More political thoughts
I'm in a political mood. Call it the new president (who I think will be far better than the old one, but I know not all agree), or whatever. Anyways.
Some observations I've made:
Those who are hard-core liberals and conservatives tend to be completely unyielding in their beliefs. They tend to want to lecture others about how they are right and the other side is wrong. Sarcasm, flame wars, and irrationality seem to come with this sort of behavior. I don't know why, but in my own life conservatives are more guilty of this behavior than liberals. I love a good political argument, as long as people are being reasonable. When people are ganged up on and told they're wrong because of whatever inflexible reason all it does is lead to hard feelings. The people on the extremes see the world in black and white - there's no continuom. For instance, just because Obama's plans are more socialist than current plans, they're automatically socialist. Or just because Obama has charisma he's comparable to Hitler (I find this particular comparison incredibly offensive, but I recognize other people's rights to feel that way). There's a continuoum! I am an example of this myself. I'm fairly liberal, but my own moral compass is very similar to my Catholic upbringing. So I'm still pro-life. I didn't make this decision because the Church told me to make it, I made it because I thought it over and agree with the position.
I really can't respect when people don't put thought into their beliefs and blindly believe whatever Limbaugh, Hannity, Machosauce, Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, or even George Bush or Barack Obama tells them to believe. I can, however, respect if people have put thought into their positions and can explain the "why". For instance, I'm not afraid of the government taking over my life and us becoming a nation which goosesteps in unison just because I think that there is a role for the government in ensuring our poorest people have a basic standard of living. I even point to my Catholic upbringing for my reasons as to why I believe this.
So, in summary, I've observed that altogether too many people are robotic. We humans were born with brains. Use them. Don't believe something just because God or some human told you to - believe it because you think it's right, after having thought it over. And, when defending those beliefs, don't automatically think that any disagreement with you is an attack on you - just go ahead and debate it, instead of flaming people or retreating behind childish "but X told me it's true so it has to be true".
*hands soapbox back to whomever he stole it from. Also apologizes if any "e's" ended up missing, my laptop's "e" key is a bit wonky now
Some observations I've made:
Those who are hard-core liberals and conservatives tend to be completely unyielding in their beliefs. They tend to want to lecture others about how they are right and the other side is wrong. Sarcasm, flame wars, and irrationality seem to come with this sort of behavior. I don't know why, but in my own life conservatives are more guilty of this behavior than liberals. I love a good political argument, as long as people are being reasonable. When people are ganged up on and told they're wrong because of whatever inflexible reason all it does is lead to hard feelings. The people on the extremes see the world in black and white - there's no continuom. For instance, just because Obama's plans are more socialist than current plans, they're automatically socialist. Or just because Obama has charisma he's comparable to Hitler (I find this particular comparison incredibly offensive, but I recognize other people's rights to feel that way). There's a continuoum! I am an example of this myself. I'm fairly liberal, but my own moral compass is very similar to my Catholic upbringing. So I'm still pro-life. I didn't make this decision because the Church told me to make it, I made it because I thought it over and agree with the position.
I really can't respect when people don't put thought into their beliefs and blindly believe whatever Limbaugh, Hannity, Machosauce, Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, or even George Bush or Barack Obama tells them to believe. I can, however, respect if people have put thought into their positions and can explain the "why". For instance, I'm not afraid of the government taking over my life and us becoming a nation which goosesteps in unison just because I think that there is a role for the government in ensuring our poorest people have a basic standard of living. I even point to my Catholic upbringing for my reasons as to why I believe this.
So, in summary, I've observed that altogether too many people are robotic. We humans were born with brains. Use them. Don't believe something just because God or some human told you to - believe it because you think it's right, after having thought it over. And, when defending those beliefs, don't automatically think that any disagreement with you is an attack on you - just go ahead and debate it, instead of flaming people or retreating behind childish "but X told me it's true so it has to be true".
*hands soapbox back to whomever he stole it from. Also apologizes if any "e's" ended up missing, my laptop's "e" key is a bit wonky now