c0d3h4x0r's Journal: Being "open-minded"

Popular culture has abused the term "open-minded" and turned it into what is, in my opinion, a bad thing rather than a good one.

People who call themselves "open-minded" these days are generally referring to their unwillingness to take any side of any issue. These people are fearful and stupid. In their case, "open-minded" is just a polticially-correct way of saying "I'm too stupid and/or apathetic and/or scared of offending others to form or state any well-reasoned, firm opinion on any issue".

On the other hand, the real meaning of "open-minded" is that a person, despite having a firm and strong opinion, is at least willing to listen to other well-reasoned arguments contrary to their own on the issue, and is even willing to modify their position in light of new facts or logical arguments.

Unfortunately, in common usage these days, whenever you state a strong opinion on any issue, no matter how well-founded your argument for it is, and no matter how many other well-reasoned arguments you have evaluated, you'll inevitably be incorrectly branded as being "closed-minded".

Nonsense. If that's how people want to define "open-minded" versus "closed-minded", then I'll wear the term "closed-minded" like a badge of honor. At least I have the courage and the intelligence to reason through issues, evaluate all the evidence, and form a solid opinion.