What turns things on and off

A lot of times it is hard to see why something are right and others not so. Why something that you see to be complete and perfectly true, is opposed by people who think completely opposite. I was reading a roommate's story recently (he plans to publish a book sometime, and I think he should), he used a very interesting phrase, "asymmetry in relationships". I know this has nothing to do with the first two lines of this text, but somewhere there is a relationship. one side is asymmetry is a very frustrating thing. And second is that the first two lines of this text start to hold good for all that stands when the assymetry comes into picture.