Are you able to maintain an open mind on complicated issues?

Question

For example, the events of 9/11. I don't know who was behind it, and I am waiting, possibly forever to get the whole story. If you make up your mind and decide that you believe there was no US government conspiracy or that there definitely was a conspiracy involving our government in some way, you will tend to reject evidence that does not fit in with your belief. I think we tend to look for evidence that supports what we believe, and in so doing we can become oblivious to the truth. That's why it's good, if you can, to be open-minded.

If you have an intelligent response to this question, I would welcome it. If not, no real need to answer.

dtwladyhawk: reason our government might want to allow a terrorist attack to happen: cold war was over. Needed something to replace it with to maintain high level of military spending. so "war on terror" is the answer. Needed attack to justify "war on terror."

to sronce1988: Global heating seems to be happening. Some think humans contribute to it. Others don't. But the fact that the planet is warmer is mostly accepted by everyone. The warmer planet could have devastating effects if melting icepacks shut down the Gulf Stream. So if we can do something to reverse global warming, maybe huge sheets of aluminum foil in the sky to deflect sunlight away from earth, it might be a good idea. Get where I'm coming from? If there is a problem, let's fix it and not worry so much about the cause.

Answer 1

I try but sometimes social conservatives are very close-minded and irrational and they can get on my nerves. Now on the 9/11 conspiracy thing, there was a time that I thought there might have been a government conspiracy. I think that they might have known it was going to happen but did little to stop it because they wanted something to happen to justify their wars. I don't think they are that evil to have been involved in the attacks though.

Answer 2

Bin ladin confessed to the 9/11 attacks. We still don't have the whole story behind Kennedy's assassination but I am certain, he is dead-how when why who really doesn't matter, my President and his brother were gunned down and we have no reason. Since murder only needs evidence or a confession. All the above people have either confessed or been killed and those people are guilty. I cannot see how our government's involvement in this horrible crime would help them. Besides, no one knew for sure who would or would not be there. When I was younger, living in a small town, there was a Chief of Police who was supposedly killed hunting. The coroner disputed this by indicating he was shot while laying down-thru the forehead and out the back of the head. Simultaneous to this he was investigating a drug ring operating in our town using the bus. I have another story where another person was killed because he had knowledge. My two cousins were killed waiting for the school bus-the man who killed them walked away with 1 yr in jail. There is a kind of justice and believe me when I say it does come around. Have peace and serenity.

Answer 3

I think the only way to make an intelligent decision on issue is to examine all facts and then decide. On issues like the example you suggested there will always be someone who is a conspiracy theorist and regardless what is suggested as fact they will refuse to believe the facts. For example during the Kyoto accord in Japan in the 1990s the leading scientists in the world agreed that humans contributed about one thirtieth of all greenhouse gasses and as a people we could not have a very large impact on reducing them but being scientist they disregarded their own findings and still insist we should do all we could not concerned that no matter what we do the results would be negligible but Al Gore believes what he wants to believe and disregarding FACTS has everyone all stirred up over something we can not control. If you don't believe me educate yourself on the subject and write back after you do. People need an agenda I think it is what drives them never mind if it is real.

Answer 4

I try to keep an open mind on all subjects. The case in question, for instance, I've analysed and I'm coming down on the side of OBL and his band of merry men being the perpetrators. My wife is an architectural engineer, and she and her classmates (she was in school at the time) seem to have a thorough understanding of the structural components of the buildings' collapse, and I have no doubt it happened the way I saw it- airplanes crashing into buildings, no controlled demolition.

Now, whether the government influenced the event, either by direct intervention (they asked or facilitated OBL in the act) or by inaction (they knew it was coming and intentionally disregarded it) is another question. That's not subject to scientific analysis, and something I'm not qualified to make a judgement on, so the jury's still out o that, in my mind.

And the question of WTC 7 is a great mystery to me.

Answer 5

When I hear these theories I try to look at motive and consequence. If the government perpetrated the greatest fraud to the country ever which skyrocketed the publics opinion of them why then did they not, when public opinion faultured not follow up that action with something similar. If it were me I certainly would have blown-up a couple of the peacemonger rallies, a) to silence my critics and b) to gather my support back. Why would I kill a bunch of innocents on planes and in buildings when I have a much more attractive target in my enemies gatherings. I have a fairly strategic mind and that involves critical thinking. It has crossed my mind that it was planned and executed by government forces but it makes little strategic sense to not follow up with more fruitful targets.

As to the real issue of open thinking. You are absolutely correct. People on both sides have their minds completely closed to the other sides' ideology and that limits their ability to think objectively. There is also the issue of having TOO open of a mind and allowing all kinds of paranoia and worry to consume you.

Answer 6

I don't think anyone is able to have a completely open mind about anything. To have a completely open mind you would have to be void of any morals, convictions, beliefs, etc..Like you said, people tend to reject evidence, theories, and other beliefs based on their own bias'. We all do it to some extent. All anyone can do is try to accept that everyone is entitled to their own theories and that with out hard evidence it's impossible to say who's right and who's wrong. We should just be happy that most people believe in something one way or the other because if someone believes in absolutely nothing then you end up with someone who doesn't care about anything and has nothing to lose.

Answer 7

Very much. I have no pre-set ideas of what happened other than there were people from the middle-east who hijacked those planes and flew them into the twin towers and Osama Bin Laden was behind the plot. I will say this, my government or parts of it are capable of many things, so I do not immediately dismiss them of all possible involvement. I hope to live long enough to hear the whole true story and who knew what, when.

Answer 8

Throughout History there have been several incidences of conspiracies brought about by our government ,or I should say by persons in power . So there may be validity to the story being circulated in various websites ..Having said this there may also be people out in Cyber space trying to discredit our government . There will always be some type of controversy in the world of politics.I would hope that the government would not stoop so low as to kill our own people on our own land.

Answer 9

I am certainly open to any and all evidence in any given situation or event. I try to hold my opinion until I have heard all the availabe evidence. Sometimes I am shocked when the final story is public knowledge. Sometimes I'm not surprised at all. For instance, who would ever have thought that our government would have been involved in a plot to kill Castro??

Answer 10

You have a point, except you don't believe that the truth is out about 9/11 so you are going to tend to discount the fact that it has been proven what caused it. It wasn't a bunch of guys in Washington, D.C. but a bunch of militant Islamic jihadists...
So, be careful about criticizing those with "closed minds" because you might realize you are one of them at some point.