Found this in an archive from 2005.
I have come to realize that some folks, in order to maintain a very narrow belief system, no longer allow themselves to evaluate other belief systems. In essence, other points of view dangerously threaten their fragile little world. That is, their own opinions seem like Universal Truths to them, because no other opinions impinge upon them. Sadly, they become desperate to eliminate diversity from the world – diversity that in their narrow minds seems to be life-threatening aberration.
It’s a very easy way to live your life, uncomplicated by consideration of other aspects of the Truth. It’s all black and white. It is the basis of hatred. Jung talks about this concept quite a bit. He saw it as the basis of evil. The evil can’t be in *me* you see. The evil is out there somewhere – shrinks call it “projection”.
You can’t have a meaningful debate with a person who doesn’t see your side well enough to come up with convincing rebuttals. You can’t have a meaningful debate when your esteemed opponent finds the very need for debate to be a personal threat.
For the most part, folks with this impairment are in my kill file. And it doesn’t matter one small bit whether they are Democrats or Republicans, though the latter seem, in my personal Truth, to be more prone to it.
Oh, this is a good explanation of one illness that results in the sort of black and white thinking I’m talking about. It is called
Bad Behavior
Member of American Mensa, Ltd.
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Potential Threat To The Nation
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