Last night, I did something I rarely do- I watched the news. During a break, there was an advertisement bashing Sharron Angle for 'changing her views'. The person speaking said she had printous from Angle's website before the election that showed that she believed otherwise. I find it ironic that they always think it's disingenuous when it's a politician they dislike and always real when it's someone they like. Advertisements in Arizona talk about how McCain has 'moved to the right' to get ahead of JD Hayworth. His rhetoric has; but I suspect it's disingenuous and that McCain will be the same he always has been if he wins.
On the larger scale, it begs the question of ever having your own opinions. If they can always hold your opinions against you, how can you ever improve? As you gain knowledge and experience, your perception of the 'facts' and what classifies as fact changes. Or, like the Sunday School Teacher at church told me, "You have the same amount of knowledge about the scriptures as we. You apply it differently." Assuming that is true, there may be things that, given what knowledge I have, are currently inaccurate.
I remember in school as I progressed through the Biochemistry core of classes how I discovered some things they teach in general science are not necessarily true later on. While 'true enough' for understanding, you can't give people the meat up front without the right scaffolding to support that information. I didn't know about enzyme kinetics and chiral isoforms, and so what I knew was true, in the context of the knowledge I had.
We often brainstorm in order to solve problems. Sometimes, we brainstorm bad ideas in order to eliminate them. If I am to be suspected as an advocate of a certain idea because I mention it, this will lead me to hold my tongue and we will find organizations pursuing bad ideas because nobody ruled them out.
Angle doesn't do a stellar job of expressing her thoughts or explaining her rationale behind them. If she genuinely changed her mind, and it's for real, then we can trust them. Politicians, however, usually do things to get elected. I am kind of annoyed that anything you have said can and WILL be used against you forever and ever as your first and only valid thought, assuming of course that you're a Republican. The Democrats can change their minds whenever they like.
However, a fundamental precept of human compassion is a belief that people can actually change. Ideas evolve, knowledge increases, and wisdom can if the ideas and knowledge are rightly applied in the crucible of experience. Experience has shown that Angle expressed herself poorly. I knew what she meant in many of the ads where Reid makes a big deal of her diction, and it was poorly worded, but it did not mean what Reid wants you to think it does. For that matter, what does Reid think, and how has his opinion changed in my lifetime? Why?
Maybe we should be asking those questions instead.
On the larger scale, it begs the question of ever having your own opinions. If they can always hold your opinions against you, how can you ever improve? As you gain knowledge and experience, your perception of the 'facts' and what classifies as fact changes. Or, like the Sunday School Teacher at church told me, "You have the same amount of knowledge about the scriptures as we. You apply it differently." Assuming that is true, there may be things that, given what knowledge I have, are currently inaccurate.
I remember in school as I progressed through the Biochemistry core of classes how I discovered some things they teach in general science are not necessarily true later on. While 'true enough' for understanding, you can't give people the meat up front without the right scaffolding to support that information. I didn't know about enzyme kinetics and chiral isoforms, and so what I knew was true, in the context of the knowledge I had.
We often brainstorm in order to solve problems. Sometimes, we brainstorm bad ideas in order to eliminate them. If I am to be suspected as an advocate of a certain idea because I mention it, this will lead me to hold my tongue and we will find organizations pursuing bad ideas because nobody ruled them out.
Angle doesn't do a stellar job of expressing her thoughts or explaining her rationale behind them. If she genuinely changed her mind, and it's for real, then we can trust them. Politicians, however, usually do things to get elected. I am kind of annoyed that anything you have said can and WILL be used against you forever and ever as your first and only valid thought, assuming of course that you're a Republican. The Democrats can change their minds whenever they like.
However, a fundamental precept of human compassion is a belief that people can actually change. Ideas evolve, knowledge increases, and wisdom can if the ideas and knowledge are rightly applied in the crucible of experience. Experience has shown that Angle expressed herself poorly. I knew what she meant in many of the ads where Reid makes a big deal of her diction, and it was poorly worded, but it did not mean what Reid wants you to think it does. For that matter, what does Reid think, and how has his opinion changed in my lifetime? Why?
Maybe we should be asking those questions instead.
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