Have we lost compromise and rational discussion / critical thinking skills as a people?

[MisterWack]

This is a genuine question since I feel less hope for humanity being on social media sites like these when people ask so my skewed and carefully coded question, only their perceived ideas on an issue get the 👍, MHO, or what have you…. Even when it is founded in echo chamber-ism. (Read The Whole Details, okay? And don’t point fingers as answers. Don’t point fingers.)

One question asked was “woke” teachers are instilling masturbation, sex toys, etc. in schools and what people thought of it? My critique is, discuss what can / what can’t be discussed in Sex Education…. Maybe discuss if it should be the right of the parent not the right of the school to teach that stuff. Once you use “woke”, anyone who doesn’t conform will be attacked / targetted just for having a different opinion. This is an extreme reaction.(From the Right) though I’ve seen Democrats do this too….

I see another question “Should Trump go to jail for his crimes?” where the polls are skewed, “No because I’m a Dumb MAGA” or “Yes because I use my brain”.(From The Left) though I’ve seen Republicans do this too….

This is a TWO Party issue because it is a PEOPLE issue. As people we are flawed, we can make mistakes, etc. though we should ask open ended questions where we not only expect differing views, we accept them and we don’t attack each other for being male or female… We just get along. Can we just agree to get along and ask more open ended questions?

🛑✋ Stop (From typing something heavily skewed)

🧠 Think (How you are going to phrase this to be open minded)

💚 Go! (Send it and prepare to hear from both sides in a more compromised & logical & rational way without trigger words and hate rather looking at the substance of the answer itself then you have actual meaningful dialogue which may shift your perspective on certain things)

No pointing fingers, just focus on the substance alone… Please.
READ The POLL Carefully Before Voting.

NO - After reading your post I see that we can have open minded discussion without coming at each other’s throats while finding actual solutions or thoughtful commentary.

YES - After reading your post you’ve proven that Right & Left can’t have open minded discussions without getting at each other’s throats making finding real world problems and solutions difficult if not impossible.

Both sides have meaning discussions, though no one pays attention to those rather than choosing to get into fights with literally anyone who disagrees / showcases minor criticism.

Other

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SnowyOwl & Lynx132 Deserve MHO so they get MHO, thank you for your answers & insightful commentary. 👍

[Lynx122]

I don't think humans ever had that ability as a group. People have always been affected by this phenomenon. Honestly I think it's probably gotten better today than it was in the past. It was just less documented and studied in the past. But if you think about all the wars like the cruscades for instance. We need to secure the holy land for christianity and take it away from the people who have different beliefs than us. Today people would at least question it and discuss it and oppose it. But back then it was just accepted and people went along with it.

Of course it's easy to be in a bubble online but I don't let that worry me that much.

I try and write stuff that I've thought a lot about and I hope I can bring some new insight or perspective to people but most people on here just judge what I say based on how it fits into their American mostly republican world view. Some get pissed and some agree with me but then say something that I didn't really even mean with my post becaus they just can't see that I have a completely different perspective on life and I don't fit into their system of beliefs at all.

One woman said on my last post she wishes there would be an American only option for this website.

But I'm not too bothered by it. I think in the end it's each persons own responsibility to be open for new thoughts and question things. And even if 80% of comments are not valuable 20% are actually interesting and insightful so I'm fine with that :) . My comments 15 years ago were also not the same as they are now each person is on a journey and we don't all start at enlightenment :)

I think people are sometimes too worried about the average intelligence or the level of public dicord or division etc. When it really matters most of the time things will go better than expected. Sometimes the circumstances align to create a catastrophe but most of the time it'll be fine :)

[MisterWack]

The Crusades part struck a chord with me in a weird particular way. My teacher actually said what you said, he discussed how today we probably wouldn’t join The Crusades if the modern Pope declared it since we have responsibilities to be done, families to look after, jobs to maintain for economic reasons and friends to hang out with & play video games all day so…
Yeahhh though another part of me (as you showcased here) is that people would discuss it, oppose it, speak out, and share varying opinions on the matter. That I really loved you bringing up as a good point.

