Poll How open minded are you politically?

let's get murderin

I supported FSR genital equality. Yeah.

I'd say I'm mostly open. I was raised Atheist and Capitalist but I've spent most of this year reading books about Islam and Marxism/Collectivism (and Botany which has nearly nothing to do with politics). I was aware of Islam and Marxism before now of course, but I wanted to really try to make an effort understand them. So I sunk my heels and dug in.

So I read the Koran and the Satanic Verses. I read the Communist Manifesto and The Wealth of Nations. I read many other ancillary works on both subjects. Both ideologies are currently being fellated on bended knee by the Left. This is important in my case because I have always considered myself to be 'on the Left'. I am challenging my Leftist teaching for the first time in true earnestness.

I have found nothing convincing in either subject. I was skeptical of both ideologies before I started my reading projects and at this current time I continue to remain so. Even more so now that I actually have a somewhat functional understanding of their gear-works.

There is this idea, it seems, that the past offers us some truly wonderful ideologies that we moderns are raping, appropriating, and ignoring to our everlasting peril. I find that sentiment to be mostly incorrect. We moderns are (mostly) awesome and we shouldn't lose sight of that.

While it is certainly true that we should endeavor to understand the past, it is not necessarily true that we should always endeavor to emulate it. See: That South African chick who recently encouraged us all to abandon science in order to allow us all to listen to a tribal shaman regarding his ability to summon lightning bolts from his arse.

Plato and Aristotle are, more or less, great exemplars of this.

Plato all but created metaphysics, which is a useful tool in thinking about philosophy. But ultimately it appears that his Theory of Forms is useful only in thinking, and not in actual practice. It is useful to imagine Heaven. It is not useful to actually believe in it wholesale. There is no such thing as a 'Platonic Rabbit'.

Aristotle encouraged us to observe nature and draw conclusions based on the objective world while trusting in our own ability to practice reason. Most of his own observations were wrong in the end but he started us on that path.

So although both men turned out to be wrong about most things, they were right to have had the thoughts they did, in the time they did, and to have shared them with us. So if we think either of them to be bearers of ultimate truth, we are making a mistake. They were merely teachers, not actual Gods.

I appreciate the Left and I appreciate the Right. At least, I try to. Lately it's been difficult to appreciate either.

The Left is supposed to be Progressive but I find them recently embracing Marxism and Muhammadanism, both of which appear to me to be old and dead wretched and disgusting philosophies of ruin. Why any thinking person would embrace them is still a mystery to me.

The Right is supposed to be Individualistic and for holding the torch of the best of our past, but recently I find them to be abject slaves to Monotheism and Eugenics.

Anyway, I appreciate the thread Picasso. I do try to be open to ideas. But I do not try to be inclusive of them all.

In other words, I will read a thing but I will not always agree with a thing.

Fairly open.

I'd have to say i'm more tolerant than open minded. There's no shortage of dumbfucks or dumbfuck ideas in this world.

So when I worked in personal finance one of the first things I would ask people is how good are you at saving money? How financially responsible are you? Many people thought they were good but did not write up a budget, did not put aside money as part of a routine (unless 401k), and most importantly few actually sacrificed any comfort to do it. That's not being good at it at all. No.

I look at open minded the same way. Are you willing to analyze your views and check if you're leaning hard one way, if you're inconsistent, if you're hypocritical? Do you ever do what some strangely find absurd and actively try to change the way you think about a subject? Do you seek out differing opinions and more importantly do you make a sincere effort to look at things from other sides? Do you, for a quick example, hear about neo nazis getting the shit beat out of them in CA and think perhaps "I should not be supporting this violence even if I hate them" or maybe it's "I should not be feeling bad for these terrible people" or something else... and let this cause you to reflect and maybe change? Are you willing to challenge your own ideology and worldview by asking questions like "is this actually good for people", maybe "does this work" and "why do people disagree with me" or "how can I make this even better" etc?

If your open mindedness does not involve planning, nor does it take work, and especially if you don't regularly challenge it and question it and try to deliberately improve... you're probably not all that open minded, sorry!

Lendarios said:

I am very open, I am fully aware of the bad acts of the people that I am voting for and against.
I do base my voting in the circle strategy, first circle is me, second circle my family, then my friends, then my local social group, then I go expanding the circle up.

I never understood why people vote against their self-interest, and then complain that they are not doing better under the new government.

You guys made fun that I actually took my time to read my local newspaper recommendations on voting, when a shitload of people don't even bother to do that, they just vote from the hip.

Click to expand...

I can respect that more than what most people do.

But as far as your last statement, I'd expect more from people in this community. Read the actual positions of the candidates, and use your own analysis to determine how you feel about the positions. Reading the newspaper's opinions and using that as your own is lazy and not actually forming your own opinion on the subject, it's making an opinion of an opinion.