I have been a member of AD for only a few days but I have been a silent observer for weeks. I feel more can be learned from listening than talking. I have observed quite a few debates and I started noticing a pattern. There were certain individuals that would never listen to facts and would argue that the moon was made out of cheese. That started me to thinking,how many people really really listen to the other persons comments.

This is the question to debate:

Are you open-minded or close-minded to the other persons facts and comments?


My answer is:

I try to be a independent and listen to all comments and facts and also common sense. If I don't attempt to listen to another view I will never grow and will stop learning.

I actually agree with your point. I also try not to be close-minded and try to listen to other people's comments, but it actually depends on who I am discussing with.

I am not so open minded as to believe this belongs in the foreign policy debate forum.

I don't know how it got into foreign policy. I don't remember putting it in that catageory. Excuse any mistakes that were made. I knew it was a mistake in trying this for the first time. If anyone wants to laugh at me,it is okay. lol. It won't be the first time I have fell down and it won't be the last.

Thanks for pointing it out Hugo.

What amazes me is, despite the amount of facts I have submitted proving that the libertarian philosophy is superior and that the Libertarian Party is the correct party to vote for, there remains liberals and conservatives and Democrats and Republicans on this forum. Open your minds up people!

I think this question is insulting.
Maybe I'm just close-minded!

Is anyone truly open-minded on everything? (Tell me not to get my panties in a wad, did you? Gee, what a great suggestion--I'll consider it! )

I usually try to temper my postings with an understanding of where the other person is coming from. (But when it comes to George W. Bush and his administration, my mind tends to close like a trap door. I think the man is so wrong on so many issues. )

I also understand that many, many people of different ages are reading all of these posts. From that standpoint, we have a responsibility to abide by social mores and encourage right conduct. I disagree most with those who try to deny or minimize the responsibility we have towards each other and the unseen readership, and who basically argue that "anything goes" if it's what we want to do.

So I guess I'm closed-minded, at least in these instances.

(edited)

Gee, I don't know if I am in the former category or the latter!

I guess I am a bit of both. The more you enter my personal, "core" beliefs, the more chances there are that I'll become close-minded.

If I were a house, I'd say it's easier to change a window than doing the foundations again.

OOOOO! Let me guess! Those would be people you disagree with, right? I observe this all the time, too. Never happened with anyone you agree with? Me neither!

I'll certainly admit that there are certain topics on which I am close-minded. The biggest category would be pseudo-science of all kinds. (Astrology, ancient astronauts, whatever.) On a slightly different level would be opinions with which I will never agree, and which I do not bother to debate. (For example, the opinion that homosexuality is morally wrong.) In such cases, there's not much point for me to just say "nonsense" or "you're wrong" -- this doesn't accomplish anything except to antagonize someone.

There are other issues on which I have a definite opinion which I will defend, but I can see why other people have different opinions. (For example, abortion.) On these issues I am willing to state why I have a certain opinion, and willing to listen to why others have different opinions.

On some issues I have so little knowledge, or so moderate a position, that I try to be very open-minded and consider what others say carefully. Generally these would be issues relating to economics or international relationships.

I try not to have the "I'm right and you're wrong" attitude that I see so often nowadays in party politics. This is actually the main thing that turns me off about the political process in the USA.

I try to remain as open as possible, and i feel that is what gets me in trouble in debates. I don’t really have any form of a nationalist bone, or a religious one, or many of the common things in this society. I am not going to say I am an alien basically because its simply not true, I love the ideals America is built on, but feel that such are slipping like clean water, and soon we will be buying it as well.

I guess my overall sense of me being closed minded is I really cant close it, even with my own field i study, i find i just cannot accept an idea that well, or that I reject most ideas regardless if they are even correct. I could really go on about some aspects of this but i will save the space and peoples attention spans.

So don’t get angry at me, even if its to late to say such, its just my disposition really. Even with the u.n, something I support because it just seems the best route, their is various things within it i disagree with but don’t see how they would change.

Elsewhere, I have a listing of many of the things where my mind is apparently closed, and explanations of how I reached my present positions on those subjects.


Guilty. I know it is so because my father taught me that the moon is made of Green Cheese! I thought of posting that "fact" in another thread, to support Engineer Kimov's premise that the United States never landed a man on the moon. After all. if the moon is indeed made of green cheese as my father taught me, there should have been no dust on the moon, and no moon rocks to bring back!

