Published on 12, July, 2020
I’m not quite sure how to word this, but does anyone else find it hard to have calm discussions with others due to seeing things as more black and white? I often feel really strongly about particular things and ignore the grey area and just get really defensive when someone seems to say anything slightly different to my own opinion. It takes me a while to understand and acknowledge different perspectives. After I’ve taken the (long) time to do so I can clearly see where they’re coming from and will maybe change my own view slightly as well, but it doesn’t necessarily get better the next time the topic comes up and I still react too strongly.
I think people in the centre often assume they are more intelligent than people who are more hyperfocused and ideological. I'm not sure whether there any facts or evidence to back this up. I think often they are just less interested in issues. More interested in other things
There's a rather quaint saying: "If the only tool you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail"
I believe it could be rewritten (more clumsily admittedly) If the only cognitive tool you have is an Ideology then everyone else outside of it, looks like an enemy.
As a centrist I find that extremists of all stripes call me names and can fall into the trap of making false assumptions about what I might believe.
If, as a centrist I do carry a form of arrogance, it's not that I feel more intelligent, but I do believe I have a wider bank of information to draw on, for obvious reasons..
Maybe people in the centre, don't understand strongly ideological thinking? I supose I'm in the centre a lot, I want to discuss and understand why people feel so strongly about things. People who do feel strongly about things often don't seem to be very good comunicators and get frustrated at being asked why they believe what they do. I've been asked why I need to understand things, I've been told that I think to much when I just need to accept that certain things are just right or wrong. I think for people who can't articulate they reasons for feeling a particular way, anybody questioning them is seen as intellectual. I used to work with someone like this and it was really frustrating for both of us, various things seemed to become taboo subjects when she was around, like council recycling collections.