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Understanding is not the equivalent of defending

I try to understand the "wrong" options or why someone chose to do it that way. People seem to mistake my "trying to understand where mistakes come from" with "defending for where mistakes come from." Understanding is not the same as defending.

When I talk about options or where a person's motivation may come from, it's because people fixate on the easy narrative and ignore all other possibilities. Knowing that there might be more than 1 way someone thought about doing something helps predict their future actions better. Focusing on only one possible cause leaves you with blind spots and a lot of room to become the villain yourself.

I wonder why practicing empathy and thinking about possibilities instead of binary terms is such a terrible crime these days.

Imagine if detectives would not try to get understanding of the criminal mind, it would make them very inefficient, no?
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EDIT
So thanks to Miram I realize I didn't talk about context. As he/she points out: " If someone is hurt, they will be defensive. Especially if they are trying to vent their feelings and you priority is explaining why the abuser hurt them". It's a context i can understand. But it also makes important that I point out this post is NOT about abuse in particular. It's meant for just about any situation where people feel wronged from boss being mean to them to parents being too strict, a friend not taking your side on an issue, the way politics or economy goes and so on. The wrong doer doesn't even have to be a person, it can be an institution or simply an event.
My phrasing might have suggested this post is about abuse in particular, and it's not (just) about that.
Hope I've set a better context for whomever bothers to read this far.
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ArishMell · 70-79, M
Very well put.

Sadly, this inability to see that "understand" does not mean "agree with" or "condone"", is all too common.

Worse, it is a weapon for those wanting only division and rancour, or who are afraid of possibly being wrong.
kayoshin · 41-45, M
@ArishMell Yes, the idea that "if you don't see something exactly as I do you MUST be against me". I can agree with you AND not take the same road to get there.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@kayoshin Yes - and I must admit I'd not thought of your second point.
kayoshin · 41-45, M
@ArishMell the most common problem I see is not making mistakes, but doubling down on mistakes and ignoring all other possibilities when it's easy to say "I hadn't thought of that way" or "perhaps I was wrong" especially when it's not down to hard truths (like a single solution mathematical statement).
It always makes me get some faith in people back when I see people like you willing to take a look at things from a point of view they hadn't thought of.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@kayoshin Thank you for the compliment!

I am not sure what "doubling down" really means, but no-one likes being wrong and many people cannot take being shown to be wrong or to misunderstand a matter, especially when the mistake is some cherished, long-held but erroneous opinion.
kayoshin · 41-45, M
@ArishMell doubling down, comes from gambling betting on the same number/cards. In this context means reinforcing an idea at all cost even if you might already know it was wrong simply because you already stood by it once.