I learned in school that I could make a seemingly rational statement as my premise, and set out to defend it. Then, as I began to assemble the data to defend my position, I would often conclude that I didn't believe what I was arguing. Then I would have to start all over with a different premise; something where I felt, "perhaps I could support this position."

I find that I have much the same experience here. I will read something. I will get irate and set out to change someone's mind. I will start a post, edit it, copy it to a Word document for several hours, revise my opinion, edit it again... Should America's Debate support a grass roots effort for grass reform? was a punch in the gut topic that I knew I couldn't support! It took me perhaps twelve hours to realize that there was a germ of an idea that I could offer support on, an alternative idea to suggest for a grass roots movement, some pragmatic reasons not to use Marijuana, etc. What survived from my first draft was:


I can't find exactly where I made the remark, but I know that I have said before that when I set out to change someone's mind on America's Debate, it is most frequently my own mind that I change.

And so once again, I set out to prove that I'm a grouchy old man whose mind is closed like a bear trap, and found that it might still be open. Then again, as Dad also used to teach us, the open trap on a gallows floor was a good position to avoid!

This post approved by Spell Check

oooooooooh I donno. ok, yes and no to both. I may start out being open-minded and without an opinion either way on a particular issue, then as my interests perks and I delve headlong into a subject I can become closed-mined.

If I feel I've exhausted all on a subject and have finally drawn a conclusion, it's hard to change my stand. Unless of course something outrageously enlightening (nothing short of a "second coming" of Christ) were to appear and render my opinion ridiculous or totally wrong...I'll most likely not be changing my mind all too easily.

I would like to thank all of the following for participating in my debate question:
American Leader
Hugo
Paladin
Horyok
Mrs. Pigpen
Victoria
Nileriver
Curmudgeon
SoCaliente

And Mrs. Pigpen,you hit the nail on the head. I feel as exactly as you do,sorry to say. I guess we can't all be perfect

I was pertty nervous about submitting a question and when it went into the wrong area I said oh no. I screwed up again. Thanks for being nice and not ignoring this clumsy attempt.

popeye47

Does that mean it's over? I missed it? Man, I was looking forward to posting here!

Oh well, I'll do it anyway



Don't worry about it, popeye47, they're all nice folks around here.

Yep, wasn't that long ago, I too was a Junior Contributor and used to worry about stuff like that... (<-- note: to be read in the voice of Cliff Clavin).

Anyway, to the subject at hand!

It will surprise some who I have been debating with to learn that I consider myself one of the most open-minded people I know. Seriously!

I truly, honestly, want to be right. But by that I don't mean that it's important for the stance I took to turn out to be right. I mean that I have worked hard over the years to find a correct and consistent set of ideas and beliefs that hold up to scrutiny.

It is that process that took me on the path from liberal to conservative and finally to libertarian.

I'm still open to being proved wrong, but I don't anticipate that it will happen because I don't think there's a liberal or conservative argument that I haven't heard.

I encourage the rest of you to keep working at it. You'll get there someday too!

Now, how could you be more open-minded than that?

Honestly, Prismpaul, I thought the same thing about you. You are extremely open-minded. Oh, wait...you're a libertarian too? Oops! See...there I go again.

I can't really imagine any of us saying, "Yup, I'm closed-minded." I think there are many of us, though, whose minds - at least on some subjects - have been made up. There are certain positions I think we all hold as core beliefs. We may be willing to entertain alternatives but I think, for many of us, it would take a lot of convincing to change our minds on some of our most basic assumptions.

As Elspeth mentioned, we probably all have a range of opinions whose adamantine nature may vary from subject to subject - on some, we know we're "right"; on others, we're pretty sure; on still others, we're open to suggestion; and on others again, we have no clue. Or maybe I'm just speaking for myself about all this.

I do not believe that, when one reaches a conclusion based on considered research, personal experience, observation, and the entertaining of various positions, that that indicates a closed mind so much as a disciplined mind. When, however, one holds dear certain beliefs which are inherited or are part of a party line or are based on irrational assumptions or prejudices, then the mind is closed. I try hard not to do this myself (with what degree of success is difficult to objectively assess), though I have noticed (or presumed) this in others - and not exclusively among those with whom I disagree...

I'm open minded about facts and empirical experiments, but not necessarily about core principles, which after all are more a matter of premises, and you can't really argue premises. For example, individual liberty is one of my highest values and that isn't likely to change, no matter what argument you present, but you might possibly convince me there's a better way to maximize it.