Well written… It’s rather intriguing to observe how memetic, idealogical, and even political platforms have been evolving over the course of human history. Many groups tend to support only their stance, and attempt to discredit all others. From a “progress” standpoint it’s easy to see how this behavior leads to gridlock and people simply disagreeing with others because they don’t share the same views, or hold the same beliefs. Why do people ignore, mock, and attempt to discredit the Other Side? If “losing” an argument, is the only way to win at making “progress”, why do people care so much about “winning” their arguments?
I think the answer lies in security. People want to believe that they have all of life figured out, and that their beliefs are the “right” ones. Nobody’s truly able to say whether certain beliefs or values are always correct. There is a time and place for everything, and rather than our collective sense of “humanity” being out of sync, it is rather that we simply do not know what those times and places are.
Having views that are the same, can be beneficial. It offers a sense of “security”, where members of a certain group are able to support each other. All to often this security can be false. With blatant rejection of the Other Side, comes the loss of affirmation. If you don’t hear the Other Side, you will never be able to understand and defend what you believe in. Defending beliefs through self affirmation, and listening to the Other Side, may very well be the only way to make “progress”.