own
convictions, your own beliefs, etc.” But more than likely the Greeks would have
interpreted this to mean: “Watch your step. Know your own limits.” The former
interpretation exudes self-importance, pride, the idea that we are all unique
and the center of our own worlds. The latter: limitation, humility.
As has been well covered, this “I don’t know” of late is a
cynical cop out. It is the weaselly middle ground between saying “The theory of
evolution is inaccurate,” and “I am no longer interested in capturing my voter
base,”; between “Obama is a Muslim” and “I am no longer interested in capturing
my base.”
This cynical “I don’t know” is not really humility, alas,
but instead a hubristic attempt to “outsmart” the “liberal media” and to disarm
their “gotcha” questions. It would
really be refreshing if Republicans were at last to join the real the world, in
which things change, in which people are fallible, in which it is possible that
we could actually not know something because we understand that facts change,
as opposed to having blind belief in our own arrogant certainty. But if you
were to ask me if this is the case I would simply answer “I don’t know.”
