Who Is Really Close-minded?

by Tasine Posted 2012/04/12 15:42:41

Related Topics: Exercise, Dictionary, Friends, Opinion, Research, Online, Listening, Package

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FTA
Liberals don’t know what they don’t know; they don’t understand how limited their knowledge of conservative values is.

To be “close-minded” is, according to the dictionary, to be
“intolerant of the beliefs and opinions of others; stubbornly
unreceptive to new ideas.” To be conservative and close-minded, according to popular portrayal, is a redundancy—a package deal that liberals can and do take for granted.

But University of Virginia Professor Jonathan Haidt’s new book The Righteous Mind
doesn’t simply suggest that conservatives may not be as close-minded as
they are portrayed. It proves that the opposite is the case, that
conservatives understand their ideological opposite numbers far better
than do liberals.

Haidt’s research asks individuals to answer questionnaires regarding
their core moral beliefs—what sorts of values they consider sacred,
which they would compromise on, and how much it would take to get them
to make those compromises. By themselves, these exercises are
interesting. (Try them online and see where you come out.)

But Haidt’s research went one step further, asking self-indentified conservatives to answer those questionnaires as if
they were liberals and for liberals to do the opposite. What Haidt
found is that conservatives understand liberals’ moral values better
than liberals understand where conservatives are coming from. Worse yet,
liberals don’t know what they don’t know; they don’t understand how
limited their knowledge of conservative values is. If anyone is
close-minded here it’s not conservatives.

As a conservative, you can defend your values against friends and
acquaintances who essentially just called you stupid and evil or you can
keep quiet. Conservatives usually choose the latter, but they are LISTENING and LEARNING.

nverumind 2012/04/13 15:18:14

+1
great post! well descibed my freind.

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Charles R. Anderson 2012/04/13 08:11:04

+1
Liberals and Conservatives are both very broad swathes of beliefs, with sub-groups holding numerous contradictory beliefs. It is more to the point to think about who is more open-minded by dividing people along the lines of their belief in more government versus more private sector. Those who want more government clearly want values and actions to be dictated and to be allowed only a narrow scope of choices consistent with only a narrow range of viewpoints. Those who want more of the private sector trust to the choices that most individuals will make for themselves and they welcome a wide range of choices based on a wide range of viewpoints. The private sector advocates welcome a wide range of personal value choices, of personal relationships, and of voluntary cooperative agreements. They welcome a rich and robust exchange of ideas with others.

In contrast, the purpose of government is to shut down these choices that are otherwise freely made in the private sector. The pro-government growth advocates want to narrow the choices individuals can make by using government force to do so. They then support a reduction of dialogue, as seen in the phenomena of political correctness and the anti-science claim that catastrophic man-made global warming is settled science. They s...

Liberals and Conservatives are both very broad swathes of beliefs, with sub-groups holding numerous contradictory beliefs. It is more to the point to think about who is more open-minded by dividing people along the lines of their belief in more government versus more private sector. Those who want more government clearly want values and actions to be dictated and to be allowed only a narrow scope of choices consistent with only a narrow range of viewpoints. Those who want more of the private sector trust to the choices that most individuals will make for themselves and they welcome a wide range of choices based on a wide range of viewpoints. The private sector advocates welcome a wide range of personal value choices, of personal relationships, and of voluntary cooperative agreements. They welcome a rich and robust exchange of ideas with others.

In contrast, the purpose of government is to shut down these choices that are otherwise freely made in the private sector. The pro-government growth advocates want to narrow the choices individuals can make by using government force to do so. They then support a reduction of dialogue, as seen in the phenomena of political correctness and the anti-science claim that catastrophic man-made global warming is settled science. They support a reduction in the rich differentiation of human individuality, as seen in these suppressions and their mindless pursuit of income equality. As such, it is clear that the advocates of more government and less private sector activity are the more close-minded and intolerant. This makes liberals much more close-minded and intolerant than libertarians and commonly more so than conservatives.
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Tasine to Charles... 2012/04/13 13:25:20

Excelent analysis, Charles, as always. Actually better than the author's!

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☮ Ron ☮ Paul ☮ 2012! ☮ 2012/04/13 06:05:51

+1
People that do not believe in God.

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Charles... to ☮ Ron ☮... 2012/04/13 07:51:33

+1
It is very odd to claim that belief in God is a prerequisite for open-mindedness. That sure seems to mean that one cannot be open-minded about whether to believe in God or not. By the way, can you define the concept of God, so we can all be sure we know what we have to believe in to be open-minded?

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nverumind to Charles... 2012/04/13 15:29:15

+1
I believe in God whole heartedly and would like to define what i think he meant by that statement. It is my belief as i have been taught by the bible to believe in God and trust him wholely that the laws set down for us in morality and tolerance are important and just. And unfortantly most who claim to believe in god or that they are religion lead by bad example , when they attack and put down those that dont believe in God. It is my firm belief that it is my duty to try and spread the "good word and all that it has to offer" But not in a way that it is forcful or obnoxious. If someone is not interested than let it be ..just bless them and maybe even pray for them. Jesus was not in anyway a dictator so he didnt force his beliefs on anyone..but simply taught those that "chose" to listen..and that being said, Liberals (in most cases) are usually motivated by their own intention or agenda..trying to enstil and justify their own personal right to what ever it may be ..even if it infringes on someone else's right , and defend that by saying well (whatever it is) infringes on my rights. America has become very selfish in that aspect of things..all sides..right , left, and in between Tend to stick to their own groups , allienating and bashing the opponents, and failing to see that it...

