With the news of Hurricane Katrina occupying the attention of most of the media I decided I would take the time to comment on something completely different which has been weighing on my mind for some time. If there is one thing we do not like as human beings--besides to be told we are unloved or unwanted--it is to be told we are wrong. Indeed, no man is more despised than the one who is convinced he is right.
There is more to it than that though. The man who is completely sure he is right is not actually taken seriously. The intellectually honest person must admit that he could in fact be wrong. Yet to take a firm stance, to defend it from invaders and not back down, all the while realizing that one may be defending not a sacred mount, but a miserable anthill is the true sign of valor. And courage is something we cannot stand.
Rather than valuing the man with conviction, open-mindedness is held sacrosanct. While it is true that as human beings we must be open to new things to continually refine and reform our truth, we must wish to at some point find that which is true. Chesterton said it best when he stated,"I opened my intellect as I opened my mouth, in order to shut it again on something solid."
And that is the grand catch. The message is: look for truth, but if you do find it, for goodness sake, do the rest of us a favor and keep it to yourself.
Yet I stand on my mighty anthill, honored to defend it. Or to be ignored.
3 comments:
CNN anchors break down
I'm watching Anderson Cooper lose it right now. He just went bananas on Mary L. Landrieu, the Senator from Louisiana - she was talking a lot of wishy-washy policy and Andy just totally faced her by telling a ...
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Credit related stuff? What the? I like your point about conviction and the necessary project of defending your ideas.People seem almost embarrassed to admit that intellectual integrity has some modern meaning! The whole concept that a discourse can uncover truth is riduculed or ignored in favor of beligerent punditing or dogmatic, unresearched opinion.I'll throw down a little polemic (as you know) but Im happy to try and defend it.
I can respect you for having the valor for standing up for ideas. While I emphatically disagree with you, I must give you umbrage as you have the fortitude for taking a stand.
Who knows, maybe one day you and I may defend the same anthill. Wouldn't that be something?
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