Did you shout "Nonsense!" or did you ask why?

Your Friday Trigger Question #132

The dung beetle at work: “Hey, I’ve told you! Where you see nonsense, I see sense.”

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Reading time: about 0.9 minutes

If something makes little sense, do you immediately assume it's nonsense?

If so, don't.

Stop. Think. And ask, "Why?"

Why? Because nonsense is bound to make sense to someone somewhere.

I understood the nature of nonsense in a flash. Almost a blinding flash, because it happened under the hot, bright African sun. Out in the bush. I saw lots of dung (nonsense) and lots of active dung beetles (making sense). (It was also the day when a lioness charged me. And when I had to run with elephants. But that's another story. Which I'm sure I have told you. Many times.)

Clearly, what was dung to me was doing it for these beetles. What I try to side-step, they hungrily seek out.

That’s when I first meditated on the nature of dung, bull, and nonsense. Today, I don’t assume that nonsense is simply nonsense. I always wonder why it exists. And, specifically, I consider who might profit from what might befoul me.

I suggest you do the same. Stop. Think. Ask why. And then consider who might profit.

Don't forget, you cannot say "nonsense" without saying "sense" as well.

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Your Friday Trigger Question:

Did you shout "Nonsense!" or did you ask why?

(Who profits?)

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.

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