I think the reason people in general find it so difficult to authentically consider other’s opinions is that in doing so it necessitates questioning their own beliefs. This introduces two things that most human beings find most threatening: uncertainty and the potential for being “wrong” and therefore having to take responsibility for thinking for themselves. It is so much easier to simply adhere blindly to ideologies rather than question them.

I admire your Dad’s openness to other’s ideas, no matter how repugnant they may be. So many of us prefer the certainty of our misery rather than risk the potential misery of uncertainty — which is the place where true wisdom is revealed.