Meet Francine and her best friend Tux. Francine came to the farm a year ago with the job of protecting the farmyard and house. I sometimes wish people were more like Francine. She loves all the creatures, especially the babies. Francine has one particular habit worth noting. She loves to spend time digging holes. Deep holes. These are not one-time digs. She keeps coming back to the same holes, digging deep, excavating whatever has caught her attention. This is not an easy task. Our soil is mostly clay, so digging is a tough commitment.
This year I am asking everyone to be like Francine. Let’s make the tough commitment to dig deep, and to keep digging. Why dig deep?
Artificial Intelligence for the Shallow Dig
Like many people, I have started using artificial intelligence to assist with some of my work tasks. AI can certainly streamline work, but it can also create shallow thinking.
I am working on a book and wanted quotes on “meaning.” When I Googled “quotes with the word meaning,” all of the quotes were from men. No surprise given the built-in bias in our search engines. Since women also say brilliant and important stuff, I turned to ChatGPT to find quotes about meaning from Women. The number one quote was from the brilliant Maya Angelou. Here it is:
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. Finding meaning is the key to a life well-lived.
This seems like a nice quote, but really, it does not sound like something Maya Angelou would say. It is way to ordinary and lacks the character I have come to expect from the greatest poet of her generation. So I asked ChatGPT for the book or speech where it was written. Here is the response:
The quote, as written, does not directly appear in Maya Angelou’s works. However, it seems to be a paraphrased combination of her ideas from interviews, speeches, and writings.
Damn. Someone put words in Maya Angelou’s mouth. They made stuff up. They fabricated words for a woman who was perfectly capable of speaking for herself. That, my friends, is shallow thinking.
Digging Deep and the COVID 19 Government Hoax
I am currently recovering from COVID 19. I have the classic headache and fatigue, otherwise, I am doing okay. The whole “thinking thing” has been a bit of a struggle for the last five days and I am starting to feel grumpy. I am lucky. I know that. I have mild symptoms that are more annoying than devastating (it took me five minutes to come up with the word “devastating,” which was annoying).
No sign that I will have a stroke, like one of my young mom friends experienced a year ago.
No indication that I will experience long COVID, like my friend’s teenage daughter is experiencing from last spring.
I am unlikely to die, like my Uber driver’s healthy niece died from COVID 19 a few years ago. Given the alternatives, I guess I can handle grumpy and annoyed.
Last fall, a dear friend told me COVID 19 was a government hoax.
“My Dearest,” I said, “I assure you COVID is real.”
“No it is not. More people die from the flu and the Chinese are covering it up.”
Hmm, you might say. If it is not real, how come some people are dying? If it is not real, why are the Chinese covering it up?” This type of shallow thinking is not only wrong, but it is painful for the people who have suffered real and serious losses.
Selective Attention and THAT Sexual Predator
A few weeks back, a young friend contacted me to let me know that he did not think Donald Trump was a sexual predator.
“What about all the women who have accused him of assault?”
“I don’t believe them. Why didn’t they report earlier?” (Yes, for the savvy reader, the answer to the question is in the statement that precedes it.)
“What about the civil trial where he was found liable for lying about sexual assault?
“That was a civil trial. It does not have the same burden of proof as a criminal trial.”
“What about the statement caught on tape where Trump admitted that he liked to grab random women ‘by the Pussy?’ I am pretty sure He was not talking about their cats.”
“I know lots of men who talk like that who are still honorable men.”
“Clearly, we define ‘honorable’ very differently.”
In 2025, we need to Dig Deep
Every year I have a “phrase of the year” that I use to help guide my actions. In 2023, I suggested that we “lean into it.” The goal was to reengage with people. In 2024, I led the year with “don’t be a jerk.” Some months back, my brilliant son, Finnian, told me that people have allowed themselves to stay on the surface. We need to dig deep if we are to survive in 2025.
This phrase, “Dig Deep,” has stuck with me throughout the year.
Take my COVID 19 denying friend. A simple and honest observation of his environment and a recognition that real people truly suffered because of this horrible disease, would have allowed him to take a more nuanced position and make more informed choices. For example, choosing not to get vaccinated because you are willing to accept the risk, is a far different reason from “the vaccinations are a government conspiracy to track the population with nanobots” (said while speaking from a cellular phone, the single greatest tracking device in all of history).
Or how about my young friend who believes honorable men brag about sexually assaulting women? Wouldn’t it be nice if he did a little bit of research on sexual assault, including why targets do not report when they have been assaulted? Maybe he would still have voted for That Guy, but at least he would not make the same sort of excuses for the man’s behavior.
As For Me
I am writing a book on Gender in our chaotic times. I promise, I am digging deep. I am reading a lot of research and opinions. Sometimes that is emotionally challenging for me to do. A couple of weeks ago I read an opinion article by a radical conservative Christian source. He provided some standard junk about the gender binary and the roles women are most suited for, but he also reminded me that biological sex is not just assigned at birth. It is something you are born with. There is a physical reality that anchors our understanding of gender.
Digging Deep
Here are my suggestions for digging deep.
Observe your environment. Really. That means looking beyond your experience to understand the larger world.
Be a skeptic, not a conspiracy theorist.
Check multiple sources of information. If you can only find it in one place, it is probably made up.
Common sense is not always truth.
Ask yourself, “how is this information being presented to trigger emotions? What emotions do I feel now?”
I would love to add your suggestions to my list!
Thank You!
To my readers, my deepest gratitude. You are my people. I am so grateful for you.
Debbie S. Dougherty is a farmer, writer, professor and consultant. Her website is http://debbiedougherty.com/
Love reading your posts Debbie! Have a Happy New Year!