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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (48128)	5/23/2002 5:33:59 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

I think many people are not prepared to be in a place where they find out what other people are really thinking. Many people go through life believing that most people are thinking the same thoughts they are, and believe the same things they do, and have the same mores they do. I agree with you. When faced with this, it seems to me that most people seem to cope by rejecting the alien perspectives and the people who hold them. Knee-jerk defensiveness. I don't see much listening going on. Or curiosity. Or interest in understanding the alternatives. Or making their own position more informed. Just nuke the outliers. And then there's my favorite hobbyhorse, the dearth of critical thinking, which I have ranted about all too often already...

To: epicure who wrote (48128)	5/24/2002 8:39:52 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Thanks, I appreciate that. Yes, there is not an adequate appreciation of the range of human experience or opinion. I do not believe that the gap is always unbridgeable, and I think that human beings can progress in understanding, but it is necessary to acknowledge the limitations and problems to make any headway, and sometimes it is hopeless. There is almost no common ground between myself and a Hottentot. I am in the superior position, insofar as I can more readily inform myself on how he lives, but to understand what it is like to live that way is a practical impossibility. Even when there is more in common, will we ever understand why the French adore Jerry Lewis? One of the things I got out of my trip to France (the first time I was out of the country) was that despite a fair reading knowledge of French, and a love of French culture (food, movies, music), I had not imagined what it would be like, nor how purely foreign it would be. I think I am more comfortable with variances, although I may be wrong. After all, I used to go from lighting the Menorah to Christmas parties with my mother's relatives, and experienced being brought up as a Jew for some number of years, then being brought up as a Catholic as a teen. I went from liberal Democrat (following my family), to radical sympathizer (I used to know a big chunk of the Port Huron statement, and aspired to be in SDS when I got to college), to moderate liberal, to conservative. I grew up in an integrated neighborhood, and have a black sister- in- law. At the same time, the mother of one of my best friends was a supporter of George Wallace, and sometimes got on a soapbox in front of me. In general, I have seen a lot at close quarters.......

To: epicure who wrote (48128)	5/26/2002 2:26:32 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I think many people are not prepared to be in a place where they find out what other people are really thinking. Many people go through life believing that most people are thinking the same thoughts they are, and believe the same things they do, and have the same mores they do. This is, in part at least, I think because in "real life" people tend to gather with the people who share their values and backgrounds. When you have a choice who to associate with, and have to make some effort do so (buy a house in the same neighborhood, invite them to parties or go to their parties, go golfing or fishing together, work in the same place at related jobs, join the same book discussion group, play poker or bridge together, or whatever forms of physical interaction one chooses) I think people tend to associate with generally like minded people because it is more comfortable and less stressful. Even when we choose to engage physically with very unlike minded people, it is usually for limited periods and we retreat to the sanctuary of the familiar. The internet, by contrast, with little effort brings us into interrelationships with people whose lifestyles we have no ability to judge other than by what they say about themselves, and who may think vastly differently than we do. It can be stimulating, but can also be very challenging.