-What prevents us from changing our opinions?
-Does debate truly encourage people to change their minds, or does it actually prevent the formation of new opinions?
-Can one look at the opinions of others accurately without looking closely at their own assumptions?
-What is the role of mainstream media in the formation of public opinion?
-Does it allow for people to change opinions or work against it?
-Is action necessary to prove an opinion has truly changed; is saying one has changed enough?
-Is violence an option in changing opinions?
-What effect does an absence of imaginative change have on the possibilities for agency?
-Does academia serve to foster or prevent the changing of minds?
-Does experience override education (or vice versa) in the formation of beliefs, values, and opinions?
2 comments:
When I was in HS, I would spend my lunch break debating. My husband, whom I met in HS, says he would chuckle when I was surrounded by Christians and we would be going at it. Legalization of prostitution, religion, birth control in the schools, you name it, I would debate it. I love debating ideas and learning new ideas. I am passionate about it.
The older I've become, the more I miss debate. I find most people don't want to debate or really even discuss ideas and beliefs. You know the old saying of don't discuss politics and religion? Why not I say. I find that most people are afraid to do it, because if someone disagrees with them, they take it personally. They're afraid to be made to look "wrong". wtf that drives me nuts. You hold your beliefs for some REASONS. Share those reasons and your thought processes so that I may re-examine my own. Let us find flaws in logic if there are any, let us try to better understand. Most people don't want to do this. I have also found that some don't want to do this because for some reason they hold certain beliefs for no known reasons other than it is common. Hell, even John Kerry was labeled a flip-flopper for learning new information and changing his mind. I thought it showed a bright and open mind, the public thought it was bad mojo.
I guess in the end it all saddens me. So many are isolated in real thought, even amongst spouses. I see people coming together to discuss laundry detergent pros/cons, and blissfully seem contented by that sharing of nonsense. They are willing to change their minds on those trivialities. But don't discuss anything of import in case the cozy coccoon of shallowness and indifference be torn apart.
I then thought that most must keep those kinds of discussions within a marriage. My husband and I have what I consider to be deep philosophical discussions almost daily. Sometimes it is only a 15 minute tidbit on a very specific topic, sometimes hours of debate and reflection. But then I discovered, no, these kinds of discussions don't happen in many marriages either. So I am flummoxed and saddened. There are many folk stories from different cultures on where we are in the scope of all things. One I remember ends up showing that our whole universe is captured inside the pinkie ring of a being - to elaborate our insignificance. We may have brains, and so many think that humans are better than animals, etc. I don't know, we look like an ant colony to me.
Everyone, thanks!
I'm just absorbing your comments... Dialogic is sort of my ongoing answer to these questions.
Mason--I'm reading my copy of this months Harpers, but I'm still on the long, powerful essay by Jonathan Kozol!
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