Tuchman portrays wooden-headedness as if it stems from negative motives and only serves ill-advised purposes. However, this definition unfairly antagonizes a crucial trait that we need in a functioning society. Confidence in one's argument and plan is critical when many lives are at risk. Such trait, wooden-headedness, is seen throughout every political figure. This is for good reason. As a democracy we the people are to choose who we trust. How we define a good candidate is how they fight. If we do not see a representative fighting for us at all costs, then are they really worthy of representing us? To not have complete confidence in their stance, to not show unwavering support for our bill, would we trust them?

We cannot look upon "wooden-headedness" as if it's solely a bigoted trait, as it is actually what we need. Looking at any of our US congressmen speaking in the house, we see that they speak with vehemence. The other side of the aisle will try to discredit their case, however they refuse to stand down. Our representatives fight for us. How would we feel if they wavered in a bill critical for our future health? Take into consideration New York representative Ocasio-Cortez's passionate speeches in support for The Green New Deal. Her speeches are powerfully written, with tremendous praise for her words' ability to connect with the youth. However, she is often portrayed as an irrational female, or if using Tuchman terms, "wooden-headed." This term is detrimental to activists and lawmakers, especially those who are female or minorities, as their ideas are completely delegitimized by such a demeaning characterization. It is essential to protect initiative at all costs to have progressive change, making an eradication of "wooden-headedness" so adverse to humanity.

Take another example, court cases. For those that require legal defense in a court case, an attorney that is able to strongly defend them throughout the case is a crucial factor for their future. However oftentimes those that are unable to afford high end lawyers are given weak representation and forced into plea deals, even if they are innocent. But, if they're innocent then the Tuchman's definition of wooden-head, "not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts," does not apply? This viewpoint is often unrealistic. In the functioning world, many "facts" are skewed. Evidence pulled by prosecutors is distorted in context to criminalize motives. Statistics as well are often biased based on their method of data collection. For example, communities of color are reported to have higher crime rates than white communities. However, this does not show white communities have low crime, rather that communities of color have more policing. It is with such scenarios, strongly defending your case and calling a smaller dependence on such "facts" is the most important trait in a citizen. 

To call upon the case of George Floyd, BLM is not ignoring the fact that Floyd had a criminal record. They are instead calling much-needed attention on the injustice of his death. It shall then be concluded that to be "wooden-headed" is not the source of self-deception, but rather the source of unwavering compassion.