And now that I've gotten that first post in months out of the way, time to get down to business as usual...
During my so-called 'exile' from these lands and my numerous surfing sessions on the vast ocean we call the Internet, I came across a lot of debates on various messageboards and forums on a multitude of subjects, ranging from serious aspects such as politics and economy to less serious stuff, such as superhero movies. One constant of debates on all sorts of subjects is that they're always going to bring up differences of opinion between people(and yes, I know that statement is Captain Obviousesque...bear with me here). But there's another, more interesting aspect that's brought up during debates, a more subtle one perhaps, namely the way in which people react to each other's opinions...actually scratch that, each other's difference of opinions.
It's pretty incredible to note how quickly a civilized debate can turn into a series of personal insults about one's intelligence(or sometimes worse, one's family/relatives), thereby deviating from its original purpose of sharing one another's thoughts about a particular subject, just because of that particular aspect. Actually, this has more to do with the kind of people involved in debates, because one can't just generalize when it comes to subjects such as this one. I've noticed all sorts of people that get involved in debates, but to try and not bore you people, I'm only going to mention two main groups : there's the person who states his or her opinion and waits for responses because he or she is honestly interested in a debate and different viewpoints; then there's the people who seem almost offended by another person's different opinion, feeling the need to belittle it just because they think of their opinion as being the most well-thought and informed one there is. These people don't really seem to be interested in the debate at all and are rather prone to state their disbelief and disappointment at another person's different viewpoint(usually through condescension). It's also interesting to note that this aspect is apparently much easier to observe during internet debates than in real-life(which may have something to do with the anonymity provided by the Internet).
But my question is why? Why are some people seemingly incapable of accepting another person's different opinions(manifesting this disagreement in an insulting way)? It can't be because they're just plain assholes(although, come to think of it, simple reasoning such as this can sometimes provide valid answers). Still, it's almost never that simple when it comes to the human race, is it? And yet, by the way some people react to someone having a different opinion you'd think their mother was insulted. And so here's today's random thought : what if this unwillingness to accept another person's viewpoint is the result of a human fear that we often just write off? Namely, the fear of being alone...it stands to reason that a person who takes his or her opinions seriously to the extreme and reacts in an (at the end of the day) irrational way to someone's differing viewpoint could be motivated by such a fear. Maybe some people take another person's differing stand on a subject as a sign that they're alone in believing what they believe...and thus react in said irrational manner. Because if they take their opinions seriously in an extreme way, what stops them from reacting to people's different viewpoints in an extreme way?
Now, as audacious as this claim may seem it's important to remember, considering the nature of the subject in today's post, that all of this is IMHO(In My Humble Rather Uninspired Opinion that is). Because this is apparently one of the effects of not writing something for months.
And alternatively, it's quite possible that some people really enjoy being right when it comes to debates.
