I think oftentimes in human interaction you can either be right or be liked. It might seem like a great injustice but oftentimes, being right comes at the expense of another being wrong. The problem is that there is nothing wrong with being wrong and yet a lot of us still take this very personally. Everyone is wrong until someone tells them what is right.
>[...]being right comes at the expense of another being wrong. The problem is that there is nothing wrong with being wrong[...]
I think this hits the nail on the head, completely.
I think a large part of it, for me at least, was that school taught me that wrong is bad. Not knowing an answer is bad. Failure. It took many years after school to correct that belief - and I'm much happier for it.
Being wrong is great, in a way. Of course I'd like to be right about everything all the time but I know that's not possible. Being wrong lets me know that I have an opportunity to learn what is right.
I think that a great many of the world's problems could be ameliorated if teachers felt comfortable saying "I don't know, but we can find out after class".
>The problem is that there is nothing wrong with being wrong
This says more about you though (in a good way). To many people who lack that kind of intellectual maturity, there is something wrong with being wrong. It's the saw someone can use to cut the rungs off of your ladder as you climb the social hierarchy. Someone can always rub your mistakes in your face, and groups of people will view you as less capable because of it. Look at politics...it's a big reason why politicians are so vague; being wrong is a nail in your coffin. Many politicians are not unintelligent people, but they know how being wrong impacts the public's perception of your competency.
I think if we're all being completely honest with ourselves, we're all wrong a lot. We just don't publicize it because nobody, sometimes including ourselves, ever notices. The thing that should matter most is how well we learn from our mistakes so as not to repeat them.
the point is that being wrong once or twice isn't bad, but being wrong all the time leads to hurt and backlash. to compensate, we have elaborate cultural rituals and coded language to avoid such situations (e.g., "giving face").
