The Libra Problem of False Equivalency

by Robert Wilkinson

We all have all the signs in our charts. Some are occupied by planets, others not. All the signs have their strengths and weaknesses, and these present themselves as various planets transit the signs. Today we explore the problem of false equivalencies, and how these indicate a distorted or dysfunctional Libra energy.

I began to ponder this theme over the past few weeks due to a variety of factors, from a formerly close personal relationship asserting something completely out of balance in terms of equivalency all the way to an extremist tv pundit trying to draw a comparison between the antiwar demonstrators in the 60s and the recent jerks who spit on civil rights pioneer and legend John Lewis and threw bricks through Congressional office windows.

This pundit also asserted that we should equate people who protested against Bush/Cheney war criminal and anti-Constitutional behaviors with the current batch of wackos who screamed racial and homophobic epithets against Congressmen just after they voted for the current flawed but necessary health insurance reform bill. He seemed to feel that if some behaviors were done by some at a past point in time, it justifies people doing and saying racist and homophobic things today.

This is what I term a "false equivalency" since it attempts to link two unrelated things that are different from each other, whether in substance, style, or motive. It often is used by the ego mind to justify a behavior that is negative by comparing it to something else that is marginally related, if at all.

The "compare and contrast" process involves the Libra ability to weigh and judge the relative similarities and differences between things. The downside to this is the assumption of ego with its perceptual biases that "if A does X, then if B appears to do anything resembling X then there is an equivalence in behavior, intention, or whatever between A and B." In other words, if ego can justify any apparent similarity, it must be an equivalent action.

The problem arises when there are attachments or preexisting biases that influence the apparent comparisons. Sometimes a false equivalence is drawn even if there are few if any true resemblances between A and B other than superficial appearances.

One way to target false equivalencies is by what is not factored into the assertion that is essential in the comparison. In other words, if we factor in an essential point previously overlooked in the argument, how does that change the comparison? More importantly, if we do attempt to introduce a critical piece of information, is it welcomed or denied by the one making the false equivalency? This shows the fluidity and openness or lack of these in the interactive dynamic, since false equivalencies require rigid stances and usually cannot adapt to conflicting or contrasting views.

Astrologically, all signs externalize through the traits of the opposing sign. Just as one-pointedness is an Aries virtue, one-sidedness that does not factor in other views is a quality of dysfunctional Aries energies. Where there is a lack of a well-rounded view in how the parts relate to the whole and how causes are related to effects you can bet there is an Aries-Libra energetic problem going on. You may also note that some of these imbalances or false equivalencies are triggered by planets in Cancer or Capricorn, since these challenge and/or release the positive or negative potential of the Libra (and Aries) dynamic.

Batterers and abusers use false equivalencies. Think "You lied to me, therefore I get to hit you." In this case the illusion is that physical violation is somehow equivalent to something said (or believed to be said!) that may or may not be true. The concept of using an accusation to justify a destructive behavior is both peculiar and erroneous thinking.

I have also seen that those who have a victim mentality can fall prey to false equivalency. This has been most evident in situations when friends and loved ones who persist in making strong statements of fact to bust someone in denial are seen to be the equivalent of an abuser attacking their victim.

A friend getting in our face is not the same as getting hammered by an abusive spouse or lizard! Unfortunately, a victim mentality often equates their friends yelling at them to wake up with their abuser yelling at them to make them submit to their lower desires or selfish intention. This is a classic false equivalency.

In my personal opinion, those who must speak or shout truth in the face of lies and self justifications are not being abusive. A lie spoken nicely is still a lie. While I agree that losing one's cool is never a good thing, it's very frustrating to confront liars and deliberate dissemblers. Here it may be useful to take note of those who choose self-pity and rationalizations over self-reflection and initiatives toward a broader, higher, more inclusive point of view.

It seems that there have been more examples of false equivalency arguments in the air during the time of Saturn in Libra afflicted by Pluto and recent oppositions from Aries. And of course, this is being written not long after the recent Full Moon in Libra, which will continue to put the focus on the Libra forms in our lives and world for a few days to come.

I believe there are clear factors that can always help us get beyond false equivalencies, but these often require us learning to evaluate what standard of measurement we're using to see how something is in or out of balance from a larger, holistic angle of view. This means getting beyond ego subjectivity and utilizing Divine Discrimination, seeing the lesser and the greater, the core and the peripheral, the selfless and selfish.

If you wonder if a false equivalency is being made, look for statements that deflect, distract, justify, or employ non sequiturs to make both sides of the argument somehow equal. Usually these will ignore destructive or selfish factors while also dismissing valid considerations that show the substantial differences in the points of view.

Some examples of this begin with the unfortunate tendency of news "reporters" to give equal time to the dozen or so "counter protesters" who show up to assert their point of view as opposed to 10,000 people protesting a war or illegal or immoral public policy. Here the massively destructive results of bad policy are made falsely equivalent (in an oppositional way) to a better way to live life and relate to other humans.

We also see false equivalency in the argument that we must pollute the environment to ensure jobs, or that we must pay outrageous bonuses to bankers who helped the world financial system to melt down or we will lose their supposedly necessary expertise. These arguments all involve an "either-or" polarization of points of view that have little or no relationship to each other, usually to obscure the true issues.

Another example of a false equivalency is when a supposed reciprocal "agreement" is asserted when the original circumstance was no such thing. This often takes the shape of someone asserting that because they did something for you then you must also do an equivalent thing for them, whether appropriate or not. Again, a classic tactic of abusers to rope their victim into doing something they never agreed to in the first place. To be willing to consider something in the future is not the same as agreeing that you will do that thing.

