Depending on whether you patron Starbucks, you may be aware that the international caffeine mogul has started putting quotes from individuals on their cups under the heading “The Way I See It.” Surprisingly, many of the quotes I’ve read on these cups have been at least interesting, if not intelligent and/or thought-provoking.
My favorite quote comes from the pen (or pencil, or keyboard, or typewriter) of Jonah Goldberg, founding editor of National Review Online. Starbucks has a brief interview with him stemming from the quote as well. It reads as follows:
“Everywhere, unthinking mobs of “independent thinkers” wield tired clichés like cudgels, pummeling those who dare question “enlightened” dogma. If “violence never solved anything,” cops wouldn’t have guns and slaves may never have been freed. If it’s better that 10 guilty men go free to spare one innocent, why not free 100 or 1,000,000? Clichés begin arguments, they don’t settle them.”
Ignoring the comma splice in the last sentence, he makes an excellent point about how very strong and definite sounding clichés are used by many to end arguments, when, in fact, they open a Pandora’s box of uncertainties. I would go further and say that many, as Goldberg calls them, “independent thinkers” base their beliefs on tired ideologies without a single iota of actual understanding. Essentially, they believe in principles blindly and absolutely. They will bring one of these principles up in very nearly every argument in which they engage. It’s tiring and tedious to hear people recite these cudgels with an air of self-righteousness.
To be brief, my point is twofold.
1. People blindly accept old principles to be absolute truths and then think themselves to be original thinkers when they recite them from memory. Principles should not be accepted blindly and hardly any truth is absolute. Beliefs should be formed with great care and scrutiny, and they should be fluid, open to change, rather than commandments engraved in stone.
2. Thinking outside of what is the status quo should be embraced and encouraged. If you accept whatever is shoved in your face and defend it vigorously, you’re helping to perpetuate an Orwellian state of mind. Decide for yourself what morals, principles, and rules you believe in. Don’t let a religon, political party, or activist organization force doctrine upon you. As Morpheus said, “Free your mind.” If you don’t, your opinions will never be that of an individual, but rather that of a collective into which you will be assimilated. And what will actual “independent thinkers” think of your thoughts?
“Another cliché at the top of my list: “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Uh, thanks. But who really cares.”