You are right we’ve been like this for quite some time and now it is increasing, though I differ from the stance since it seems like it is getting worse and more rigid especially in the online sphere. Though that is just me, I’m biased since I haven’t been around online 24/7 from 1997 to 2007 to 2025 to make such a distinction I guess…. I see it important for people (not just Americans) to come together, share opinions, and reach it on a deeper level not just a surface one.

Anyways, thank you for writing your response and have a nice week ahead.

[Lynx122]

Thanks You have a nice week too :) You have to remember that online is not the real world a lot of people don't post online so judging the state of the world by fighting online is misleading :)

[MisterWack]

@Lynx122 You’re welcome, I know that though sometimes it is worth a reminder from people like you who keep my faith in humanity alive so I appreciate the cold hard truth slap across the face lol

[Lynx122]

Thanks for mho :) Don't stop belieeeevin ;)

[goaded]

I know it's possible. It's very rare on here. Apparently BlueSky does a good job of moderation which genuinely makes discussions there, well, moderate.

I've not joined it because it's susceptible to being bought by a billionaire.

[MisterWack]

Fair, I’ve heard with BlueSky compared to X (formerly known as Twitter) that DMs reported for Anti Semitism are actually taken seriously compared to X being hands off on that sort of thing. I personally stand for freedom of speech and advocate for it, though if that speech is used to send death threats, hatred, and heinous speak then it should be moderated to some degree in which BlueSky definitely gets the ‘good job’ reputation for their moderation on their platform compared to X.

I understand and respect your decision to not completely buy into BlueSky due to your beliefs that a billionaire could easily buy the platform and gut it like sadly Elon Musk did to Twitter (now known as X). I’m not on BlueSky or X or Instagram or Threads personally, I just don’t want more social media or to get my news from social media…

[SnowyOwl]

Yeah. The issue is that most of educational institutions, which are public, have been reduced to the function of creating agents of political revolution, as if that was the goal of schools.

Ever since industrial revolution, school has taken many roles, but less and less does it take the role of personal development of the human being.

So yes, you're right, there has been a gradual loss of critical thinking in the masses, especially since the education system is either reduced to political polarization or absolute pragmatism..

It's like they wanna make us forget we are human, at the very least they forgot it themselves. Who is they? Well, whoever gains money and power by political polarization, extreme marxism or capitalism... They never cared about individuals.

The other problem is that even if people turn away from school and dropout, it's not like they can get properly educated with the Internet, since most mediums are politically polarized...

Most schools that still care about teaching life skills and personal development of human beings as individuals... Well these are usually private schools that are expensive and not accessible to the majority...

So if you wanna make a change for human race, try to collaborate in the cause of education.

We live in times of desperate need for relearning skills such as critical thinking.

Hell, even doctors are manipulated by politics these days, and you'd think you can trust these people 🥲

God save humanity

[MisterWack]

Okay so, the first part I see where you are coming from. Yeah school doesn’t really improve the individual like how to file taxes, how to get a job, how to cook, etc. though I won’t say the entire structure is politics. In my English Class, we learned & were encouraged to do Critical Thinking Skills utilizing reading multiple articles both agreeing, disagreeing, and being in the center lane on issues in which we highlighted using 3 colors of highlighter or pen as we choose then we discuss our findings. We’d even write mini essays in class about both sides and the side we pick along with pros & cons for it. Though you are entitled to your opinion and I agree with the private school notion, we need to learn about critical thinking, make a change for humanity through education.

The doctors being influenced by politics got me too since a lot are anti vaccine now when they used to promote them. I remember learning of the Polio Vaccine and everyone lined up for it like it was a new iPhone, Kicking Smallpox’s ass with the CDC, and we almost cured Polio then the misinformation on vaccines started…. There are Measles outbreaks, Whooping Cough, and others spreading amongst kids and leading to suffering due to the political landscape I must say it is really depressing to bear witness.
Thank you for taking time to answer, I found it very well written. Keep it up!

