Very well said, Duh Puck.
Toddspeak...I personally am very much on the close-minded side of things (just see my name). That's because so often to be "open-minded," one is expected to tolerate all things, as well as be ready to accept anything else as truth. Most of the people I talk to have to be pushed into a corner before they're willing to qualify "anything" to mean "anything that is logical and reasonable." Most people I talk to speak in generalizations. Personally, I don't see how Absolute Truth can be anything but specific (i.e. either there is a God or there isn't; either this world was created or it wasn't; this chair is either black or white).
I choose to defend my beliefs, my morals, etc. not by dismissing other people's beliefs, morals, etc., but by pointing out the flaws in theirs, and defending the ones they think they see in mine, to the best of my ability. And the truth is, I'm not open to other beliefs. But that's because nothing in my life has ever proven mine wrong. In fact, my life has been evidence of just the opposite. If anything were to ever happen to totally disprove my beliefs or show them to be harmful or hateful, I would change (although technically speaking, if my beliefs were correct AND harmful, that would be a conundrum -- good thing they're not). However, I can't imagine that siutation ever occuring.
And as for be tolerant...I don't see why we should be. To a degree, there has to be tolerance in order for society to work, but over all...I never have to tolerate another's actions as right, when I don't believe they are. That doesn't mean I need to be rude or mean or even butt in, but if my opinion is asked, I won't lie. An example? There are lots of people in my office that are married and sleeping around with co-workers. I'm very close-minded to that. It's wrong. Some of the supervisors hit on me. I don't tolerate it. I remind them that they're married.
So...I don't think that people need to be particularly open-minded. But I do think that people need to be in a constant state of learning so that they aren't close-minded to the point of arrogance or bigotry. And close-minded people should know why they believe what they believe and be able to defend it. Otherwise they're just idiots. Open-minded people should be able to defend their reasoning for being open-minded, and I don't think that a person's inability to settle on a definition of truth is reason enough.
"You're so open-minded that your brain fell out."
