I've discovered that typical usage of the terms open-minded and close-minded bother me. Really bother me. Mostly I think because people so often use them as a way to put someone down. "Well, so-and-so is close-minded," or "such and such a group is close-minded, they refuse to see the other side of the story." People tend to pair being close-minded with being judgmental and ignorant.
Very very rarely will anyone ever label themselves as close-minded though. Instead they phrase it nicely: "I thought about it, but I know I'm right." or "I just don't know enough about it, but that's fine." When it's personalized, we say that we are sticking to our guns, or that we are just naive.
I decided what my personal definition of 'close-minded' is. It's not someone who isn't open to ideas... it's someone who stops searching for truth and knowledge. Someone who is fine to stay at their current level of understanding. Which is actually ok sometimes. If you've researched it and thought about it and explored it, and made up your mind, it's alright to have a solid opinion. I don't think there is anything wrong with that.
The reason it bothers me so when someone pins anyone else with the label of close-minded is because I think that most of the time they're refusing to put themselves in that person's shoes. I personally have no right to judge where anyone else is coming from or what their experiences have led them to believe. It's not my job to decide who is right and who is wrong, and nobody else has that job either. Instead it's my job to decide what I believe. Everyone is close-minded sometimes. We all get lazy and quit looking for new ideas and truth, but that doesn't mean that we should start putting each other down.
Sorry. Rant is now over :)
2 comments:
Wow, I'm not sure I've ever thought about this. Well put Krystal.
You've managed to pin down the exact reason for my own discomfort over the use of that phrase. Thank you for figuring that out for me... like Taylor said, well put!
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