I've been thinking about this for the last month, trying to figure out where I stand in relation to the majority. I've decided what I have is a character flaw, not a virtue.
About a month or so ago I met up with a couple thousand people marching around Hollywood. They all felt the same way as I did about the Iraq nonsense, but I kept returning to a troubling idea. I was there because I felt what we're doing is wrong, but everyone else was there because they knew it was wrong. They had certitude, were convinced they were right, and there was no discussion at all going on. They were all certain, and pretty much it was a mutual admiration society.
I don't like a lot of things. I don't, though, think I'm "right" about very many of my dislikes at all. I just think I don't like them, that they aren't right for me, not that they're intrinsically evil. Where does everyone get these unflappable convictions?
I think I'd be startled beyond measure if my beliefs turned out to be "right" in some cosmic sense. Is everyone else more attuned than I am to morality? Do they all zero in on what is right or do they discover what's right, and then adapt that viewpoint as their own? Which comes first, the view or the correctness of it?
I suppose the easy answer is that they feel a particular way about something, then find others to support their beliefs and stop thinking about it, convinced of their success in unraveling a mystery, but I refuse to think people are that shallow. There must be more than "here is X, I think it's wrong so it is" going on. Half the fun of having an opinion is being able to embrace and understand the other viewpoint, and I think our failure to do that is at least partially responsible for our country's myopic and disastrous foreign policy.
The problem is not that the terrorists hate us, but why.
Indecisive
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2 comments:
If it makes any difference, I think I'm way to flexible. If someone presents a good argument to me about something, I find myself sympathetic - it's quite annoying to think that you're a liberal and then read some consverative crap and realize they might have a point. Then I'm faced with whether they're right or I'm just indecisive.
I've always thought that these things don't fall into right or wrong, that there isn't one "right" answer. The indecision is good, since that's how I react!
And that, kind of, was my point. I'm pro abortion, for instance, but I don't think it's "right" to have abortions. But, I also don't think it's right to refuse them to people who choose to have them. There isn't a right answer, just one I prefer.
A few things are right, or wrong, but not many.
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