Not Everyone Thinks Exactly the Same As You Do

Whatever your views about politics, about religion, (or about the Star Wars films) I have news for you - there are sane, intelligent, reasonable people in the world who do not share them. 

Most of these people are not idiots, or bad human beings, even if you think they are wrong. 

Indeed, unless you are always absolutely right about everything - something which I don't believe any human being in history can claim - there might even be the possibility, however slight, that they might be right about some of the things on which you disagree with them. 

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, Tracy Ullman did a sketch about a "Different Opinions Support Group" which was not only very funny but makes the point perfectly.



I doubt if there is anyone who has very strong opinions who has never, ever spoken or written of people with differing views with less respect and tolerance than is, perhaps, wise or appropriate. 

I'm not going to pretend that I have never done it myself, and I need to make an effort to do so less often. Indeed, between the first draft of this post at the weekend and the final published version today, I have taken out language, indicating how not to refer to those people who hold different views, which was based on recent posts on my Facebook wall and the comments section of this blog, because I want this to be seen as a general comment which all of us including myself and those who do think like me need to pay attention to, not an exercise in pointing fingers at those who disagree with me. 

The tendency to be very rude to people because they hold opinions you disagree with seems to be worst when one is seated behind a keyboard - especially, but not only, from people who post anonymously, but there are plenty of people who are rude when they also sign their name. 

I also think that the collapse of civility online is feeding into an similar increase in vituperative language in the "real world." I've been thinking for some time of reposting the Tracy Ullman sketch with an appeal for a bit more courtesy for those who do not think the same way, so I hope this will not be seen as a reaction to any recent blog, Facebook or Twitter posts - hence the rewrite already referred to.

Life is just too short to make enemies of everyone with a different worldview.

Comments

Paul Holdsworth said…
Well, quite...
4:31 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the...
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more