The Dress Controversy

If you haven't heard about this yet, you are probably wondering what in the world I'm talking about.  
The Internet is going crazy as a whole over a dress.
This dress in particular:

 Some people think it's black and blue and others think it's gold and white.
Now, the purpose of this post is not to debate over what color it is (although I would love to hear your opinions on it in the comments) but rather to discuss why everyone is going nutzo about it.

This dress is proof that people literally do not see things the same way.  Different individuals saw completely different colors.  But, is this debate really over a dress?  I think it is more about people's minds being blown over the fact that everyone doesn't see things exactly the same.

Now, hear me out.  When you looked at this dress, your brain probably thought, this dress is obviously ___________and _________.  How could people think otherwise?  There are a lot of other issues (arguably more important ones) that people have similar thoughts about.  For example, gun control is obviously __________ and ___________.  How could anyone think otherwise?  It can be difficult (read impossible) to try and see things from another point of view.

The science behind this whole dress debate (you can watch a video about it here) says that people's brains interpret the colors of the dress based on the lighting etc.  Each person's brain can imagine different types of lighting and compensate by tweaking how we perceive the color.
Similarly, an individual's background and circumstances can change how they see certain issues or opinions. Sometimes we think our opinion/solution is clearly, or even obviously correct and it is difficult to even comprehend why anyone could think otherwise.  Perspective really does effect everything.

Now, it could be that this is nothing more than a disagreement about color and my analogy is just my brain creating connections where there are none.  Thanks for reading either way!





Love,


Courtney