Are you open minded, or just a liberal? (hahaha, jk. That got your attention didn't it? Mission accomplished.)

This might be the weirdest and shortest post I put up, but I just had to make a statement about something.

Many of the more liberal people have a whole "being open minded" mantra. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. But practice what you preach, dang it!

Assuming that everyone who is religious automatically believes completely retarded stuff about evolution(what you're doing) is, in fact, being more close minded than brushing evolution away without a second glance (what you assume that we do). As is automatically assuming that anyone who makes a negative statement about evolution is automatically doing it in the name of religion. That picture didn't mention church at all, dorkos. That is all. (for reference to pic, see: http://api.ning.com/files/apWTBFO-cybkn7Hd2ZaGb4mwP0gGOttc7NIHwIWHIakOoU47V5S3nY8LssdFUinlBXFJo-iqo*4-hB8-5MXUnFLb1ocwJpXw/facepalm_religion.jpg)

Yes some people are stupid. No, it has no correlation at all with their religious affiliation. I facepalm about YOU.

Now that I'm here, though, perhaps this won't be quite AS short... because I have something else to say. What is open-mindedness anyway? Some may tell you that it means being accepting of all things, despite everyone's differences.

That would be WRONG.

Accepting all differences as ok, no matter what they are, is pretty much on the same playing field with being a complete racist, sexist, bigot. Here's why:

It takes no brain power to be your kind of open minded.

The true definition of the positive kind of open mindedness that we should all strive for has so much more to do with exercising your braincells, and less to do with what political, religious, or social affiliations you have.

To use an extremely controversial topic for illustration, being gay.

Most people will either tell you, or believe when they hear others tell them, that if you are for Gay Rights you're open minded, and if you're against them, you're closed minded. Not only does this issue have so much more gray area than that, BUT once again that's not using your brain. That's mindlessly following what people tell you, just like a lemming. Are you a lemming? What would truly define you as being open minded would be to look at the issue at hand. Look at BOTH sides of the issue. Research. Study. Pray, if you're religious. Work it out in your mind. Weigh all the options. Make a decision. And then stand by your decision. (Believing people should be able to run around willy nilly, doing whatever they want, whether you think it's right or not, is the same thing as not having gone through this process at all. Congratulations: You just wasted a whole truckload of your own time.)

If you follow this process like you should, your status as an open minded person is not in the least affected by whether you believe being gay is ok, or it isn't. Makes no difference. It doesn't matter what side you take on the issue, as long as you've honestly, and realistically tried to make a rational decision about it. THIS is what it means to be open minded. Being willing to look at both sides. Being willing to consider the possibility that something you are told might or might not be true and ok. And then acting on that realization to find your answers. (Questioning everything without actually trying to resolve your questions is pretty much just as stupid, and usually ends up making people very bitter.)

There are things in life where, if people use their brain cells to any extent at all, they will all arrive to the same conclusion. Murder, for example. The vast majority of humanity using their heads will agree that it is NOT ok to just go around shooting people for fun, or stabbing them because you were mad, or any of that stuff. But because we are against something, does that make us closed minded? Does that mean that to be truly open minded, we have to embrace a murderer's decisions to disagree with the rest of us? Absolutely freaking not. Because we've all thought about it. We've all looked at both sides. And we've all realized that this is an issue that is not ok.

Sadly, most everything else in life is not so clear cut. Take all the most controversial issues in government today. Abortion. Gay marriage. Guns. The military. Affirmative action. Big vs. small government. Foreign relations. The list goes on and on and on and on and on. In most of these issues, the opinion is split pretty much right down the middle.

Lots of people will tell you, liberals most especially, that if you choose one opinion on the scale (usually the FOR option), you're open minded, and if you choose the other, you're a closed minded bigot. And I don't say that to pick on liberals. It's a verifiable fact that more liberals use this argument than conservatives. That's just how it is. Hence the term "liberal". As in running free, hippie, it's my life- I'll live how I want. Hey, that's just where the term comes from. Chill.

Anyway, lots of people tell you this. These people are the most closed minded of all. Because they aren't really believing IN anything. They aren't using their intellect to make reasonable decisions. They're just trying to catch everything, to please everyone, and to create a world where they don't have to be responsible for anything. RE-Tarded.

There are open minded people in both opinion groups. There are closed minded people in both opinion groups. Being intellectual or smart, and being wise are two completely different things. I was taught that a LONG time ago. Closed minded people try to be all smart. Open minded people realize they have to be more wise. Let us be wise.

Just as a side note, I want to reiterate the common phrase "love the sinner, hate the sin", applicable, of course, even to things not dealing with sin or whatever. Love the enemy, hate the actions or the issues. Being open minded also includes having decent respect for people, even when you don't believe like they do. I think this is the part that really confuses those who are less wise into thinking they have to agree with everything. NO. You have to stand up for what's right. You have to fight for fair, just, correct principles. But you do not ever have the right to do it by hating someone, persecuting them, yelling rudely, being violent... etc.

So yeah, back to the picture that started this whole thing. I'm not like offended, or angry, or whatever that they got their facts wrong. But I am shaking my head in disbelief that people who are so intent on being smart and learning, and being open minded have in reality sealed themselves into a stereotype box about others, just like they supposedly preach against.

You're not really using your brains there, dopey. You're using your pride and desire to be right. And that ALWAYS ends badly. People like that ALWAYS end up just looking stupid. No credibility, mate. If you care enough about your cause, and you honestly want people to follow you and listen to your teachings, you gotta do your research and think.

Ok, I'm starting to get into rambling mode. (The mode in which I feel like I did such a substandard job of explaining that I need to go back over it again, just to marginalize any misunderstandings. But I'm trusting that you aren't stupid, and I shall leave it as is.)