Writings in the Sand

The Impossiblity of Discourse

There's one phrase that is often used by people of opposing viewpoints that I cannot abide. It's the shoving or ramming of one's beliefs or ideas down someone else's throat. "Don't try to ram your beliefs down my throat!", the aggrieved participant cries in apparent physical anguish.

It is a strange sign of our times that the sharing of ideas is considered to be a violent act.

There's the "don't inflict your ideas on me" school of thought. This is a little less violent but still gives one the feeling that the recipient of your ideas is being punished by them. The most restrictive of these mantras is the one about not burdening your children with your values and beliefs. I am not sure how one raises a child in that case because I believe a banana is good for a child, but if I cannot share that belief, the child may never try the banana. I believe that my child should not spit on or hit other children, or adults for that matter. It's a value I hold.

Oh, they will say, you must teach your children to respect others and to share toys, etc. Of course, because they believe these things, too. And that is the crux of it. You may share any values or beliefs that they agree with. Stating anything they disagree with is violently inflicting ideas at the end of a philosophical whip.

What the "don't inflict your ideas on me" group are actually saying is that any kind of political or philosophical discourse is impossible. People must agree or they should not speak to one another . This absolute rejection and fear of any ideas they have not already thought for themselves is like a phobia or perhaps, an allergy. They are afraid that if they are exposed to conflicting opinions or ideas, they will seize up in anaphylactic shock and die. That's why they chant loudly to drown out other voices. They can't take the chance they might hear something that changes their minds.

I think there is only one cure for this problem and it's the same approach they use with many allergies. For instance, the cure for a peanut allergy is exposure to minute amounts of peanut powder that helps the sufferer to build up an immunity. In the same way, people need to be exposed to new ideas, even if only a little bit at a time. Ideas that conflict with yours won't necessarily destroy your beliefs, they may strengthen your resolve. But give them a test. Try them out. Let other ideas into your world and use your core convictions to sort out what seems right to you.

Finally, as soon as someone says "don't inflict your beliefs on me" they've told you what they believe. They believe you shouldn't tell other people what you believe. Which they just did. And then told you to shut up.