Opinion: You think you know something? Well, think again
Apr 13, 2021, 3:47 PM
Boyd Matheson (Chad Larsen KSL)
(Chad Larsen KSL)
This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.
You think you know what there is to know, but Think Again.
Did you know that the Black Box on an airplane is actually orange? Makes it easier to spot. The 100 Years War actually lasted 114 years — but who’s counting?
From the trivial to the more serious, now there’s a host of things like that in our lives where we just need to Think Again.
So often we get so comfortable with what we think we know about an issue that we stopped listening.
Politics — Think Again
Q? How do we get people on all sides of the political spectrum to come together and think again?
We’ve got to get people to recognize that we don’t need to disagree less. We just need to disagree better, to disagree respectfully. I’m actually one of those guys who believes America is always at its best when we are a country of big ideas and open, sometimes even roiling, debates about critical issues.
Politicians and personalities — that is driving the day. This is why you have to Think Again.
Read more from Boyd: Vicious circle of political rhetoric is exhausting
I know people who will make a decision on something based on who said it.
There have been many studies done that show if someone with whom you agree politically or like says something, you are more likely to accept it.
Conversely, if someone with whom you disagree politically or don’t like says something, you’re more likely to disagree with it and maybe even be angry about it.
Social media — Think Again
Because of social media, it makes it easier for us to have contempt
for those with whom we disagree. I can agree with you on one thing in the morning. But then if we disagree on something else, I can melt down your Twitter feed or blow up your Facebook page in the afternoon, and sleep well and go to church Sunday and feel like I’m a good person — more or less.
What we have is a contempt problem. Because I disagree with you, you’re of no value, you’re you’re of no worth to me.
Think Again: We should never confuse a difference of opinion as a difference in principle. Often we want the same goals, the same results, but we want to go about it differently. Different roads to the same place.
In fact, that’s my challenge for you today: Go find someone with whom you disagree, go have a socially distance soda or coffee or a lunch together and learn something: Think Again.
