The Year in Which Relativism Reigned Supreme (Reflection on December 2020)

Hey patrons,

The new year is upon us, and I know many of us are in a bit of a reflective mood, thinking about how 2020 has come and gone. It’s interesting because even though January and February were obviously a part of this year, we don’t really think about them because our internal 2020 calendars seemed to have started in March (which is when many people went into lockdown mode – at least here in North America). Regardless, when I think about this year, I’m reminded of how certain objective events are interpreted in such wildly different ways, and that’s what I want to reflect on a bit here today.

Protagoras was a Greek philosopher born in the 5th century BCE, and he was the first known relativist thinker. Simply put, relativism is the view that there are no absolute truths, and that the truth is always subjective. Two people can look at the same vase and come up with two wholly different conclusions – one can say it’s definitively ugly, while the other can say it’s stunningly beautiful. Which of the two is telling the truth? Well, a relativist would say that both are telling the truth, and the prevailing truth is the one that is most persuasive. Whichever one seems most useful or most compelling will be the truth that is ultimately embraced.

Protagoras summed his view up by saying that “man is the measure of all things.” Personally, I’m not a fan of relativism, especially when it gets mixed into morality. A moral relativist would say that there is no such thing as an inherently “good” or “evil” act, and that it all depends on who is making the interpretation. Well, you can try telling that to someone who is thrown off a bridge for no good reason, and see what they think about that philosophy. Relativism tends to open the doors to a pernicious kind of certainty, and since no truth is absolute, you can use this belief to assert that your views are right.

When I think about 2020, I see it as the year in which relativism reigned supreme. The objective events that transpired throughout the year were quite detrimental, one of which was a pandemic that swept the entire globe. I find it fascinating that you can take any two people on this planet, ask them what was unique about this year, and both will reply “COVID.” No continent (not even Antarctica) has been safeguarded from its reach, meaning that everyone is operating with some shared knowledge of this event.

However, it’s clear that the effects of the pandemic have been interpreted in wildly different ways, to the point where some people may not even think that it was objectively bad. One good example here is the stock market. The market has hit all-time highs this year (the Dow recently surpassed 30,000), despite record unemployment levels and the country now facing another lockdown amidst surging case volumes. Many, many people have gotten much, much richer this year, and these are primarily the folks that get to work from the comfort of their homes. It reminds us that the stock market is not an indicator of the economy; it’s an indicator of how wealth is fluctuating amongst the wealthiest people in the economy.

Many industries and companies have seized the opportunities that were made eminent during this crisis, and have thrived as a result. It only takes one look at the year-to-date market capitalization gains of the big tech companies to see evidence of this. So how are these people internalizing 2020? Perhaps it starts with the statement, “Of course, this year was challenging, BUT . . .”

That “but” is critical because it implies a reorientation of the truth. It adds a shade of subjectivity to the truth, which no longer makes it absolute. The statement “the pandemic is terrible” cannot stand on its own because some people have experienced favorable outcomes as a result of it, whether it’s financial (“my portfolio is way up”) or personal (“I got to spend more time with my family”). A secondary clause must be added to that statement, which reflects how one truly feels about the pandemic.

Of course, there are many more people in this world that have no “but” to add. Over 1.8 million people have died as a result of COVID, which means many more millions of human connections have been severed in the process. This year has emanated nothing but suffering for these folks, and their only hope is for this whole thing to be over.

So which perspective represents the truth? For those that personally benefited in 2020, was this a good year? For those that didn’t, was this a bad year? Is there any “right” way to contextualize how this year has gone?

As I reflect on 2020, this question is an important one for me to think about. Since I already work from home anyway, my daily schedule hasn’t really changed from what I had in January to what I have now. We also welcomed my daughter into the world this year, which is something to be grateful for. I’ve also been able to keep in touch with loved ones, despite it being through the glass on my phone screen.

But then I think about the many, many people that have had their worlds turned upside down, and that’s a sad reality that can’t be ignored. Their personal experiences aren’t represented by a trending line on a market index, but rather a trending line on a case volume graph.

One event, two wildly different perspectives.

Some thinkers lament that we now live in a “post-truth” society. That we live in a world where we no longer care about what’s true, and instead align ourselves to what feels right. That expert opinions have been replaced by echo chambers, and that there’s no going back.

Perhaps that’s the case, but I’d argue that we live more in a “post-empathy” world than a “post-truth” one. As we silo ourselves more and more – both physically and mentally – our sphere of empathy grows smaller, and we start caring only about our needs and how they can be fulfilled. We grow fixated on what we believe to be true, and ignore the plight of the many others that have experienced the world differently.

Relativism has its problems, but one thing it highlights it that everyone has vastly different perspectives of any single event. Instead of arguing for which view is right, perhaps it’s healthier to try and understand the other perspectives so you can better calibrate your own.

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That’s it for this reflection. I’ve been working on quite a few things this month, and I’m excited to share them with you in the new year. The first thing will be a new post that will go up next week, and I also have a long-form post in the works (it will likely be 6,000+ words).

Thank you for all your support during this wild year, and I wish you a happy new year to you and your loved ones.

-Lawrence