While I was at the gym the other day, working through the Cybex machines, I was regaled with a heated political discussion among three ditto-heads. They were busying themselves by patting each other on the back for their sound, conservative viewpoints and agreeing that no liberal thinker could ever enjoy their clarity of vision--because leftist beliefs are based entirely on lies. In their world view, disagreements occur not because of differences in fundamental philosophical priorities among us, or even reaching different conclusions based on the same information, but because Republicans are inherently correct and Democrats are immoral and stupid. "Just ask those three-thousand people who died in the World Trade Center," one exceptionally clever ditto-head pointed out.
I said nothing. I had heard it all before, growing up as I did in a conservative southern home. Our right wing agenda was both logical and honorable. Those who opposed our views fell into one of two groups. The first group was made up of the evil, manipulative types, bent on the subversion of OUR AMERICA--for reasons that were never quite clear (that's just the way THEY are). The second group consisted of the mindless sheep, too stupid and short sighted to see beyond the lies and "bread and circus" type tactics of the first group. And taking this as a given, the very fact that sheep opposed our views was proof of our own moral and intellectual superiority.
I went along with this through my adolescence. I jumped into the writings of Ayn Rand, as adolescents sometimes do (hey, it was good enough for Steve Ditko!) The fact that many people did not appreciate her books just emphasized my own cleverness at "getting it." I was young and arrogant (despite having no credentials to warrant any arrogance) and opinionated (despite having no meaningful life experience on which to base opinions).
Time passed, Spring becomes Summer and then Fall and then Winter. Rinse. Repeat. Gradually I grew up (very gradually--and my wife would argue not completely.) I took a middle management position at a software developer. I had to mediate concerns between employees, field questions and concerns about events at the company from the people who worked under me. I had to be able to see all sides of a problem and communicate opposing concerns to people who
weren't seeing all sides of problems. During this period I got married, took on a family, and found myself on the receiving end of adolescent opinions. I also had software users complain about products I had worked on, letting me know they could only be produced by someone who was evil or a mindless sheep.
It's been an eye-opening journey. I no longer assume that I know everything or that everyone else is a fool. I try and see both sides of issues, even the emotionally charged ones. I try to maintain an objective view of the world, even when those about me are trolling the message boards. I think it's just a more sensible way to live my life.
Of course, you may disagree. But you are
stupid and
evil.
