The power of "I don't know"

Also: Maura Healey, the "first of her name" [View in browser](    [❤️]( November 13, 2022 Dear Cog reader, I don’t know. Why are those three little words so hard for us to say? What’s so difficult about admitting our own ignorance, especially when we know there’s so much power in doing so? Cog first published [Leah Hager Cohen’s essay]( on Oct. 16, 2012. Its central message is as salient now as ever: the more we're able to acknowledge what we don’t know, the more we're able to inhabit our own skins. This piece was our lead commentary on Election Day this week, and it turns out to have been a wise editorial choice, given all we still don’t know. Of course, I was glued to coverage of the midterms Tuesday night. And like many of you, I was anticipating a certain outcome — based in no small part on the dozens of pieces of analysis and reporting I’ve consumed over the last few months. When the night proved to be more competitive than the prognosticators in the press had suggested, it made me wonder about a couple of things. First, how so many smart people created (and contributed to) a narrative that was clearly flawed; and second, how our very human impulse to tell stories — to formulate a detailed theory that explains everything, even the unexplainable — doesn’t always serve anyone particularly well. And so when Eileen McNamara wrote Wednesday morning, asking if we’d be interested in a piece about how the “[press keeps getting it wrong, and keeps doing it anyway,]( I replied in about six seconds: “Yes please.” Here’s my favorite line from her essay: “Now, astoundingly, after voters have spoken, they are being subjected to a fresh round of political analysis by the very pundits who just blindingly misread them.” Indeed. One thing we do know for sure: [Maura Healey made history Tuesday night]( becoming the first woman and first openly gay elected governor of Massachusetts. Of the 75 people who’ve served in the role, exactly one — Jane M. Swift — is a woman (and she was appointed to the role). We asked Rev. Laura Everett to reflect on the moment. As a lesbian who has been successful in a profession that is also historically dominated by straight men (in her case, church leaders), I wondered if Laura saw a parallel between her experience and Governor-elect Healey’s. She did: “Those of us who go first often feel obliged to downplay our distinctiveness from our predecessors,” she writes, “[M]y deep hope for Governor-elect Healey is that we allow all of her distinctiveness to shine through.” P.S.— Next Tuesday, Nov. 15, long-time Cog contributor (and Pulitzer Prize-winner) Eileen McNamara will be in conversation with Margaret Sullivan, former Washington Post columnist and New York Times public editor. They'll be talking at WBUR CitySpace with Tiziana Dearing about their decades in journalism. It's sure to be a fascinating, inspiring evening! [Get tickets here](. Cloe Axelson Editor, Cognoscenti [Follow]( Support the news   Must Reads [Maura Healey, 'first of her name': May she be unabashedly herself]( Maura Healey made history, writes Rev. Laura Everett. My hope is that we allow all of her distinctiveness to shine through. [Read more.]( [Maura Healey, 'first of her name': May she be unabashedly herself]( Maura Healey made history, writes Rev. Laura Everett. My hope is that we allow all of her distinctiveness to shine through. [Read more.]( [The courage to say 'I don't know']( So much becomes possible when we honor doubt, writes Leah Hager Cohen. [Read more.]( [The courage to say 'I don't know']( So much becomes possible when we honor doubt, writes Leah Hager Cohen. [Read more.]( [The press should put away its crystal ball]( Here’s an idea for journalists: get out of the business of prognostication and speculation, writes Eileen McNamara. [Read more.]( [The press should put away its crystal ball]( Here’s an idea for journalists: get out of the business of prognostication and speculation, writes Eileen McNamara. [Read more.]( ['You don’t have to be like everyone else,' I tell my daughter. I hope she can believe me]( My daughter, John Fetterman and other disabled people are not asking for accommodation, writes Aimee Seiff Christian. They are asking for what everyone wants. [Read more.]( ['You don’t have to be like everyone else,' I tell my daughter. I hope she can believe me]( My daughter, John Fetterman and other disabled people are not asking for accommodation, writes Aimee Seiff Christian. They are asking for what everyone wants. [Read more.]( What We're Reading "As the reasons for ending relationships change, so too are the ways people end them." "[The Case for a Long Divorce]( The Atlantic "Fetterman is funny, and he speaks plainly. Political analysts I spoke to described his smart-mouthed shit-talking—which was sharp in the early campaign, and softened during his recovery after his stroke—as displaying a kind of authenticity." "[Inside John Fetterman's Stunning Win]( The New Yorker "'We’re not talking about a dance app,'” said Abbie Richards, a researcher who studies disinformation on TikTok, where she has half a million followers. 'We’re talking about a platform that’s shaping how a whole generation is learning to perceive the world.'" "[How TikTok ate the internet]( The Washington Post. "When we are the first of our name, we don’t need anyone else’s blazers or shoes but our own." —Rev. Laura Everett, "[Maura Healey, 'first of her name': May she be unabashedly herself]( ICYMI [What to do about Twitter? It’s complicated]( Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform poses a unique quandary, writes Kaivan Shroff in this commentary. Is sticking around fighting the good fight — or being complicit? [Read more.]( [What to do about Twitter? It’s complicated]( Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform poses a unique quandary, writes Kaivan Shroff in this commentary. Is sticking around fighting the good fight — or being complicit? [Read more.]( If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📧 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. [Check out all of our newsletter offerings.]( Support the news     Want to change how you receive these emails? 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