A friend of mine, who is an atheist, was recently bemoaning the fact that there are many people now who can be called 'atheistic followers'--just as closed minded and hostile as feels some fundamentalists are. He told me that he had always considered 'free-thinking' an atheistic quality, but now saw that there are, to put it simply, good people and jerks on both sides. He then jokingly said how he needed a new way to divide the world with him on the good side.
It got me thinking about how there is no truly satisfying way to do it. The problem is that people are never just one thing: there are fun, open minded people who are jerks; boring, ignorant types who are smart and nice, etc. etc.
I don't really see the point, myself, in trying to search for a quality to value above others. I think that people are a mix of contradictions, values, tastes and often enough, bad ideas. Just take people as they come, I say. I mean, I wouldn't want to hang out with a neo-nazi, that's obvious. But perhaps they still have something to say that could make me think--even if I passionately disagree with it. Seeing them as only ridiculous means that I commit the error of thinking I'm better than them, that I'm part of some elect group that really knows what's best. That sort of thinking is what lead to eugenics.
Point is, no matter what it is you don't like people to be: stupid, mean, ignorant, too nice, right-wing, left-wing, pro life, pro choice, feminist, misogynist, whatever. They're not going away. Yet many people (especially in the states) seem to think that if they happen to win a shouting match then their opponent will just burst into flames. Michael Moore and Bill O'Reily are the two best examples.
Master Brinker always tells me that to shove an idea someone's throat, you have to get them to open their mouth first. To change someone's mind is not to batter it until they submit, but help see the value and reason of your position. Furthermore, maybe the best idea isn't to change people's minds, but make sure they think about why they hold to something and encourage them to use empathy in order to entertain other positions.
Or we could all just kill each other. Whichever works best for everyone.
In other news, it has been a long week. I'm a little behind but that's what the weekend is for. I find it hardest to practice when my mind is tired. My body I can pull along pretty much under any circumstance, but after a paper that makes it feel like my brain has been deep fried all I want to do is stare at a wall. I can still do that during pushups, I guess. Anyhow, back to work.
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