Why is it that every time someone who has an opinion on a subject, they get railed on by people who are supposedly 'open-minded'? Seems to me like the conservatively-minded catch the worst of it. Since when is conservative wrong? Granted, I know that there are extremes in every case and this entire post may be a gross generalization in and of itself, but I just feel like if you don't agree with an opinion and you feel you have to say something, don't just say, "you need to be more open-minded" and walk off like a god or something. Opinions are gleaned from one's own experiences or preference and often cannot be helped. For example, I can't stand the taste or smell of peanut butter. I didn't choose that, that's just how I am. That may be a silly example but it seems like if I just randomly posted that somewhere, someone would tell me why I was wrong to hate PB. This happens all the time with more serious topics. My thinking is this; the more open-minded you really are, the less likely you are to criticize those who think a little more 'in the box'. Stating your opinion is not wrong as long as you are not bashing those who think differently, open-mindedly, or not at all. I am not judging anyone, I am just trying to understand.
Well i'm willing to eat and try any food and ever since discovering MLP FiM i'm willing to watch any show before judging it first.
Is this inspired by the SheZow thread? I will be open-minded about other people's opinions and listen to them, but if they are discriminatory, I will also make the person aware of this. Once you voice your opinion in a public forum, it can be made the subject of critique. EDIT: To continue your PB example, there is a difference between not wanting to eat peanut butter and not wanting to see others eat peanut butter in a public space.
To answer your question, yes it was. Also, I seem to find critique as a mild form of closed-mindedness. Again, just my opinion. I seem to find both sides of any argument valid whether I agree with them or not. IDK, maybe I'm just indifferent.
Critique as a form of closed-mindedness? No, I don't see the logic there. As long as you actually weigh what the other person is saying and think about it. Furthermore, if a person's opinion is that a dude shouldn't wear a dress if he wants to, I don't see why pointing out that that is closed-minded would in itself be closed-minded. Again, there is "I don't want to eat peanut butter" and then there's "I don't want anyone to eat peanut butter".
^ To the other point about conservatives being the target of this criticism, yes calling someone "not open minded enough and then walking off" is a terrible and lazy way to address the situation, but a lot of the self-labeled conservatives i have known hold at least a handful of "opinions" that are factually incorrect - as in they can be proven wrong objectively: gay is a choice, women aren't as capable as men, Islam is inherently worse than Christianity, global warming isn't real, the color of your skin is related to your intelligence, free-markets cannot fail, trickle-down economics, ... I could keep going for paragraphs, and I know not all "conservatives" hold every one of these beliefs, but at the end of the day I have trouble identifying very many conservative goals or ideologies that aren't either wrong or morally questionable... for full transparency, yes I am a socialist, but I do try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not assume just because someone is a conservative they are a bad person - it's only when someone says or does something discriminatory or is looking at the world with incomplete or false information that I get concerned.
Unfortunately, a lot of critique ends up coming off as biased. I do agree that both opinions should be weighed but many of the criticisms of others' views do not balance out. Again, another sad fact of society. Or maybe that's just life. I have my opinions but still accept others' opinions as equally if not more valid when compared to my own. It is like when the Miss America contestant stated her views on same-sex marriage. The media drilled her a new one for answering a loaded question honestly. Why was her opinion any less valid than Perez Hilton's? I guess the ideal would be acceptance from both sides but that seems to be a true rarity in society.
Ooooooooh, yeah. Thaaaaaaat. So if somebody states the opinion that your civil rights should be infringed upon, you are not allowed to be upset, because that would be narrow-minded. 'Kay. Again, I totally agree with you in cases where it's not about the rights of others. It's fine if you want to live conservatively. But if you start telling others what to do, or perhaps even take away their right (like, say, by voting yes to prop 8 and the like), yeah, you're going to be verbally ripped a new one. And that's fair.
She said that it was great that Americans can choose so she wasn't saying anything against anyone's rights. She didn't say her opinion was right either. She just stated what it was. I figure if you ask a question to where the answer may upset you, don't get upset when you get the one you disagree with.
I'll admit I somewhat pride myself on my open-mindedness, and I like to think that I am quite open-minded. I've always tried to seek all sides of the story and give them equal chance, it's simply how I like to learn, however I still reserve the right to disagree with and voice my disagreement towards other's opinions. For instance, my brother's girlfriend is convinced microwaves will destroy the nutritional value of food and expose you to radiation. I thought this was complete and utter crap right from the start, yet still, I listened to her and did my own research because maybe there was some element of truth to the matter. My opinion didn't sway but I did happen to learn that microwaves do destroy some nutrients, in fact all and any cooking will, it is simply the heat that does it not microwaves exclusively. I guess at the end of the day, I just don't see the point in being close-minded. Where does it get you; instantly refusing an alternative outlook? Why willfully and blatantly stay so fixed in your own knowledge and opinion, for pride, ego or sheer stubbornness?
