Battle of Beliefs - Slander, Silencing, Diminishing

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(Edited)

Greetings Steemians,

Perspective can sometimes manifest within a narrow field of vision, that is; how one might adhere to certain beliefs or concepts might become a bit skewed by his or her own personal experiences.

I notice more and more in the world, debate turning into this ugly scene of slander, silencing, and diminishing.



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I enjoy debate, friendly debate, and debate can take on a negative vibe at times, where opinions flare and the general stage get's a little uncomfortable. We are of course creatures of habit, and neuroplastic in our thinking.

I do draw certain lines. When a person I'm debating with resorts to slander, silencing, or diminishing.

"When debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser". -Socrates

I find there to be a great deal of truth in this quote. Oftentimes when a person resorts to slander, silencing, or diminishing, it's because they have run out of "arguments" and feel aggression is their only tool left to protect their belief.

I enjoy thought challenging. I don't like to subscribe to concrete beliefs, because I've noticed that many who do, become hostile individuals when challenged, and if you cast your beliefs in concrete, how then will you grow and learn new concepts and ideas?

Sometimes I think it's good to really listen to what a person has to say. It reminds of a post I read recently by @raymondspeaks titled In A World That Encourages You To Share Your Thoughts — Shut Up and Listen. This is pretty deep, and he makes some really great points that I personally agree with. I recommend checking it out!

I like to say:

Everyone wants to be heard, but no one wants to listen.

This seems very true to me, and I know for a fact that some people do indeed listen well and enjoy listening to others, because I'm one of them but I'm not so sure this is the collective majority.

I've done some cognitive processing therapy in the past, and we did this exercise called "challenging beliefs", in which we took a look at certain concrete beliefs that we had, calculated some statistics and odds, and reassessed the likeliness of these beliefs. In some aspects the exercises didn't work out too good for me, but it gave me some perspective to consider.

When I think about what I believe, I like to consider where I came up with the belief to begin with.

  • Was it produced from my own creative thought processes?
  • Was it something I learned in elementary school?
  • Did I see it on CNN? NO WAY I DON'T WATCH PUPPET SHOWS

Perhaps you the reader sees what I'm getting at here. So many people have political "ideas" and "beliefs" and please, for one moment consider the source. They don't call public broadcasts "paid programming" for nothing!

I think much of it is just human nature. We're a tribal species and I think many will agree when I say, innovative thinkers are not the majority.

The polarization's I see in the world ranging from politics, to science, to religion, ect, serve no better purpose than to keep us divided. (in my opinion) Hate is a powerful emotion, and is very negative. I try not to hate anyone. There are plenty of people who've hurt me in the past, but I take a sympathetic perspective, because much of what our perception amalgamates to is a projection of sorts, and sometimes feeling hurt by someone is nothing to do with the person who hurt us at all, but rather an internal perception, which we ourselves are the controllers of, no one else.

So what is the point of this article?

Well, I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to getting involved with certain debates and topics, and my reaction to slander, silencing, and diminishing is not positive. (at least not internally) When a person becomes aggressive in a debate in these manners, I tell them we are done.. Plain and simple, but not so simple for my processing.

I'm left feeling abused and upset, and can't seem to fathom why a person cannot have their beliefs challenged a single bit without resorting to hostility.

I really don't have an issue with having my beliefs challenged, and hey.. it's not easy to sway futuremind's beliefs, because I think quite a bit, and consider variables, so generally I have what I consider to be pretty decent arguments for certain topics, but when I get challenged and realize the other person has a sound point which deconstructs and crushes my logic, I admit they are right from my vantage point, and leave the debate feeling like I learned something new!

Why are some unable to do this? Well, perhaps it's an inability to think for themselves, piggyback spoonfed bandwagon ideology seekers. I don't know, but it does become mentally taxing when people are so abusive in debate. I myself never claim to be perfect, and sometimes I do leave debates feeling like maybe I went a little too far with my opinions, and that perhaps I was pushing the boundaries of respectful debate, but I always try to maintain respect for the opinion of others.

That's pretty much it for my thoughts here. I like to question virtually everything that I know and believe, and I think everyone should. I propose that you should always consider the source of your beliefs, and ask yourself:

Is this my belief, or is it someone else's?


Thank you for stopping by, I hope you're all having a wonderful day!


Much love,
@futuremind



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25 comments
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!trdo

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Hi Jacob, How are u doing? I hope that you are healthy and have a beautiful day. I don't like debate because debate will trigger my emotions. I don't like emotional situations because that will make a face grow old quickly. I want to be happy. Have a nice day, Sir.

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Hi @elianaelisma,
I'm well and hope you are also well.

I agree, debate can be tiresome and trigger emotions. Not engaging in debate, this must be your secret to staying so happy and beautiful :)

Have a nice day miss.

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Hey my man! I loved reading this post. You're definitely a good writer.

Okay, some initial thoughts from me. Consider this quote from Socrates (my favourite quote) -- "I am the wisest man alive, for that I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing"

I love that quote because the more I learn the more I realise I don't know shit. Haha.

Sit back, listen always, don't say much. Only to ask questions :) - you cannot debate with those that have the inability to properly debate.

The internet has done a lot of good, but it's also done a lot of bad -- in one sense it has spawned an army of people that think they're the best at debating but in reality they are shit at it. All they do is scream very loud, and if they can, silence you -- in their mind that is how to debate. You can't win against that. You just can't.

