blinders

While it is true that we must all begin with our own experiences and perceptions to form our opinions, it is also true that at a certain point, our dependence upon these markers end up functioning as blinders.  

This is not easy to fix, and, sadly, those of us who are committed to NOT getting caught by our own blinders are sometimes even more at risk of doing so, if only because of our insistence that we are constantly keeping an eye out for them.  

Some of the hallmarks of being caught in thought tunnels that I've noticed: predictable, repeated responses to external stimuli.  A tendency to immediately discard information which superficially appears to be suffering from intellectual tunnel vision. An over-reliance upon personal experience to back up opinions, statements, or actions.  

Sound kind of like everyone you know? Yeah, me too.  

When I say that things are fucked up, this is what I'm talking about.  Anecdotal evidence  will always play a role in our worldview, but it should never comprise the entirety of it.  Ditto books you've read or people you know. Even if you actively seek out information counter to your own opinion, the likelihood that you're really considering the opposite point of view is pretty slim.  Not because you're an asshole, merely because you're human.

When I first went back to college, I took a philosophy class which discussed absolutism and relativism in social scenarios, as well as from an aesthetic perspective.  I was about ten years older than everyone else in this introductory level class, and I swore, then and there, that I would never take another philosophy class.  No one listened.  All of these eighteen year old kids spoke with this level of conviction about what the knew was true, and I couldn't imagine how they knew any of it.  In this fairly large class, almost every single student was a self-proclaimed relativist, and I realized that it was probably in large part because they were kids in the early 2000s, in the aftermath of the PC movement, where we were all taught by the restriction of language that it was completely unacceptable to say anydamnedthing for fear of impinging on someone else's point of view.   

Oh, for fuck's sake, really?  

I wrote a piece in that class called "Absolute Relativism", which I started out with a quote from Men in Black: 

Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

My paper was about how relativists are absolutists in disguise, and hypocrites to boot. The basic premise of relativism is that all manner of knowledge and morality are relative to culture, society, and historical context.  Of course, the assumption that there are, under no circumstances, absolute truths is...you know.  An absolute truth. 

My professor didn't like it so much.

No matter how much you say you don't impose your beliefs on others, I promise: you do.  

I've been stuck for years because I know that, no matter how strongly I hold a belief, those that oppose me hold their opinions equally as strong.  So what can be done with that?  How can we coexist with other people who are equally validated in beliefs that are completely opposite our own?  

Annoying damned questions and no answers.