we know of the giants throughout history who have been persecuted for their ideas....Hallaj......Socrates.....Oscar Wilde.......i am however refering to lesser mortals such as myself living in modern times .....
how does one harmonize an idealistic/ 'radical' PoV with a harsh and unforgiving reality and survive the wreckage........?
what are the hurdles which you have encountered?
and what would be considered the biggest enemy to independent thinking?
THANK YOU in advance to ALL of you
2006-07-22 19:06:52 · 31 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Error by Yahoo.
the question should be read as
...what is the biggest enemy to independent thinking?
2006-07-22 19:08:41 · update #1
good...keep it coming people ....
keep it coming.........
2006-07-22 19:23:54 · update #2
to Nate the Great..please calm down. communism is so last century
2006-07-22 19:33:19 · update #3
apology........misspelling
it should be ........independant
2006-07-23 14:41:07 · update #4
oops.... check the dict.
independent is correct
2006-07-23 14:45:54 · update #5
WONDERFULL question! -& perhaps alittle too thoughtfull to find an equally good answer in such a laymans forum. But off the top of MY poor brain, I'd say that authority was the biggest threat to independant thinking. Anyone who follows ANY leader, concept, idea, belief- you name it- blindly- is jumping off the same intellectual cliff of conformity... NOBODY knows everything about anything...-there's ALWAYS room for questioning, doubts, -new ideas & unexpected discoveries. Authority seeks conformity so as to maintain control over it's followers. It's, "I know better than you..." highway- is a dead end. It's selfserving tendencies- short circuits new ideas until the "whole" eventually fragments or collapses in its own shortsightedness. Independent Thinking is the"David" of all thought- standing up to the "Goliath" of mediocrity & authority. It not only wants to know "why", but "why not"...-And it's why God gave us each a brain to figure it out for ourselves. Fear & loneliness are the biggest hurdles the Independent Thinker faces. We're viewed as "nuts", "eccentrics", "dreamers"- & shunned accordingly. Society doesn't like what it can't wrap its security around.
2006-07-22 20:05:21 · answer #1 · answered by Joseph, II 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I like your question. Thought provoking. The biggest enemy is to independent thinking, in my opinion, is language and its inherent limitations. As soon as we can understand yes or no, we're being indoctrinated into the belief systems of that language/culture. Monoglots are stuck within that to a certain degree. The more able we are to think in different systems,(languages) the better off we are in understanding something in and beyond those institutions others have mentioned: political, cultural, religious, etc. Also becomes easier to figure out the way institutions are configured and the way language itself is used as such a tool of imprisonment.
2006-07-23 03:46:32 · answer #2 · answered by diasporas 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The biggest enemy to thinking is probably prohibtion. Because in order to think indepently without any restraints you need to have freedom. So of all of the restraints such as communism, the Bush adminustration, relgion, and other things people have mentioned here are all the same. They all interfere with radical thinking because someone always has a problem because of their relgion or values. So the only enemy to indepent thinking is really repression and freedom is the ally.
2006-07-23 02:37:31 · answer #3 · answered by Becca 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
EDUCATION We are all brainwashed into thinking what professors and teachers tell us to be the truth.
MEDIA We all act and think alike because we watch the same garbage and eventually it forms in our heads as if it were our own ideas. Our society have been mentally manipulated.
Like Communism Which is flourishing in our country by the way. We are being manipulated and families are being torn apart by immorality.
Then ignorant people vote for leaders who although they say that they are democrats they are truly communists.
Hillary Clinten is a Communist by the way.
She has a history which go back and it is part of her training. Beware.
God Bless You,
2006-07-23 02:41:37 · answer #4 · answered by Deena 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi Lola,
Great Question! (This query is proof that YOU are a great thinker!)
First - Beware: Those who know you too well, will see your ideas the least. "The prophet will be rejected in his own land"
Second - Seek truth of your "self": The undiscovered life is not worth living.
Third - When you become "satisfied" with the final answer...then know that you have compromised the value of the question.
Fourth - When everyone comes to the same conclusion...it's means that no one was REALLY "thinking".
Fifth and final: Don't let the bastards get you down!
Bravo! Lola, Bravo!!!
LUX ET VERITAS!
by the way...will u pleez pick this as best answer. U R sweet if u do! thin-Q vry mch!
2006-07-23 02:34:38 · answer #5 · answered by whoopswhatever 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Censorship, a verbal and literary opression weighing heavily on our hearts, and the instinct to believe that we are always right and that the opposing side is always wrong.
Hurdles? I'm only 16, and am quick to curse, rather profusely at times. My major hurdle would be the older generation wagging a self-righteous finger at me for saying words that have been in my beautiful english language so long, and only serve to amplify my speech or release tention through said speech. Also, one of my 'hurdles' would be the tendancy of some, stronger-willed, individuals not to listen to me, usually the weakest of most conversations.
To survive, I suppose we just have to gauge our audience, and feel it out for a way to express ourselves without drawing unwanted anger or attention our way. We can survive through disgression, which, unfortunately, comes from experience.
I'm sorry that my misguided answers were out of order.
2006-07-24 04:20:29 · answer #6 · answered by Joshua S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The biggest enemy to independent thinking?
From what I've seen, I'd have to say that its all the people blaming 'organised' religion and their respective governments for supposedly "keeping them down" or what ever fancy statement people are using these days. What ever happened to "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing", and "Actions speak louder than words"? Bunch of cowards the lot of them.
2006-07-23 02:51:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Government, I'm afraid. No organization in history has been more responsible for squashing those who think freely.
Look at the people who were/are persecuted for their thoughts... Galileo... Jesus... Mandela... The Dalai Lama... Falun Gong... The Students of Tienamen...
And it goes on in more subtle ways now... laws that pevent you from protesting... from trying new concepts and ideas (Stem Cell Research?) ... from accepting and furthering truths (Evolution banned in favor of creationism???)
Don't get me wrong... Government has it's place, and is a needed entity... but certainly not in the capacity or with the power it wields today.
2006-07-23 02:10:13 · answer #8 · answered by Village Idiot 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Society
2006-07-23 09:44:55 · answer #9 · answered by savi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I personally think the biggest enemy to independent thinking is the closed mind. After all, it doesn't matter who did what or what you have learned, if you are not willing to open your mind to receive new information, explore new avenues of thought and accept things that are different from your own beliefs, how can you possibly hope to be independent in your thought process?
2006-07-23 02:12:04 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