The conventional view saves us from the painful job of thinking.
~ John Kenneth Galbraith
It sure was less work when I merely went along with my friends on issues: "Everyone agrees on XX so I do too." It has taken an enormous amount of educating myself to develop my own thoughts & opinions on things. Sometimes—often—I end up where I started but with better reasons than I had before. It is hard, & doesn't seem worth it, much of the time, sometimes from the pain of being at odds with your allies (there's a story to that*). Usually I end up in the same place I started (so did I waste my (occasional) thinking?). Is it a virtue to keep the principles you had at 20? Or is it silly to have the same ideas at 60 as you did as a young'un?
* Right before the invasion of Iraq, I read some op-eds that made me wonder. Two writers from similarly small, oppressed countries had opposite opinions: We were dying for the help vs. We needed help but it was our fight. I told a friend I wasn't sure what was right, & she said, "Oh, so you want to bomb Baghdad & kill babies?!"
~ John Kenneth Galbraith
It sure was less work when I merely went along with my friends on issues: "Everyone agrees on XX so I do too." It has taken an enormous amount of educating myself to develop my own thoughts & opinions on things. Sometimes—often—I end up where I started but with better reasons than I had before. It is hard, & doesn't seem worth it, much of the time, sometimes from the pain of being at odds with your allies (there's a story to that*). Usually I end up in the same place I started (so did I waste my (occasional) thinking?). Is it a virtue to keep the principles you had at 20? Or is it silly to have the same ideas at 60 as you did as a young'un?
* Right before the invasion of Iraq, I read some op-eds that made me wonder. Two writers from similarly small, oppressed countries had opposite opinions: We were dying for the help vs. We needed help but it was our fight. I told a friend I wasn't sure what was right, & she said, "Oh, so you want to bomb Baghdad & kill babies?!"