Sunday 4 August 2013

How I learned the value of being cynical: A rope of sand...

There are things I talk about that are just uninteresting, there are things I talk about that are very interesting...and there are things I talk about that are placed somewhere within those two values, but you know what irritates me (and this is going to be hugely hypocritical) most of all is people assuming that what you say has no value whatsoever...we've all been there when we've said something or espoused some thing that we believed to have immense value and been shot down entirely...and you've every right to be angry at this! After all, it's what you're saying right? It's your universal truth, you're right, they're wrong, how dare they treat it as anything less than gospel right? Well, actually, you're both right...and you're both wrong...see, the universe is entirely subjective, what you hold to be dear to your heart another person could very well disregard entirely and who's right in that situation? Well consider, what is "right" anyway? What we believe to be "right" is actually the accumulated knowledge we've experienced, yeah? If someone else has led a similar life then yeah, they're probably going to have similar outlooks and perspectives compared to ourselves and so we'll end up agreeing on a number of issues...but what about those who've led very different lives? If they were brought up in a different religion, in a different social class, by parents with differing values....or whatever other variable you care to think of...they're going to be different, but are they any less "right"? 

My point is that things, that life, is almost entirely (if not actually entirely) a relative experience....the things that you consider to be vital to your existence, another may disregard entirely...and it wouldn't be wrong, not exactly, simply because that is their life, their experience. You may think I'm focusing too much on the individual, ok, let's take it further and broaden the term to our society as a whole....what is "right" in our society may be wrong in another. Example, boy do we English people (taken as a majority whole) love bacon. We love it so much that it is a vital part of what is called the "Full English Breakfast", it simply would not be a full English breakfast without the bacon....now go offer it to a Jew....or a vegetarian....or someone who simply does not like pork....who is "right" here? Answer? We all are. Every last one of us with every differing opinion because that is exactly what life is, a collection of opinions and there are no wrong ones. There are ones you will disagree with, there are ones I heartily disagree with, but as much as I disagree with them I assign them value....I don't know what a person has lived through to make them so adverse to the thought of consuming a bacon sandwich or whatever other example you can care to think of, how they were raised, what they were taught or what they believe...so why judge them on that? I try to learn why people think in certain ways, of course, I'll ask why they believe that, or why they act in a certain way, but judging them solely on one aspect, one action? 

It's something that really irritates me....when someone says that their belief is correct, the only right way and if you argue against it, in any way, then you are wrong, entirely....they don't do anything to argue their reasons, offer no explanation as to why they're right, only insist that you are wrong and then offer only spurious circular reasoning (aka, "I'm right because I'm obviously not wrong") to affirm their "rightness"....it's something that genuinely distresses me...but what distresses me even more is that I can understand why it happens and so I can see why we'll never be rid of it because if we did, if we got rid of differing opinions and views, it'd be the end of us as a species....

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