On Alter’s 10/11/04 Newsweek column Your Gut Only Gets You So Far
To the Editor,
In Jonathan Alter's October 11, 2004 Newsweek column, Your Gut Only Gets You So Far, Alter betrays a wrong-headed understanding of the thesis of Malcolm Gladwell's upcoming book, Blink. I hope Alter hasn't read the book but only heard about it around the cocktail party circuit; otherwise, his characterization is inexplicable. Gladwell's broad thesis, as I understand it after reading the impressive book, is that people often distrust their gut reaction and overthink a problem, that their initial decision is not a simplistic instinct-only response but a relatively sophisticated one, and that, not recognizing this fact, they spend a lot of time proving it out. His secondary point is that this proving is really only so they can feel OK about the view they already arrived at; it often adds nothing to the decision and, critically, can distract or deter them from deciding and acting.
Does this describe a tendency in Kerry? No doubt. But calling Bush a "blink" president is absurd. Gladwell's "blink" is a far cry from Bush's uninformed and rigid decision making. In the example Alter cites from the book, the decision makers are the world's best-informed and most up-to-date experts in their field -- classical art. Their gut feelings about a forgery are based on vast knowledge. The core thesis of Blink is that what seems like instinct is actually the lateral synaptic processing of huge amounts of data -- and shouldn't be discounted. Gladwell does not support deliberate ignorance or a refusal to evaluate results, learn from mistakes and grow.
There's a big difference between intellectualism and intelligence. Gladwell's book is a challenge to (not even an indictment of) a type of intellectualism. It does not celebrate stupidity -- anyone who knows Gladwell or his work knows this is not his view. The fact that more analysis doesn't always lead to greater understanding does not condone Bush's lack of curiosity. Bush is not a "blink" thinker; he's a non-thinker.
Phil Rose
New York, New York
