trying to "convince" others is basically proselytizing
They are simply filled with belief about everything- and they don't short circuit that belief with anything resembling critical thought.
Religioius folk have been proselytizing forever. It must work because people do have religious conversions. Proselytizing would never work on a "thinking" person, but I would think it would work often enough on a person who operates in the "believing" mode. And a believer, used to operating in believing mode, would naturally employ believer techniques to convince other believers to convert. Where they would get frustrated would be in trying to use those techniques on thinkers.
(I'm thinking and typing at the same time here, so please bear with me.)
We agree that thinking and believing don't mix. Maybe thinkers and believers are simply wired differently, as you suggest. Perhaps it's a function of how minds are trained or perhaps it's a function of intelligence. I don't know. Perhaps my curiosity about how others operate, as you suggest, is futile, but I have to keep trying. The alternative is to make an extremely uncomplimentary judgment and move on, and I'm not willing to make that judgment.
In the meantime, I will continue to try to elevate the level of discourse on the chance that blind believing is a correctable condition. I suppose the believers, and perhaps the PC police, might find it arrogant that I suggest that thinking is superior to believing as an operating mode. But believers butting heads have done a lot of damage throughout history and continue to do so. And there is nothing in the believer toolkit to overcome differences.
To the extent that people can come to be more civil and respectful, to listen actively and with open minds, to verify their sources, and to question with reason and respect, society will be a safer place. Even if believers and thinkers are wired differently and irrevocably, the ability of each to to recognize the features of the other is a useful tool to have in the societal toolkit.
Karen |
