superiority
Posted on | January 25, 2004 |
Politics. It’s a horrible beast. Intriguing, yet so divisive. It seems that, in most people, political opinion causes tunnel vision. Lately, I have been bombarded with strong political opinions. And I’m not just talking the news — blogs, namely. However, it is not the strong opinions that bother me. It’s the superiority complex that most times seems to accompany said strong opinions. Am I really unintelligent and uneducated if I don’t agree with your opinions? See they’re just that. Your opinions — filtered, diluted, masked, and otherwise kneaded by your own personal experiences. I’m angered and frustrated when I read statements like, “As I grew up and had more education, I became a liberal.” As though learning leads to liberalness, and those of us who don’t become liberal are ignorant. (And I did read a statement very similar to this yesterday, but darn if I can find the link).
But see I’m not liberal or conservative. And I believe people across the spectrum to be educated, intelligent, and well-spoken. Well, there are stupid people. That’s a fact. However, intelligence is NOT directly related to one’s political leanings.
UPDATE: Exhibit A: The ‘Also…philosophy?’ section here. (although not the one I was referring to above)
Comments
4 Responses to “superiority”
January 26th, 2004 @ 5:23 am
There are not enough people like you in the world, honestly. Don’t know very many others who are actively apolitical
keep that cranium open
January 26th, 2004 @ 7:19 am
Correct Nicole, I agree. There all just opinions, and opinions are like assholes … everybody has one. [I love that line]
When your in a crowd of 5 people and you ask for an opinion you have less than a 10% chance of getting everybody to agree .. Mathematically anyways.
People need to learn to discuss, not argue their points whilst trying to belittle people for thier opinions.
Here Here ..
January 26th, 2004 @ 11:02 am
Hear hear! I don’t actually run into this kind intelletual arrogance very often, but it’s oh-so-annoying when I do.
Equally frustrating is the common insistence upon generalizing “the other side’s” reasoning, assigning to them nasty or unintelligent arguments. E.g., conservatives are greedy, pro-choicers don’t respect human life, pro-lifers don’t respect women’s rights, pro-gunners care more about their sport/fun than human life, etc.
January 28th, 2004 @ 11:27 am
I agree with what you’re saying here Nicole, but I see another side of it as well. There’s a certain type of conservative out there who is a conservative because that is all he knows. He’s never explored the other options. He’s never set foot outside his front door. I think that’s what these folks are trying to say when they grew up and became liberal. It’s not really so much that their education or age changed things but rather their experiences.
Now this is not in any way meant to say that once you leave your house and explore the world you are an idiot if you’re not liberal. I’m just saying that with experience, opinions often change.