I was unfriended by an atheist with absolutist and paranormal convictions. For example, they felt *all* religious people are stupid, *all* smart people are Democrats and *all* idiots are Republicans, fully sold on the idea of ghosts, etc. Now, I only knew they unfriended me after I went to tag them in something I felt theyd like. Though I disagreed with many of their positions, we still talked more than occasionally, had inside jokes, etc. Anyhow, they recently added me to a group (which I dont much appreciate when people do) and in it, they shared many opinions that were just assertions as it pertains to atheism, politics, etc. I couldnt help but notice one thread where they spoke of supernatural things such as ghosts. A couple people co-signed the belief in such entities...I could hardly help chiming in. Theres a tendency for people to get defensive when a position is anchored more in emotional attachment than actual verifiable data. This led to them calling me a know it all and labeling my detailed response (with references to spooky things like scientific findings, etc) as trying to be perfect - much like the reaction of a person promoting conjecture and the premises are ridiculed and contradictory evidence is provided. This is a natural reaction. So...that happened. I imagine thats probably why the e-relationship was severed. Moral of the story: Friends dont let friends think silly things without bringing it to their attention that theyre possibly mistaken. If youre not a fan of any questioning or rebuttals of any kind, youre probably going to (a) surround yourself more and more with uncritical co-signers (existing in a state of encapsulated delusion) and (b) likely not grow as much in understanding had you allowed your beliefs to be challenged more. Peer-review is a hallmark of the evaluation process, and is one I welcome. This doesnt, of course, mean that I will agree with any and all opposition or counterpoints, but such disabuse has led to me revising my stances on issues more times than I can count. (I kept the gender neutral because some may know who Im speaking of and my intentions arent to put anyone on blast or anything like that.)
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 19:43:12 +0000
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