It is an interesting time we live in. It is normal for a given person to be leery of something new. Today however, this is in a mass scale. One which has not been seen since the rise of the Industrial Age. Back then it was people having to switch from making everything they need and relying on a barter/monetary economy to one which focuses more on monetary and less on barter. Today though, we are transferring into the age of Information. Never before has information been so prevalent. Think about it, want to know about something, type it up and read and wammo!!! You are further enlightened. Never in any past age (With the possible exception of the Bronze Age which brought on Greek Enlightenment) has there been such an onus on the average person to apply so much mental power to their normal lives. This brings up many issues for the average person. The first issue I wish to bring up is the most fundamental of them. With all of the knowledge available to us, our brains are still only capable of processing a certain amount of data. This ability varies from person to person, but regardless of the person, we still are limited. Please excuse me for this, it serves two purposes. Since none of us can say for certain we understand the mechanics of the brain in full detail, I want to proceed into this in the form of thinking of our brains like computers. For to be honest, they both function in the same way. When we get a new computer, we know that its processing speed, its Hard Drive space, and its RAM memory are all important factors. We buy the capacity we need or learn to live with the capacity we have. A computer will be given information, process it, then store it or remove it as we determine. Like a computer, our brains function based on a given set of parameters that we give it and this will lead into the processes we wish to have. Also known as our personality, our beliefs system, and our path in life. What is not very well known… is that we define these parameters. We determine what we see and hear, what we learn, and even how. In short, we define the discussions we have in our own image. This is an amazing thing that we control. And it is interesting that with it, we can look at something as barbaric while another looks at it as human.
An example of this appeared recently on Larry King live. Two polar opposites paired off and during their interaction was given such a lovely demonstration of this. The two people who were part of this was Joan Bayheart (sp?) One of the 5 hostesses of the popular daytime show ‘The View”, comedian and rather well spoken liberal (not saying this is unique, giving credit where it is due), and Ann Coulter, popular book writer and devout Conservative. Both considered on the extreme ends of their respective positions. I know I certainly do.
Bayheart: You support Waterboarding, do you want to be waterboarded? Coulter: You support Abortion, do you want to be aborted? I am all for aborting the terrorist instead of Waterboarding them.
Not trying to bring up a discussion of either point, but I found it intriguing and arguably true that the standard Liberal despises Waterboarding (The act of forcing a person to be held down as water is poured over their heads, basically bringing the person close to drowning) thinking it barbaric but can openly and willingly allow the use of abortion. On the opposite side, a Conservative can willingly despise the act of taking an unborn baby from a mothers body and killing it, in some instances partially birthing them to crush their skulls. But are all for Waterboarding.
See them however you like, I despise both of them. But the fact is that many of us have defined for ourselves how these effect us. Complete disclosure, I despised Abortion long before Waterboarding. But there was a time when both of them were acceptable to me. We see these depending on how we wish to see the world around us. But these both are examples of accepting definitions given by others, effectively giving others the ability to define the subject. I dislike this because it robs us of the ability to define for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. It robs us of our individuality in acceptance of commonality. It makes us a number. But more importantly, it gives others power over us.
The more control you give over yourself, the less control you exert over your life. What is this discussion about? No, it is not about Waterboarding or Abortion. It is about defining the discussion for yourself and not allowing others to define them for you. How do they effect your life? Is it important to you how they effect others? Do you know how they effect others? And what is the real discussion which is not being said?
Because of the age of Industry, we have all gotten used to having parameters set, processes, assembly line procedures, this is wrong, that is right.
With the age of Information, it has never been more important that we define these for ourselves instead of relying on the parameters of the past. For now, there is just so much access to knowledge that it is now more a form of resistance and reluctance then a willingful search for information in order to be informed so as to make accurate decisions.
Simply put, the more you allow any given group to determine what you think, the more you hold yourself back from the life you deserve to have.