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The Compassionate Razor

The Compassionate Razor

Never Attribute to Malice That Which Can Adequately Be Explained By Humanity

I don't know about you, but I find good adages to be really useful.

The best turns of phrase condense a little of wisdom into a simple short saying.

For example, a lot of people are familiar with Occam's Razor. Most commonly you'll heart as something like:

"The Simplest Explanation is Most Often the Correct One."

Another one most people might know is Murphy's Law. You might have heard this as:

"If Anything Can Go Wrong, it Will."

One a lot of nerds know is Hanlon's Razor. It's commonly put as:

"Never Attribute to Malice That Which Can Adequately Explained By Stupidity."

As someone who has been around the block a few times in life, I find each of these adages pretty applicable.

And, yet, I also find that Hanlon's Razor is a little too malicious itself (or, according to it's own adage, too stupid).

People, as a general rule, do not like being called stupid. This is true regardless of their level of intelligence.

People, as a general rule, make mistakes. This is true regardless of their level of intelligence.

Many of life's social difficulties arise because of these two truths.

I find it pretty helpful to switch Hanlon's Razor up a bit.

The Compassionate Razor:

"Never Attribute To Malice That Which Can Adequately Be Explained By Humanity"

What This Means

You can presume the worst about people if you want. I would not recommend it.

In my experience, very few people try to be the villain, and very few people try to be stupid.

If I we feel someone is wrong, we have a few options:

  1. Think they're trying to do wrong
  2. Think they're wrong and don't know it
  3. Think they're human beings that make mistakes

I prefer option three.

Why This Helps

I find being compassionate about someone's humanity makes them more likely to work on being wrong.

Think about this like the Golden Rule.

Imagine you were wrong.

Would you rather:

  1. Be accused of being a villain?
  2. Be told you were stupid?
  3. Be compassionately confronted with the wrong?

I prefer option three.

I suspect you do, too.

Please Be Compassionate

Many mistakes don't happen because people want to be mean or malicious.

Many mistakes don't happen because people are inherantly stupid.

Many mistakes happen when we are:

We all make mistakes, for we are all human.

If we want a world with fewer mistakes, please be compassionate.

"Never Attribute To Malice That Which Can Adequately Be Explained By Humanity"

Hope this Helps,

James

View Source 
<#
.SYNOPSIS
    The Compassionate Razor
.DESCRIPTION
    Never Attribute to Malice That Which Can Adequately Be Explained By Humanity
.NOTES
    I don't know about you, but I find good adages to be really useful.

    The best turns of phrase condense a little of wisdom into a simple short saying.

    For example, a lot of people are familiar with [Occam's Razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor).
    Most commonly you'll heart as something like:
    > "The Simplest Explanation is Most Often the Correct One."

    Another one most people might know is [Murphy's Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_law).
    You might have heard this as:
    > "If Anything Can Go Wrong, it Will."

    One a lot of nerds know is [Hanlon's Razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor).
    It's commonly put as:
    > "Never Attribute to Malice That Which Can Adequately Explained By Stupidity."

    As someone who has been around the block a few times in life, I find each of these adages pretty applicable.

    And, yet, I also find that Hanlon's Razor is a little too malicious itself (or, according to it's own adage, too stupid).

    People, as a general rule, do not like being called stupid.  This is true regardless of their level of intelligence.

    People, as a general rule, make mistakes.  This is true regardless of their level of intelligence.
    
    Many of life's social difficulties arise because of these two truths.

    I find it pretty helpful to switch Hanlon's Razor up a bit.

    ### The Compassionate Razor:

    > "Never Attribute To Malice That Which Can Adequately Be Explained By Humanity"

    #### What This Means

    You can presume the worst about people if you want.  I would not recommend it.

    In my experience, very few people try to be the villain, and very few people try to be stupid.

    If I we feel someone is wrong, we have a few options:

    1. Think they're trying to do wrong
    2. Think they're wrong and don't know it
    3. Think they're human beings that make mistakes

    I prefer option three.

    #### Why This Helps

    I find being compassionate about someone's humanity makes them more likely to work on being wrong.

    Think about this like the [Golden Rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule).

    Imagine you were wrong.

    Would you rather:

    1. Be accused of being a villain?
    2. Be told you were stupid?
    3. Be compassionately confronted with the wrong?
    
    I prefer option three.

    I suspect you do, too.

    #### Please Be Compassionate

    Many mistakes don't happen because people want to be mean or malicious.

    Many mistakes don't happen because people are inherantly stupid.

    Many mistakes happen when we are:

    * Distracted
    * Overloaded
    * Angry
    * Scared
    * Panicked
    * Foolish
    * Sick
    * Tired        
    * Hungry
    * Poor

    We all make mistakes, for we are all human.

    If we want a world with fewer mistakes, please be compassionate.

    > "Never Attribute To Malice That Which Can Adequately Be Explained By Humanity"

    Hope this Helps,

    James
#>
param()

#region Page Help
# Get my help
$myHelp = Get-Help $MyInvocation.MyCommand.ScriptBlock.File

# My synopsis becomes the page title
$title = $myHelp.Synopsis
# and my description becomes the page description.
$description = $myHelp.Description.text -join [Environment]::NewLine
# My notes are in markdown.
$notes = $myHelp.alertset.alert.text -join [Environment]::NewLine

# If we have page metadata, copy title and description
if ($page -is [Collections.IDictionary]) {
    $page.Title = $title
    $page.Description = $description
}

# Make one big markdown out of our title, description, and notes

$markdown = @"
# $($title)

## $($description)

$notes
"@

# Write our markdown into a local file.
$markdown > (
    $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Source -replace '\.html.ps1$', '.md'
)
"<article>"
$markdown | 
    # convert it from markdown
    ConvertFrom-Markdown |
    # and output the HTML
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty Html
"</article>"
#endregion Page Help

#region View Source
"<hr/>"
"<details>"
"<summary>View Source</summary>"
"<pre><code class='language-powershell'>$([Web.HttpUtility]::HtmlEncode($MyInvocation.MyCommand.ScriptBlock))</code></pre>"
"</details>"
#endregion View Source