[MisterWack]

2nd piece: I don't know why it didn’t hit me, but yeahhh I’d say schools are being political with the whole book banning thing, not respecting separation of church & state, etc. whoops. I take back what I said in the 1st part regarding schools lmao, sorry ‘bout that.

[SnowyOwl]

There was a time when school wasn't so political, when it focused on personal development of the individual... back in ancient Greece, times of Socrates and Plato 🙃

[SnowyOwl]

For the school being political by the way, I think you might still just be seeing it from one perspective.. sure some schools have been overly influenced by religion in the past, but now schools are also influenced by strictly political ideology.
Try finding neutral sources to see what's really the issue with the book banning.
Both sides present considerable concerns, but at the end of the day the truth is independent of political concerns, which are artificial human beliefs.
The truth is of much higher order than that, the order of nature. And if you look at the nature of the world and the human being, you will see what is good about the book banning (relating to lbtq+ I assume is what you're talking about), and then we would know what we have to work on so that books don't need to be banned, because banning is always a last resort in my opinion for these things... Is what you do when things are already out of hand

[MisterWack]

@SnowyOwl I get you and I don’t at the same time…
Like the book banning is strange like Mouse which is about the Holocaust Cats as Nazis & Jewish Victims as Mice was banned because of “nudity” which was the bodies of those dead…. Yeahhh it is a graphic book to illustrate the evils of the Nazis. Even Night by Ellie Wiesel which I read in school was banned. Even a new Anne Frank book inspired by her diaries and details that are often overlooked with an illustrated look into her life… That was banned too. I want books to be more accessible regardless of politics or historical controversy, more books the better especially to give insight. In college there are individuals who study and look into Karl Marx though purely to research it on a historic level much like Mein Kampf (which was in my Social Studies classroom and he read some of it to us for historical context along with Diary of Anne Frank)

[MisterWack]

Though yeah I can see politics getting influenced into the programs, I believe we need independent review & more access to books to better analyze topics on a deeper level from most sources available in our reach. Thank you.

[SnowyOwl]

Yea, I wasn't thinking of that book banning, but what's going on now with extreme gender ideology, and book banning in some schools, because quite honestly kids in preschool are not physically not mentally prepared to deal with gender ideology

[SnowyOwl]

At the end of the day we need to be as informed as we can to act responsibly, so I think we agree on that

[SnowyOwl]

@MisterWack thanks for mho by the way!

[Graptemys79]

I have been criticized by both sides because I consider myself moderate and try to see both sides of an issue. I've been called a fascist and a communist. LOL!

[MisterWack]

Same. Literally the same.
I approach the discussion with both sides in mind and am prone to change stance / every claim someone types I’ll go out of my way to actually look up and see if it is false, half truth, or full truth or just indecisive then report back with what I found lol.
I have been called a “commie” and to quote “go back to China”…. One person took me out of context and blocked me then called me a “motherfucker” which hurt my feelings tbh more than the commie comment 🤣

I hold both sides accountable and hold myself accountable, also sometimes I let anger take over and mess up by not getting the facts straight and I apologize directly to the people affected by my impluses.

You seem very cool, continue the good work. Thank you for taking the time to answer, I appreciate all that. Have a great week ahead.

[Graptemys79]

I just want people to be fair-minded and use critical thinking skills.

[SnowyOwl]

very nice 😂

[goaded]

I like your answer, but the fact that you seem to think HW Bush was innocent when he was head of the CIA during Iran-Contra might lead people to think you lean one way and not the other.

[SnowyOwl]

@goaded there's always right and wrong in either side, so of course that for certain things people who think will learn to one side and then to the other. The real issue is extremism, or agreeing with everything one side says because you've agreed with one thing

[goaded]

@SnowyOwl Fair enough. But I think the head of Reagan's CIA probably had something to do with Iran-Contra, even if he was not convicted.