The Man over the Idea

I'm learning that you can't trust anything anyone tells you. Even if they love you, and mean the best - if what they're telling you isn't true, if they happen to be wrong, that means you weren't able to really trust them on that. You must find out everything for yourself.

 It's like how I wrote an essay once on Darwin and posted it on a personal blog. A friend replied with a comment saying "But Darwin was a racist!" I know better because I researched Darwin and wrote that essay. I know he was no more racist than the average person (And to quote the musical Avenue Q: "Everyone's a little bit racist.")

But, why did my friend say that? Because he thinks that discrediting Darwin is the right thing to do. People always attack the person backing an idea rather than the idea itself. That is a logical fallacy. What matters is not whether or not Darwin was a racist, but his ideas.

To me, it's the same with Paul the apostle. I've had another friend tell me Paul was a misogynist. No, if Paul was a misogynist then why did he say this: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28) and then, refer to women as "my dear sister in Christ," in his letters? (with reference to the above verse that sort of implies he viewed them as equals in Christ)

Now, did Paul have very conservative ideas about women? Oh yes. You better believe he did. But he was also very paranoid in a time where people were trying to implement pagan idols and priestesses whose methods of worship primarily involved sex with parishioners, in the early Christian church. (Something that would obviously ruffle Paul's feathers - he being a big believer in the whole "purity" thing) But none of this necessarily implies that he hated women. (A strong word to use for someone who just has some pretty old fashioned ideas - most of which he starts off by saying "I say" and never really outright says "Well this is what God said!!!")

It's unfair to take what people say, twist it out of the context of the time, and then use it as an excuse not to listen to what they have to say.

I just hate the way terms are thrown around, like 'product of your environment.' That sounds like the fruit of arrogance to me. 'Oh you're just the product of your environment!' Well, if I am then so are you. What matters is not our environment, but how we move past our environment or rise above it. It's all elitist bullshit to me. It's all the same: 'product of your environment,' 'racist,' 'misogynist.' All convenient reasons not to listen to someone's ideas, no? These terms are very convenient and in the end, it's less about rationally arguing ideas, than it is about showing who's a 'better person' (and by better person I don't just mean "personality" or "morality," but "intellect" as well) Meaning so many debates end up more about who is right, rather than what is right.

What brought all this on? Reading about Nietzsche and realizing that most of what I thought about him wasn't really true. That's a horrible thing to realize. Not only because it means I've been missing out on something, maybe something really wonderful, but mostly because I myself hate to be misconstrued. It's my all time pet peeve, and furthermore, it hurts my feelings. I hate it when people take what I say and twist it. It hurts! And the idea that I have misconstrued someone, bought into things other people said about them and never given them a chance, makes me sad because it hurts when someone does that to me.

Choose what is right over who is right.