Resisting the allure of simple solutions in a complex world

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/07/2024 (473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I was sitting down to dinner with my family when the notification popped up on my phone: “Trump shot at rally in Pennsylvania.”

As news rippled outward from the rally, I was caught off guard by what I hoped to read in that news story. Like many, I find Trump repulsive and irredeemable, but an impulsive desire for his suffering was intrusive and disturbing.

Am I someone who wishes harm on others? Is there an upper limit to human cruelty that suggests a point of no return from righteous condemnation?

Turning to social media, I saw many sharing similar uncharitable thoughts toward the former president of the United States. Wishing for a simple solution to the perversion of democracy south of the border, the anonymous violence of a would-be assassin was being discussed as a missed opportunity.

It’s human nature to want solutions that restore harmony in our lives, that provide some sense of control. It’s these so-called simple solutions that have propelled Trump’s ideas toward success in the first place. To address immigration complexities, the simple solution is to build a wall. To address the complexities of abortion decisions, the simple solution is to outlaw the procedure. To address the complexity of gender diversity, simply ban education about it.

During the pandemic, convoy protesters, at heart, craved simplicity and familiarity. They were willing to sacrifice their own humanity and the dignity of others in the process, but the root of their protest was a desire for peace and predictability, to return to a time when health decisions weren’t so complicated, nor so dire. And in their callous expression of this desire, they themselves were judged simply, condemned as out of touch and uneducated: something to be deleted.

Closer to home, in the debate about searching a landfill for the victims of serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, saying no was simple. Saying yes, when the process will be expensive and difficult and the result uncertain, is complex.

More recently, we heard news of a child sex trafficking ring in Portage La Prairie. The online response to this news was generally that those arrested should be flayed in the public square without trial: another simple solution to an overwhelming issue.

So much can be seemingly accomplished simply by deleting our problems instead of addressing them with compassion and curiosity — but doing so also deletes our own humanity and the deeper responsibilities of being human.

We crave this simplicity because the road less travelled feels impossible in these times. We’re exhausted by the constant pressures of battle — conflicts at home, internationally, even in our own bank accounts. We long for easy-to-follow rules to navigate these strange times.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Head Start

Weekday Mornings

A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day.

Sign up for Head Start

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

But truly, if we are to defend the democracy that leaders like Trump disfigure, we need to regard simple solutions with more skepticism.

We must cling to complexity, even though it’s hard. We must hold faith that those in power can do the right thing. We must vote. We must write letters to the editor of the newspaper, to our MLA, our MP, our city councillor. And we must commit to the work of carefully untangling the complicated knots that face us.

The dust has not yet settled in Pennsylvania. The news stories will continue to present us with layers of complexity to sift through. We’ll be tempted to use simple terms to describe our emotions around the events. But solving complex problems with a gunshot, a wall, a ban, denies the complexity of humanity’s diversity.

We can begin to talk ourselves back into compassion, back into real solutions for tough problems, and back into a world where we truly care for one another.

I will not rush to panic. I will not jump to conclusions. I will not declare any act of humanity as the end of it all, not the actions of Trump, nor the man who shot him, nor child traffickers, nor serial killers. Not because I owe any of them an ounce of my own humanity, but because we all owe it to one another.

Rebecca Chambers

Rebecca explores what it means to be a Winnipegger by layering experiences and reactions to current events upon our unique and sometimes contentious history and culture. Her column appears alternating Saturdays.

   Read full biography