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Let’s Become Better By Being Wrong Together
Why it is right to be wrong… and how it can bring us together.
If it’s been a long time since we were last proven wrong, chances are we are not questioning our beliefs enough, chances are we are surrounded by yes-people too interested in our status and not sufficiently concerned about what we have to say. A couple of years ago I wrote that I had no interest in being right, because I was too keen on being truthful. Now I want to take it further: I want to be wrong.
Yes, let us be wrong together. Being wrong is a sign that we are doing something right. Being wrong is not the same as being in the wrong. The wrong — with its definite article — is static. Being wrong is always on the move. It means we’re checking and changing and checking some more.
Back at university, a lecturer once told me my low mark was due to my experimentation with language. Up until then, I had got top marks on almost any other subject, but he barely passed me. I think what I wrote for him must have been the best writing I did in my late teens. It didn’t conform, it didn’t comply, it broke things. Since I was feeling quite pleased with myself, a friend reminded me that that was all very well, but that the system I was in was ruled by marks. Of course, he was right: full marks would give you free credits…