I strongly dislike common sense. It's not because I don't have it. Rather, it's because people commonly misunderstand it. Common sense isn't held in common and is not even right as often as not. That's because it's not grounded upon universal truth or even consensus, it's grounded exclusively upon two things personal experience and the base assumptions a person uses to face the world.
Now, I'm not knocking it in general. I have to say that it's necessary and quite useful, but that still doesn't mean that I have to like it. What I don't like about it is that it's the next logical step, conclusions so blindingly obvious given my prior experience that I don't even think about them any more. It's hard to realize that other people haven't had my experience or are operating under a different set of assumptions, such as the disturbingly common notion that people are stupid instead of merely different.
The worst bit, is when the notion of a universal common sense, normally reinforced by living with people who have had similar experiences and assumptions, is used to support that assertion that people are stupid and the speaker managed to magically dodge that bullet. In reality, I'm simply looking at a shared method with different starting values, which naturally results in very different outcomes.
I can tell you right now, the next time I find myself outraged that someone else missed something that is so obvious that it's as integral to that process as breathing I know I'll take a step back. Even if you don't, well this is something to think about, isn't it?
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