I believe in God whole heartedly and would like to define what i think he meant by that statement. It is my belief as i have been taught by the bible to believe in God and trust him wholely that the laws set down for us in morality and tolerance are important and just. And unfortantly most who claim to believe in god or that they are religion lead by bad example , when they attack and put down those that dont believe in God. It is my firm belief that it is my duty to try and spread the "good word and all that it has to offer" But not in a way that it is forcful or obnoxious. If someone is not interested than let it be ..just bless them and maybe even pray for them. Jesus was not in anyway a dictator so he didnt force his beliefs on anyone..but simply taught those that "chose" to listen..and that being said, Liberals (in most cases) are usually motivated by their own intention or agenda..trying to enstil and justify their own personal right to what ever it may be ..even if it infringes on someone else's right , and defend that by saying well (whatever it is) infringes on my rights. America has become very selfish in that aspect of things..all sides..right , left, and in between Tend to stick to their own groups , allienating and bashing the opponents, and failing to see that its not about left, right, inbetween , Its about the well being of Everyone and that working ToGETHER and Tolerating the minute issues such as whether one believes in God or One doesnt ..but to meet in the middle with a NON BIAS open mind to Right AND Wrong when dealing with Humanity....
I HOPE that i explained that as well as i believe in it! all of it!
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Tasine to nverumind 2012/04/13 16:19:41

I believe most of what you say is true. You see Christianity much as my former pastor did. He believed in the Word, but he didn't try to force it on anyone, didn't believe it was meant to be forced on anyone. He tried to help me - after I requested help. I believe the tenets of Christianity are the perfect way to live, and I try my best to be a good Christian, though I don't purport to be one because, try as I might, and with help from others, have not been able to view the Bible exactly as it is written. I find I cannot take it on faith alone. God, I take on faith alone, but the Bible has had too many people over centuries tinkering with it, and I believe lots has been lost and re-written. I may burn in hell, but I will have lived a moral life anyway.

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nverumind to Tasine 2012/04/13 16:46:55

+1
i do not want to get in too deep on this subject with you then.. but maybe do something like my husband has done..and take a scientific approach on it and look at the archeological finds and documents..and look up the dispute about the shroud of turn.. Like i said before if you are interested and need a different approach other than faith alone to help you "build faith " on the topic.

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Tasine to nverumind 2012/04/13 16:53:08

Thanks. I'll check it out this afternoon. I have seen presentations re the shroud of Turin - don't yet know if it is this clip or not. Regardless, thank you.

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nverumind to Tasine 2012/04/13 16:54:54

+1
your welcome and Good Luck , freind.

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☮ Ron ☮... to Charles... 2012/04/14 02:51:08

+1
Being "open-minded" to the idea of God is a way of showing open-mindedness. Liberals/progressives close their minds to this idea because it goes beyond something they can understand or find completely outside of nature, therefore God does not exist. Well they are right, God is beyond their understanding and outside our natural realm... but they are wrong to not be open-minded about the possibility based on their limited logical thinking. Faith is that bridge and not everyone has it. I'm not saying they are not open-minded about everything but only the most important thing.

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Tasine to ☮ Ron ☮... 2012/04/13 13:27:09

Raved by accident. I hope you know that by bringing it down to ONE thing, you are being the close-minded one. Or perhaps you just don't understand the concept of open-mindedness.

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☮ Ron ☮... to Tasine 2012/04/14 22:29:24

+1
I said it was the most important thing. Basing something on faith is not an easy thing to do. Therefore being open-minded on something that isn't logical to us is harder than one can imagine.

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Tasine to ☮ Ron ☮... 2012/04/14 22:51:54

;-)

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Torchmanner ~PWCM~JLA 2012/04/12 18:21:41

+1
Liberals are the most close minded and nasty mouthed people I know. They claim to be smart, or educated, but say things like, melting sea ice would cause the oceans to rise! Trying to debate science with them is a waste of time. They call you a religious nut if you don't believe their fairy tale about evolving from an ape. You cannot reason with them at all.

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Bibliophilic 2012/04/12 17:37:46

It depends on the type of conservative, I think. Educated conservatives are often interested in correctness- rather than moral superiority of obsolete traditional values.

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Torchma... to Bibliop... 2012/04/12 18:15:18

+1
Conservatives don't believe in moral superiority, we just believe in morals. Liberals don't understand moral issues.

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Bibliop... to Torchma... 2012/04/12 18:24:09 (edited)

That is a generalized statement. Most humans have morals. Couldn't a liberal say that conservatives don't understand moral issues?

I believe that murder (excepting cases of self-defense) is wrong. What do conservatives believe? Some would agree- it's inaccurate to apply blanket statements to vast numbers of people.

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Tasine to Bibliop... 2012/04/13 13:28:24

Every conservative I know believes in correctness - and THAT is what gets them targeted by progressives.

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Boris Badinov 2012/04/12 17:21:11

+1
Thanks for the insight. It's helpful..

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