So I'll close today with the warning to be alert to false equivalencies. They can be simplistic and very destructive of critical thinking about something that needs correcting. Here it is useful to remember the dictum to "consider the source."

What is the source from which the assertion of apparent equivalency arises? What is the motive, intention, and purpose for asserting the supposed equivalency? Is there defensiveness or rigidity present? Why is X necessarily equivalent to Y? What are the common points, and what are the essential differences?

This directly relates to the recent article, How To Know the Difference Between Negative Ego Rhetoric and A Principled Stand. In that we explored how the compare and contrast function is valuable in knowing rhetoric from reality. However, as we can see, the compare and contrast function can also be turned to destructive false equivalencies by manipulators and those stuck in unhealthy denials.

That's why it's important to be on the alert to false equivalencies in the inner world of consciousness as well as the outer world of forms, ideas, and behaviors.

© Copyright 2010 Robert Wilkinson

(ps. - None of this should be construed as being an indictment of any particular sign. Again, we all have all the signs in our charts, and so we all can transcend any negative quality of any sign or planet.)

Comments

[InteriorDesignNinja]

Wow, an excellent post!

It's also very topical, given our current state of discourse.

Lately, I've been dealing with someone who likes to misrepresents my actions or analogize me to others in his life. Taking advice that has been informed in part by this blog, I try to ground myself in additional mitigating factors that are relevant and that deserve recognition.

When I assert a larger picture, it is sometimes accepted and helpful. Other times, I was wrong to think what I was saying was relevant. Still other times, it is dismissed with "it doesn't matter, I *feel* such-and-such...". It is telling when I offer to shelve the issue (multiple times) so we can enjoy each others company, but the other person is too attached to the conflict or to their own bad feelings. Instead there is only brooding or still more false accusations

A perpetual emotion machine comes to mind.

[Jorge Torres]

Thank You Robert I wil take care of It !!!

Some people use This tactics i have seen similar tactics in some Goverments, people that use other people, etc.

[Heli]

Thanks!

I have been taking lessons for academic discussion lately. And I have found real weakness in my thinking (talent?), which really make a life sometimes harder.

I have difficulties to distinquising Value vrs. Reality assumtions. Usually the healty argument is based on these two things, but it would be easier when you know which one the argument is. Nice that you have founded same in this current time...

[Marie]

Amazing Robert! were you in a close relationship with a libra? how did it work out? can it work out?....being a very sensitive libran I have been in an ongoing negotiation of intimate nature with a very fiery aries. It has been zigzagging due to outside factors but I feel we have succumbed to hoodwinking each other into giving certain reactions instead of being straight a bit like described in here.At my most doubtful and fearful, it could have escalated into abuse and control/berayal and secrecy. By some miracle or perhaps just common sense and logic the higher road now seems to prevail and an earnest attempt at togetherness looks like the prize to reach for.....
Libra/Aries can it work, it may not be a quiet life eh!?!

Sunny spring love
marie

[cathy cataldo]

FEAR

[caliban]

This is a good series for me at this time. My side bar situation just has to play itself out I guess. And yeah lots of Aries/Libra involved.

[cathy cataldo]

It's alright ma (i'm only bleeding)
made me take a good deep breathe:)

[Victoria]

Yes, an insightful post indeed!

Thank you for sharing it.

[BritLitChik]

This is a very intersting and insightful post. And I agree that fallacy-filled conclusions drawn do occasionally take the form of abusive behavior. My curiousity comes from Libran balance here - two sides to every story, and the stick in the middle can be very long. Extremities give balance, but extremities also are born from fears, aren't they? When might humanity learn to find its balance, not drawn from fear, but from sound, logical discussion and conclusion?

I'm not trying to sound stupid here, just trying to imagine what 'thing' or series of 'things' humanity will have to endure to really wake us up so that we might actually find peace, balance and life free from fear.

"All you need is love, love..."

[Morvah]

Robert, Wow! I saved this till after the holiday knowing it would be special. Yes, bells ringing, lights flashing. Thank you for saying this with your usual enviable clarity - it is, I believe currently rife and part of the prevalent head in the sand mentality.
How do you balance this kind of self created logic without creating more conflict? When do you give up?
I have been ranting away on other blogs from the heart of the Cardinal T and this is absolutely one of the main causes of grief. I am watching people close to me doing this to each other to the detriment of all and it is driving me up the wall! I am clearly not being detached enough but Uranus is about to trine my Asc so working on it. The Cornish Spring is blessing us with beauty so sea breezes and the warm coconut smell of gorse to you.
Shanti

[C]

Wow - serendipity? synchronicity? Explains insightfully something that happened between me and my mum end of last weeek which I've been trying to process all weekend. Thank you.

[Sundeevah]

Awesome, Robert! I've been just as outraged by this insanity and sometimes willful loss of divine descernment. And, how it's been wittled down into an illusion of duality, or cause and effect-- either one can be rationalized into infinity. I have to say, I'm definately one of those libras not afraid to open my throat chakra and speak TRUTH. I'm no longer worried as to the results of whether or not someone "gets it", as I am committed to maintaining my own sense of divine intgerity. Truth, first spoken, then practiced is the best form of resistance as far as I'm concerned. Thank You for letting me know there's more of us out there who are resisting! Namaste.

[caliban]

Have been thinking about this article alot lately. Some strange blips have been crossing my screen. It's almost like a subdued backlash to the empowering non violent revolution that is unfolding.

It would be for example: like a political party that equates themselves with God. Then the political party uses alot of negative words in their speeches to give the impression that everything is terrible and we are all gonna die. So being equated with God, that political party is the only way to save us all.