The art of the hedge

Hedging is an art form these days. There are at least three levels of it. The level of least hedging, and the most transparent, is through tone of voice or the obvious change of subject when the topic makes one uncomfortable. The mid-level is through using the word "well," which nearly always means there is a problem with the topic under discussion. Occasionally, a dialect will use well as a filler, such as "you know," but that is rare. Identifying with only a very specific part of a statement is another form of the mid-level hedge. The last way to hedge is to tell a lie based on the premise of something true or to mix something false with something true, a hybrid statement. These go undetected most of the time. Very intuitive people recognize this as it is happening, but mostly this type of hedge is caught upon reflection.

We do it all the time for a variety of reasons. Hedging is usually done to save face, however. Sometimes it is for alignment, but that is really a face-saving feature in the final analysis. I think we've made hedging an art form because we don't really want to be transparent with others. There are precious few people we trust. With those few, we can be transparent. With all others, don't lie (because that creates an ethical problem), hedge. It keeps people guessing. It throws them off the real path. It allows us to remain private. It keeps hurt from happening.

Transparency is a value, however... and truth.

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