Resistance to Differing Views

natsb said:

I have to agree with WillyPete. Confirmation Bias accounts for much of the problem. There is an old saying:"You always find what you are looking for." We all notice how people will search the Internet for hours to find a tidbit that agrees with them, while ignoring thousands of pages that disagree.

The same goes for the term "open mind". How many of us are sure we possess the only open mind? It is all those other people that will not accept what we are saying that are close minded. Of course, many are sure they are the ones who can critically think. They are the ones who can assemble reasonable thoughts by weighing the evidence before them. It is always all those other people that are not smart enough to reach the same conclusion.

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Me! hahaha.

I don't think people who don't agree with me are being close-minded, I think people that have to label and villanize others who disagree are being closed-minded and unfortunately, that's all you see in political discussions. And I see this more from the left-they are so quick to fling labels. The right is just as disrespectful by being dismissive of "libtards" as being silly, naive idealists at best and lazy, entitled brats at worst.

So if someone is against abortion, they are "anti-woman" or if they are pro-choice, they are "pro-death." Wait. What? Or if you are against SSM, that makes you a "homophobe." And don't even get me started on the atheists and Christians-I swear, I'd like to buggy-whip them both....lol.

Open-mindedness is "willing to consider new ideas." The practical application of that to me means trying to understand the experiences of people who think differently than me and why they would have the views they have as well as examining the evidence at hand and altering my view if need be. If being a decent human being isn't motivation enough to be open-minded, then try this on for size...thoroughly understanding your opponent's point of view makes you more able to completely dismantle his arguments and thus strengthens your own position. But for goodness sake-stop with the labels and mud-slinging! Grow the f*** up!

EDIT: When I say "you," I don't mean anyone in particular especially not the person to whom I am replying. It's more of the proverbial you.

I personally like the Discordian view of this issue. The universe is made up of infinite chaos, and everyone has their own window they look through at the chaos. They draw in their own structure on the window pane, so that the world will make sense, but everyone draws a different structure. Some people are so confused that other people aren't seeing the universe the same way they are, that it causes fighting and strife.

rhinefire said:

Wars are fought because of indifference, we are full of likes and dislikes. Those that act on their own dislikes are the causes of grief throughout the world.

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depending on how you look at it, they can also be defenders of freedoms.