# Contextual Comparisons By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-12-10 Analysis is facilitated by an ability to make coherent, contextual comparisons. This is a skill that is implicit in analysis and is therefore seldom discussed in one’s analytic training. And yet, the ability to make meaningful, contextual comparisons is essential. An example of a contextual comparison can be found in the lyrics of [[Arlo Guthrie]]’s song [Alice’s Restaurant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM). If you have 18 minutes to spare, you might enjoy giving the song a listen. For the point of contextual comparison focus will be given to the lyric, “Sergeant, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I’ve rehabilitated myself…I’m sittin’ here on the bench…cause you want to know if I’m moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses, and villages after bein’ a litterbug.” From one perspective, that of the potential draftee, the comparison is absurd. There is an order of magnitude difference between the misdemeanor offense of littering and the scale of war crimes one might be directed to execute in Vietnam. The “gall” of the sergeant to ask such an absurd question under the circumstances is irksome and under Arlo’s treatment, comedic. From another perspective, that of the army, the comparison isn’t about the scale of difference between the two types of infractions, as they would categorize only littering as an issue. For the sergeant, the contextual comparison is between the prior deviation from a rule of society and the future probability of obedience to authority. A single comparison can be absurd (for the individual) and pragmatic (for the institution). Analysts benefit not so much from adjudicating rather a given contextual comparison is absurd or pragmatic, but from understanding how a given comparison is contingent upon perspective. Organizations are operational sites of applied contextual comparisons. Analysts can bring needed perspective and rigor to unpacking this phenomenon, perhaps finding space for the pragmatic absurdity people face daily at work. #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Thinking]] [[Pragmatic]] [[Absurd]] [[Comparison]]