The Independent Mind
Independent thinking is crucial in all aspects of life and can be related to some of the hot issues of today: journalism, politics, dietary choices, marriage rights, the list can go on forever.
Throughout my adult life I have striven and have gravitated towards those who embrace the idea of independent thinking. Allow me to flesh out a definition of sorts of how I view independent thinking. When a person holds a concept or worldview on how they understand a specific topic and is presented with new facts that would justify changing, modifying, or a complete 180-degree reversal of their viewpoint they would fully embrace it. In turn they will wish to dig further into the subject matter and try to see where they had gone wrong and how they can build off this new perspective. It is in this way that we progress as a people.
I have seen much hard-headedness throughout my young adult career and am completely amazed by the unwillingness of some to even consider a conflicting view. In some cases, there has even been a trend towards embarrassing practice of belittling opposition viewpoints in tasteless manners. This mentality has been accelerated by news networks that are anything but fair and balanced. This is not entirely a cut on Fox news but many news outlets in general. News programs should set out to report all of the facts from all sides and let the viewers decide which makes the most sense. Respect for the dissenting view is vitally important as well and is a justification for free speech. It is crucial that we allow dissenting viewpoints to be heard so that mainstream group-think does not get too out of control in any direction.
I encourage myself continually to not form hard and fast opinions on issues and do not like to lump myself into any particular group. Dale Carnegie once wrote that we are wrong about 50% of the time. Learning to accept your inability to be right all of the time and the complexity of issues will shield you from face-saving battles that will ensue once your are proven wrong the other half of the time.
Progress can only be made through improvement of our thought systems and being stubborn will only hold us back.
