From an Essay Contest
- by Pixel
When people hear that you disbelieve in something that they consider natural and normal, they usually have the same set of reactions:
First, they ask , seemingly to try to understand your position. In reality, however, they;=’re trying to figure out where you ‘went wrong.’ They approach it like a math problem, hoping to find that you forgot to carry a one and proving your entire conclusion is false.
Secondly, they defend their own beliefs (usually by attacking yours). They give terribly fallacious reasoning for their beliefs. They discuss their elementary reasoning with you as if it were calculus. Then again, one shouldn’t attack their reasoning, seeing as it is fairly obvious that they’ve never seriously thought about their beliefs and likely never will.
Finally, they dismiss your position. They usually didn’t bother to listen to your debunking of their claims, so when they dismiss your position, they do so with their original fallacious reasoning. There are some variations to this, but inevitably your victory is Pyrrhic.
Unfortunately, people that hold divergent beliefs are accosted multiple times in their lives. Often, just to break the monotony, they hide their beliefs, rush through the process, ignore the questioning, turn the tables and do the questioning, or attempt to explain what is bound to happen.
The responses are limited because they want to seem rational and open-minded, but they’re tired of dealing with the same questions again and again and they’re dealing with people who feel their entire approach is novel and that they can convince them in fifteen minutes that they’ve lived their entire lives wrong.
– ???
p.s. the divergent beliefs are specifically not stated. If you inferred something specific from this essay, chances are you’ve just revealed more about yourself and your opinion of me than you realize.
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When people hear that you disbelieve in something that they consider natural and normal, they usually have the same set of reactions: First, they ask , seemingly to try to understand your position. In reality, however, they;=’re trying to figure out where you ‘went wrong.’ They approach it like a math problem, hoping to find…