“Believe What You Want”? Part 1

The argument reaches its end, and one of you says it; it is the point in time in the conversation at which the speaker realizes that the listener is not going to see reason–in the way that the speaker delineated it. It’s a soft insult or “micro-aggression” to suggest, in other words, that the speaker is saying “I give up” or “you’re unreasonable”; remember when that word had meaning, Americans?

We’ve all been there–unless we live among the most reasonable and conciliatory people, who are reasonable and conciliatory all the time; we have done our level-best to convince someone of an idea–especially these days–but s/he refuses to admit to the proven facts–choosing instead to stonewall, change the subject, pretend the facts are otherwise or not even comprehend at all. And we say it: “Believe what you want.”

Well–I say, stop saying this to people; because my thoughts say it’s harmful–even if it is said in jest or sarcastically–because it tells your interlocutor that it’s okay to believe what is untrue. And in the end — that does no one any good — unless one is on his or her death bed and needs to think it is true that s/he is going somewhere nice — instead of nowhere.

Believing what is untrue is no longer fodder for a village-wide change–but has global implications, now.

What does it mean to believe what you want? I’ll let you think about that and continue tomorrow morning, writing more in the the next post.

Thanks for reading!
Peace, Love, Joy, Imagination and Enlightenment I wish you and yours,

Carl
Tokyo