I’m often asked why I don’t readily jump into debates or discussions, particularly in regards to politics and religion. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that I’ll never get involved, especially on the topic of religion when people are barfing up flat-out lies and falsehoods. I can’t help but correct them even though I realize it is a futile endeavor. But unless it gets really blatant I tend to keep to myself even though I obviously think my position is correct. I try to keep logic and reason on my side. Evidence and facts need to be considered in order to form a defensible position.
The opinions we form on the topics of politics and religion, however, aren’t necessarily based on logic. In fact, I’d say that for most people these are the most emotionally charged of topics, and therefore people’s opinions generally are NOT based on logic whatsoever, but rather on emotion. And for this reason, I choose to avoid these debates. When someone is emotionally invested in something, it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a few facts and figures or logic to sway them.
There’s no point in trying. Let me say that again – there is no point in trying to change someone’s views on religion or politics. It’s never going to work. For these topics, an individual must come to their own conclusion. Oftentimes, their conclusions are completely false (for example, humans lived among dinosaurs or Obama is a Kenyan) but there’s nothing you can do to convince them of this. Science, evidence, facts, logic…. they don’t matter. If someone really wants to believe something, they’ll believe it no matter what you present to them.
It’s a gradual process to change your views on either of these matters. I mean nobody ‘taught’ me to be an atheist (quite the contrary in fact, with the Catholic schooling and societal pressures and expectations to be of faith), it just happened over time as I questioned the validity of Biblical teachings and researched it for myself, eventually determining that none of it made sense and was totally ridiculous.
Similarly, my views on politics have gradually evolved over just the past few years. When I was still in college, I firmly believed in Republican ideals (fiscally, rather – I’ve always considered their social views to be archaic and disgusting). I would argue vehemently against welfare, unions, progressive taxation, you name it. But the thing is, the more I learned about each of these things the more I understood the ‘big picture,’ and that some of my views were based on inaccuracies (for example, welfare isn’t even close to being full of queens sitting in the lap of luxury for a lifetime on our dime – evidence just doesn’t support that claim, yet it is widely touted as ‘fact’).
No, the so-called liberally biased “lame stream media” didn’t come along and pour the socialist pink commie kool-aid down my throat to transform me into ‘one of them.’ I just gradually shifted on my own.
Here’s the secret – It’s a willingness to challenge one’s own views and look openly and candidly at the opposing side(s), and re-evaluate. You can’t do this for someone else, so why waste your breath trying? Correct factual errors, sure, but other than that you’re wasting your time and energy on an impossible task.
