It has puzzled me no end how it is something that is praised within our society, and is sought after, yet I have still to find more than a handful of people who are *actually* open-minded. My thoughts were most recently sparked by a discussion I was having in a comment thread...
It started on the topic of religion and certainty, I asked a particular gentleman how he could be so sure about what his stance was - from whence came his grounding. His response started with how he was grateful to find somebody who appeared to have some level of intelligence, and was willing to actually engage in issues in an open-minded fashion.
... it had all the makings of an open discussion...
But then the comments took a turn for the worst, far from answering my question as to his beliefs, his response was about all the massive blatant self-apparent flaws about my stance. All the things demonstrating that my stance was ridiculous, ill-founded, and very stupid. (Of course assuming that I had never considered the points he had presented)
Why? (I feel we should all ask this question more often than we currently do)
In a discussion about beliefs or opinions on any topic, how can we praise open-mindedness and in the very next breath... throw a volley of comments which show no appreciation of the views of the other? How can real conversation happen when we treat each other as fools from the very start? Can we have no discussion in which we gently, and with humility, nut out our differences and leave ourselves open to the possibility that the other person is not as silly as we initially thought his views were?
Perhaps our searching for answers should start be a reassessment of who we actually are. Our generation seems to find themselves at the pinnacle of knowledge, of understanding, of civilization as a whole. We have no time for learning about the past, for those of the past didn't have the internet, they didn't have Science, they were missing the wealth and completeness of the knowledge we have in this age...
... of course forgetting that our society is built on the back of geniuses. We treat history with disdain, accepting the first thing we hear about the past, and not delving in any further. Then, with the armaments of post-modernism in our right and left hands, we discard even the thoughts of our peers... Anyone who is opposed to our view is OBVIOUSLY flawed, or at least we have no need to consider it because we can believe whatever we like.
It saddens me, things which I have given so much thought to get discarded by some without any thought or consideration.
:'(
http://xkcd.com/774/
Do you think there is any hope of open discussion in our era?
Am I too harsh on society? (remembering, of course, that this is only one thread of an elaborate web that makes up a picture of society)
... it had all the makings of an open discussion...
But then the comments took a turn for the worst, far from answering my question as to his beliefs, his response was about all the massive blatant self-apparent flaws about my stance. All the things demonstrating that my stance was ridiculous, ill-founded, and very stupid. (Of course assuming that I had never considered the points he had presented)
Why? (I feel we should all ask this question more often than we currently do)
In a discussion about beliefs or opinions on any topic, how can we praise open-mindedness and in the very next breath... throw a volley of comments which show no appreciation of the views of the other? How can real conversation happen when we treat each other as fools from the very start? Can we have no discussion in which we gently, and with humility, nut out our differences and leave ourselves open to the possibility that the other person is not as silly as we initially thought his views were?
Perhaps our searching for answers should start be a reassessment of who we actually are. Our generation seems to find themselves at the pinnacle of knowledge, of understanding, of civilization as a whole. We have no time for learning about the past, for those of the past didn't have the internet, they didn't have Science, they were missing the wealth and completeness of the knowledge we have in this age...
... of course forgetting that our society is built on the back of geniuses. We treat history with disdain, accepting the first thing we hear about the past, and not delving in any further. Then, with the armaments of post-modernism in our right and left hands, we discard even the thoughts of our peers... Anyone who is opposed to our view is OBVIOUSLY flawed, or at least we have no need to consider it because we can believe whatever we like.
It saddens me, things which I have given so much thought to get discarded by some without any thought or consideration.
:'(
http://xkcd.com/774/
Do you think there is any hope of open discussion in our era?
Am I too harsh on society? (remembering, of course, that this is only one thread of an elaborate web that makes up a picture of society)
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