2 months ago, I would have told you that I am open-minded, it's just that I am not as much as others. After I watched MLP I would tell you that I am willing to give everything a chance and try to like something before I criticize it In other words: I am an open-minded person
I would consider myself rather open minded, but when I do make a decision about something, you'll be hard pressed to change my mind, even when new evidence is put in front of me. I give things a chance, but if I don't like them, it usually stays that way.
I think I'm rather open-minded. I do have my opinion on certain stuff, like eating meat, but I will never try to force one to have the same opinion. I am pretty aware of what humans are like, so I do know that there are many people who think differently. It's all okay, altough I must admit that sometimes, even I can go mad of certain people. Example: racism. When one says that they don't like, or even hate a black person, I'm okay with that, but when they start to bash on them because they are black, that's where I draw the line. The exact same thing with hate of any kind. It is okay to have an opinion, but it's not okay to destroy the thing you hate because you hate it. Or with the habit to love things that are rather weird, let's say collecting panties. First of all, I don't praction that, but some might say it's perverted, while I just say that it's the hobby of that person. It's not that they just steal the panties from women, I think that most of these people just buy them. Changing my mind would also be hard, considering that I just know what I want. Some might call it stubborn, but just know that I have my reasons. I used to eat loads of meat every day, I used to go to church every week, if you can't change my mind, it just means I've already tried the things you propose. Doesn't mean I don't try new things though. Let's just say that I have a very high tollerance level, the only thing I can't tolerate is a high dose of lactose
Something else I was thinking about, re-reading through this thread, is that I know a lot of people that have never personally been accused of being closed-minded and yet they act as if the whole world is accusing them of it... and it comes off as just being really insecure. I'm not necessarily talking about anyone here, but it's just food for thought in general. It isn't even left-right politically specific either; there are just a lot of people out there both liberal and conservative that seem to feel like they are constantly victimized even tho no one is attacking them. Obviously there are real victims out there, but if you are wealthy, normative, white, etc, you should probably consider how bad you actually have it compared to other people.
^To sum this up. On the flipside to this, when do people actually admit to their closed-mindedness? I don't want to think negatively of myself, and I'm sure that others don't want to either. All of the people here so far have said that they are open-minded, yet I doubt that everyone is truly classified as open-minded. Of course, I don't know this for sure because I don't know all of them. I know GreatAndPowerfulTrixie, though. Let's try this experiment: Gappy, how open minded are you about Ireland being in the United Kingdom? :Trollestia: I have more conservative principals, yet I try to give people area to speak while arguing my point. Unrelated to discussion: a message to Ash243x: Spoiler: Unrelated to discussion. Politics and stuff. What is this? Westboro Baptist Church? This is stereotyping a lot. Dat irony. GOTO picture.
The way I see it, you're open-minded if you see the other side of an argument, regardless of whether you agree with it, and seek to understand the motivations of the person behind it. Or it could be when you accept ideas that come from unfamiliar sources. I do that sometimes, so I guess I'm open-minded, but there are a lot of ideas that I don't accept. I don't often think about open-mindedness because it isn't one of my chief concerns. I concern myself with what I believe is true and ethical. Whether I appear open-minded is likely due to the bias of the observer, so I don't really care. Everybody has their own beliefs that they'll stick to unless they greatly restructure and reevaluate their life. Considering that, we're all probably close-minded from a certain point of view.
Spoiler: Unrelated to discussion. Politics and stuff. I don't know much about the WBC other then a few specific instances of them being generally provocative jerks; What I was listing were various publicly declared principals, goals, and policies of the GOP (Republican Party), Libertarian Party, and a handful of "independent conservatives" or even "conservative democrats" in the United States. In addition to official declarations, I have also seen first hand a lifetime of anecdotal examples from my family, from peers, from public figures, and even some friends who all self-identify as "conservative". I can't speak about the political landscape outside of the US, as an american, but at least within this nation, and in the media, and in the legal system, there is a clear and consistent push by some people on the right which does not always coincide with facts and is in some cases bordering on cruel or at least counterproductive. I am not saying everyone that calls themselves conservative is like this but many who do are involved with supporting actively or passively discriminatory or damaging policies. Maybe I do have incomplete information like you are implying with the comment about irony, but until I am proven otherwise that the majority of self-identified conservatives don't actually believe or support these things; the countless years of terrible laws and proud testimony from conservative leaders speaks for itself. I like this viewpoint and relate to it quite a bit I think; I will admit to being "closed minded" from the perspective of someone holding viewpoints that attack my core set of beliefs. Yes, my beliefs are arbitrary in the grand scheme of things, but they are the sum of everything I have learned to hold as ethical and just. I believe in personal liberty and the public good, and any personal or political ideas that infringe upon either of those are a threat to me and I will never accept them for that reason.
First of all, very nicely put. Secondly, as for being open minded, I try to be as open minded as possible, though because of my life so far, I do have my judgmental moments.
I'm not very open minded. When I uphold a certain set of personal beliefs, my mind isn't easily swayed. Sorry, but that's how I am.
