It just occurred to me that I can't remember the last time someone tried to convince me to change my mind about something. It seems that people are just too eager to live and let live. Have we gotten to the point that we just don't care how other people see the world? Are we so diluted and soft that we don't care enough to separate right from wrong, to see that some choices are better than others?
Now, I'll admit that I don't know what to associate this trend with. Rather than just picking one out of a hat, as I would normally do, and rant against it, I thought I'd let you write your own rant! So, dear reader, what has caused us to stop trying to better our friends and fellow humans?
1) Hippies. The influence of dirty, unwashed liberalism in modern America has made all conservative values moot.
2) Anthropology. Cultural relativism has infected society in general.
3) Television. We see too much of everything, so it all seems familiar.
4) Urban life. The breakdown in traditional small-town connections and values leaves us without a basis for culture.
5) Space aliens. Divide and conquer!
6. Commies. Because they can't stand our red-blooded American ways!
7) The internet. Everything now has a forum and a support group, so it all seems normal.
8) Secularity. People no longer turn to religion for a grounding basis.
9) 4chan.
10) Loki. He's behind everything, isn't he?
The Charming Mr. Wheaton
-
My Dearest Gentle Readers,
It is with the greatest pleasure that I am able to inform you that on this
very day I was so delightfully privileged as to meet t...
15 years ago
I think people are nervous about offering me advice because I was a philosophy major and they're afraid of looking foolish. Perhaps it's the same with you. It's easy to give an average person advice, but how do you try to change the mind of an exceptional person?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's the passive approach you're taking. If you want advice or feel the need to examine something about yourself you generally ask others.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mr. Admiral I doubt they're afraid of looking foolish. People who think they're good at argument (whether they are or not) simply make for a frustrating discussion. They probably just think you won't listen anyway.
And also Loki.
Do I know you, Anonymous? Or is this just advice from the ether?
ReplyDeleteI find that as I get older people kinda assume that I know what I'm doing, and I get less advice and opinion from people. But I also think it's possible that divisions in the country and the resulting PC attitudes that have emerged make people more guarded about their opinion. So it isn't 4chan. I like to think of 4chan as the afterbirth of the tide of pale white internet boys that would have overtaken everything if only they could have made it out of their parent's basement.
ReplyDeletei'm gonna go with #7. also, loki.
ReplyDeletei seem to find as i grow older that fewer people try to change my mind about things because they assume they already know what i think about them, whether or not they're right. it's different when you're a kid, and everyone's still figuring out what they think about everything.
also, i don't really try to change people's minds by arguing. i have better things to do with my time. i figure if i'm going to change anyone's mind about anything, it's going to be by things i do or how i act, not what i say.