*** This entry was originally posted to LiveJournal May 17, 2010 ***
"I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine." -- Bertrand Russell
"Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon." -- E. M. Forster
"Exercise the right to think for yourself." -- Sticker posted in my cubicle
I read the following exchange in a blog post to which a friend of mine posted a link on his Facebook wall. To put it in context, the post was reporting a difference between the National Rifle Association's leadership and its membership regarding whether people on the terrorism watch list should be allowed to purchase firearms (according to the blog, the NRA leadership says yes while the rank-and-file says no). One NRA member to whom the blogger spoke did not believe that people on the watch list can currently buy firearms. The blogger attempted to provide corroborating evidence by citing an article from The Washington Post. With all of that background, here at last is the relevant exchange:
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NRA MEMBER: The Washington Post, I think that's part of the like the Communist News Broadcasting and everything. . . . I wouldn't believe a word I read in The Washington Post. It's one of the worst papers in the whole country, from what I've heard. [emphasis added]
BLOGGER: Oh, then which newspaper would you believe?
NRA MEMBER: Which newspaper? I don't know I would stick to Fox News over everything.
*****
Wow.
Look, you can hold (pretty much) whatever opinion you like. You don't have to agree with me on much of anything--obviously I think it'd be nice if you did agree with me, but don't let that influence your decision. All I ask is for your opinion please to be your opinion.
Think what you think because you think it, not because anyone, and I mean anyone, told you to think it. Not your parents, not your teachers, not your clergy, not somebody who wrote a book a few thousand years ago, not the Founders of the country, not your lover, not Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken or Michael Savage or Jon Stewart or Glenn Beck or Keith Olbermann, not me. Not anyone. To paraphrase the movie Anchorman, and when I say anyone, I mean eh-nee-wuh-nuh.
Take a good, long, deep, hard look inside your heart and your mind. Look at each opinion or belief you find (yes, all of them) and ask, "Why do I have this? Do I really need to keep it?" Don't be afraid to answer no, and to put the no-longer-useful clutter in the trash bin. That thought that someone gave you a long time ago (or yesterday) that you've felt obliged to hang onto--or afraid to discard--needs to go away if it isn't actually helpful to you.
Go ahead: no one on that list of people I mentioned actually rules your head, and any god or gods that exist must surely be big enough to withstand your questioning. You can even put those ideas back after you've looked at them if you want and if they're still serving you well. At least after this process, though, any ideas you put back on the shelves will genuinely be yours; they won't belong to those who gave them to you anymore. Once you've discarded all the hand-me-downs and unwanted "gifts" and things you can't remember why you bought, you'll have room for the existing items you choose to keep and to bring in new items of your choosing--and everything that's left will be the things that truly do work for you, not the things you hang onto because you're told they're supposed to work for you.
Remember: ideas can have huckster salespeople just like useless trinkets in shops and on TV commercials can. If someone tells you that all your problems will be solved if you just buy into a particular idea, the idea probably doesn't actually work any better than would a combination floor mop and potato slicer that's advertised on TV at 3 AM. With ideas as with trinkets, let the buyer beware.
The only idea I'm trying to sell you right now is that you should decide for yourself which ideas you hold and which you abandon--and I'm in no way suggesting that to do so is easy or will magically solve all your problems. If after thinking about my idea you decide that I'm full of nonsense, that's okay with me--your consideration and acceptance or rejection of my idea is good practice in exactly the process I'm advocating. My principle is affirmed whichever way you decide. On the other hand, if you discard--or accept--my ideawithout thinking about it, then you've gone against my principle.
The human capacity to share and to communicate ideas is truly a beautiful thing. It's also beautiful that each of us has his or her own brain, and the power to choose what we keep up there. So I invite you to soak up all the information you can from lots of different sources, and through selection and analysis to make all the ideas that go into, and that later come out of, your brain entirely and emphatically your own.
Or not, as you choose. But even if you don't agree with me on anything else, I do hope you'll at least agree with me on this. Thanks.
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