hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2002-06-25 09:10 am
hummingwolf) wrote2002-06-25 09:10 am
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I try hard to be an open-minded person. By "open-minded" I mean not that I think all ideas are equally valid, but that I try to keep in mind that I can be wrong, that there is a possibility that ideas which I do not currently believe may have some explanatory power, some truth value greater than zippo. So when I hear some flaky idea, I do not dismiss it; rather, I try to put myself within the new frame of reference, see through other people's eyes, and discover what this alternate way of seeing could tell me about the world. Even if I ultimately reject the idea, I continue to try to respect its power. I understand that a person who holds a belief I consider mistaken is not necessarily stupid or insane; and that even if they are insane, that fact alone does not automatically make them wrong.
But even as open-minded as I try to be, there are some concepts I have difficulty with. For instance, I have lately been grappling with the hypothesis that all the beliefs which ordinary people consider loony are, in fact, loony. It turns out that I am very strongly prejudiced against this particular idea.
Maybe my problem is with the ordinary people. After all, it was the regular kids who made my childhood a living hell while the freaks and weirdos often proved the kindest friends. Or maybe my problem is with the fact that normal types tend to base their arguments, not on anything resembling logic, but on something they refer to as "common sense." They don't bother to define common sense. They don't bother to explain why their common sense is so obviously true while the common sense of the vast majority of other cultures in other places and times is so obviously unenlightened. And "common sense" types really don't help their case when they argue that their ideas are based on modern scientific principles while at the same time arguing that some concept from the lunatic fringe must be untrue because it is absurd. Hello? Have these people even heard of quantum physics??
Eep. I really shouldn't try thinking actual thoughts when it's 88 degrees in my room.
But even as open-minded as I try to be, there are some concepts I have difficulty with. For instance, I have lately been grappling with the hypothesis that all the beliefs which ordinary people consider loony are, in fact, loony. It turns out that I am very strongly prejudiced against this particular idea.
Maybe my problem is with the ordinary people. After all, it was the regular kids who made my childhood a living hell while the freaks and weirdos often proved the kindest friends. Or maybe my problem is with the fact that normal types tend to base their arguments, not on anything resembling logic, but on something they refer to as "common sense." They don't bother to define common sense. They don't bother to explain why their common sense is so obviously true while the common sense of the vast majority of other cultures in other places and times is so obviously unenlightened. And "common sense" types really don't help their case when they argue that their ideas are based on modern scientific principles while at the same time arguing that some concept from the lunatic fringe must be untrue because it is absurd. Hello? Have these people even heard of quantum physics??
Eep. I really shouldn't try thinking actual thoughts when it's 88 degrees in my room.
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I thought i was the only ordinary person ("everyone else is weird in varying degrees, depending on how different they are from me." -Dominic) and I certainly don't see things how you just said...
Then again, I tend to think that everyone agrees with me, and they just don't know it yet. :)
Hey, and it's only 85 degrees where I am. Imagine what I'll say when it hits 94!
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Other people
*tears hair out in sympathy*
Re: Other people