I’m sure there are easier ways of doing it, but I think I arrived at this way of doing it, because it enabled me to be both as supportive AND as critical of myself … and of my own thinking … and of what I produce … as I can possibly be.
Not to have those kinds of restrictions on yourself would probably be fun for a bit but I’m sure it would never really pan out for me since I got here by doing what I’m doing and not by doing something else.
People don’t really attack me much anymore or accuse me of things like being infected with conspiracies … mainly because I’m not … and I don’t doubt that.
I would even go so far as to say that everything I bring up has been gone over pretty thoroughly gone over, by me, but also by a whole bunch of other especially sane people too … each of them, drawn to the same sort of critical perspective as myself, which is why I appreciate what they do and say and why I come to care greatly that those people are also trying to do their best.
Oh, it’s easy enough to imagine how others get trapped in a state of mind that doesn’t allow for seeing anything that doesn’t already match the roadmap that they have been instructed to follow… based mostly on the general consensus that surrounds them.
I understand how people get to that point. I’m just curious why they stay there, as it seems to me to be a deadly boring place of compromise.
I think most folks follow such a consensus process, because it allows them to do pretty much what others around them do, so that they can all come to feel comfortable in the group.
It’s really a bitch to have to make your own way with little outside support and nitwits criticizing you all the time…
But after a few year’s time, it gets easier, and after a few trials by fire, you just look for people who think critically, who stand up for themselves and their own thoughts, and who don’t cave-in.
Most people who cave in, don’t even know they’re caving in … that’s how confused they are.
And what can you do about them? Really … next to nothing … because they have already made up their mind. And although that may be the death knell of free thought, it’s also their choice. And I can only wish them well.