I was in this position myself at least two years ago when my entire niche went all white privilege and oppressed on me, to which I hardcore disagree with.

But I've had to practise restraint. There's no way I can argue with indoctrination -- so now I'm like okay man, you do you, awesome!

So I think your next self-development route will be restraint. And I'll admit it's the hardest thing I've had to learn. Because the internet encourages us to just say anything.

I can do restraint in real life easily. But over the internet, sometimes I bite my tongue soooo hard. lol

Something to think about.

You can't argue with stupid

And practise restraint.

Posted via neoxian.city | The City of Neoxian

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Thank you for the kind words @raymondspeaks,

Consider this quote from Socrates (my favourite quote) -- "I am the wisest man alive, for that I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing"
I love that quote because the more I learn the more I realise I don't know shit. Haha.

I love this quote too :) I've also heard it worded a little differently, as "A wise man knows that he knows nothing at all." I find there to be a great deal of truth to it. If one can fully digest the meaning, then it becomes quite clear, and almost inarguable, in my opinion.

The internet has done a lot of good, but it's also done a lot of bad -- in one sense it has spawned an army of people that think they're the best at debating but in reality they are shit at it. All they do is scream very loud, and if they can, silence you -- in their mind that is how to debate. You can't win against that. You just can't.

It's a little mind boggling isn't it? I'm not sure how debate can be proper debate if a participant in the debate is not willing to learn something new or have their beliefs challenged. Sometimes it's so bad that you cannot even get an acknowledgement of any kind, and it does seem to be getting more and more common. It's like if I'm wrong about everything, and you know it all, then why are we even debating, you already have it all figured out! lol.

I was in this position myself at least two years ago when my entire niche went all white privilege and oppressed on me, to which I hardcore disagree with.
But I've had to practise restraint. There's no way I can argue with indoctrination -- so now I'm like okay man, you do you, awesome!

I remember once having a debate with a black man who told me I am a bad man for what my ancestors are responsible for, he told me that all white people are racist against black people. I scratched my head a bit and said something along the lines of "I'm not sure you see what I see, or I see what you see, but with logic like that, I'm really not sure this is a debate that will be productive in any way, shape, or form."

His attitude was basically I didn't have a good argument for him, so he wins.. I'm like ok buddy, you win, I'm a racist and responsible for what "my ancestors did".. Sometimes logic is so skewed it's not even worth trying to debate. At one point I basically told him he was being racist and didn't even realize it.

Restraint is an acquired skill I think, and I find it hard to remove emotional response to certain things. (Perhaps this is easier for some than others.)

So I think your next self-development route will be restraint. And I'll admit it's the hardest thing I've had to learn. Because the internet encourages us to just say anything.
I can do restraint in real life easily. But over the internet, sometimes I bite my tongue soooo hard. lol

I think you're on point, and I really appreciate your insight with this. For me the emotional response might be the hardest part, and coupled with a fast typing speed, yeah things can get heated quickly.. lol

You can't argue with stupid

That's an inarguable fact!!! haha. Makes me think of Ron White "You can't fix stupid." lol.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment :)

!ENGAGE 50

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Honestly I do not like debate.
But I want to share my views about what I've seen so far. I think the globally polarized constituency has taken up a lot of my mental bandwidth today. Everywhere I turn, there is a socio-economic battle, in which participants use the word civility as a weapon, practice demonization, and act in an inhuman manner so that the common people become victims. It is regrettable for the users of social media who provide illogical reporting. In other words the spectacle of terrible behavior, everything is bent into justification, and on the contrary the truth has been silenced in the deepest depths.

Thank for this My friend

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Everywhere I turn, there is a socio-economic battle, in which participants use the word civility as a weapon, practice demonization, and act in an inhuman manner so that the common people become victims.

We can't demonize the demonizers.

We can't be inhumane to the inhuman.

We can't abandon civility because some have tried to twist its meaning.

Every fiat dollar you spend on corporate poison propels corruption.

Consider buying books from writers (self-publishers).

Consider buying art from artists.

Consider watching shows made by individuals.

If you dine out, consider patronizing a sole-proprietorship (family owned restaurant).

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Thank you for your thoughtful comment my friend.

For not liking debate, you are very well versed in the language of debate it seems, or maybe you are a philosophical thinker? You are definitely a thinker I think :)

I also see this polarization and socio-economic battle, and it does seem rather useless and non-productive to me.

It becomes this "I'm right and your wrong mindset." In the end I don't see how it leads to being productive to go into any kind of a debate with an intent to just be "right."

There's all kinds of demonization yes, seems people will use any excuse to claim they are better than someone else because of an idea. Social class, race, religion, ect, and in the end it just doesn't serve any purpose and is narrow thinking in my opinion.

This is why I encourage people to question their own beliefs. For some, it might be enlightening to realize that ideas they are supporting are not even their own ideas. This is pretty powerful. People rarely question where their beliefs come from.

Thank you so much @wira8788

!ENGAGE 50

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This is why I encourage people to question their own beliefs. For some, it might be enlightening to realize that ideas they are supporting are not even their own ideas.

100% this.

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Stephen Covey suggests...First listen to understand and only then, speak to be understood.

Great post and best wishes :-)

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This is great advice indeed! Always good to absorb what a person is saying and try to see things from there perspective. Perhaps this is the difference between being perceptive, or just flat out stubborn and not willing to learn new things.

Thank you for your kind words :)

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