WHERE DO YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS COME FROM.

What do you think and why?

Each and every individual takes in information and processes it with preset concepts and learned patterns. Some of it is the influences of those you love and or respect having heard them express their opinions on any given subject.  Those opinions become implanted in a child’s mind and become a set answer to some questions.

Often it is the same sex parent who is the one who set these preconceived answers to question or subjects.  Generally these issues, subjects and opinions are related to that genders impact on their lives.  Opinions of the opposite sex, the work place and what ever interactions that gender has with the world outside themselves. And that is often imposed on a child of their gender but the child is not isolated from the opinion and thought processes of the opposite sex parent.

Some opinions are isolated and the other view is also instill they may intertwine in places to make a opinion based on that intertwining.

The opinion of friends can be impacted upon the child and group thought or opinion may gain standing within the individual. All these early opinions and processes can be carried into adulthood and to the political thought processes.  This may have an effect in determining the party affiliation of the individual and their leaning on issues.  With the passage of time and the impact of a given issue these opinions and stances may change and drive the individual to change their opinion sometime to one that is geometrically opposite of their long held stances.

Life can be a factor in this, such as the pro-choicer having a child of their own and suddenly the issue is no longer a abstract subject to them. Likewise the Pro-lifer may have an incident that causes them to see the other side of the issue.  Such life happenstances often influence the opinion and stances of the individual.  The Pro-firearms having a family member killed in a sense-less street crime and the like.

But along with preset ideas and opinions, life has a way of forming the individuals opinion, perceptions and answers to issues and questions.  This all contributes to the political opinions and how a person reacts to the issues.

I will use a recent occurrence to give example to this, the mine explosion in West Virginia.  As I take note of the reactions to this occurrence, I notice the differences between people of different leanings.  From outrage at this was allowed to happen and more was not done to prevent it.  To the focus should be on the effect not just on the family but the unspoken effect on the general public as a whole.

And where partisan distrust and preconceived thought of the reactions come in.  It is a preconceived thought that the more Liberal will see this as a cause to force changes in the work environment. An incident as a poster child for attacking big business and an example of how the common worker is put upon and devalued by employers.  The counter preconceived thought is that the Conservative will defend and support the mine owner.  As if not for them then every worker would not have a income and their family would starve.  So that the Conservatives will not care about the deaths of the miners, it is simply the price to be paid.

We often come at the other side from our preconceived ideas and thoughts of the other side.  Thinking that it is not logic or reality that influences them it is their preconceived ideology that governs them.

Another example is thinking someone of a different race will act and react according to preconceived notions. Blacks will be lazy, Mexicans will be shiftless and Jews will cheat you in business.  Anything counter is dismissed and over looked rather then to rethink the preconceived notion.  Or taken as a exclusion to the general rule, an isolated happening so it is meaningless.

tstbgop

Of Dogs and the Cross and Tolerance

In recent news, there have two events that I feel are intricately linked. One occurred in Sweden and the other in the United States.

MUHAMMAD CARTOONIST DEFIANT AFTER ATTACK

And………………………………………………………………….

THIEVES TAKE CONTROVERSIAL MOJAVE DESERT CROSS

The Swedish cartoonist, who had drawn Muhammad as a dog,  was attacked as he began a university lecture on free speech, by a group of presumably Muslim young men. Islam considers any image of Muhammad to be an insult.

In California, thieves, possibly with a motive prompted by the recent SCOTUS ruling, stole the Veterans memorial cross in the  Mojave National Preserve. Despite a $25,000 rewards, the cross has not been recovered nor have the thieves been apprehended.

(The thread photo is not of the stolen cross.)

msnbc.msn.com/id/37105541/ns/world_news-europe/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37086432/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Much of Europe is struggling with Muslim immigrants and several nations have passed or are considering laws to restrict their behavior in public, such as France’s and Finland’s (?) proposed ban on burkas in public.

In the United States, Judeo – Christian symbolism has been used on public buildings since the beginning of the nation. Recent SCOTUS rulings allow said symbolism that it of a historical nature. The cross (or it’s replacement) have been on that site for over 75 years.

To me, no one should ever be condemned or attacked for practicing free speech and no one has the right to steal property, regardless of the motivation.

Both situations anger me greatly.

“Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs.” – JFK

What are your thoughts?

William Stephenson Clark

Thursday, 5/13/10, Public Square