Guess, somehow, someway, members have to check to see if they've done a thread before like the one they are doing or about to do. I've ran into the same problem twice.
Yvonne and Ken have explained that one a few times. Basically, whatever topic you’re shooting for, type it in the “SEARCH” box. In this case, I typed in free thinking and it came right up along with everywhere else “free thinking” was mentioned. Free Thinker also brings up the same info.
Tired. In order to fit in everyone needs to put a label on their forehead so there will be no questions as to what they are and let’s just forget about who we are. People are so caught up in whatever the fad label is or whatever makes them feel like they are either one up or somehow superior and they can’t even accurately tell anyone who they are. Which, most people do not know because they’re too busy trying to find a derned label that sounds good to them. It’s like the transsexual craze that’s going on: What shall I be today? It’s like looking at a soldier. One look and a knowledgeable person can tell everything about the soldier but can’t tell you who the soldier is except for the small name tag above the left pocket which still doesn’t describe the person. Now, if the above statement makes me closed minded or a free thinker then so be it but neither one describes WHO I am.
I continue to wonder what percent of the population is truly as you describe versus the distorted picture the media paints. I believe our opinion of the world would be the complete opposite if there were no television or internet, and we solely relied on our first-hand experiences and interactions. I see no transsexual craze when I'm out & about. The destruction of Normal only comes across the display screens in my house. When you see the media lead with an inflammatory story chock-full of the age, gender and racial descriptors of the respective parties, and then have a segment opining our inability to move beyond such references, you pretty much know it's a big ol' smelly pile.
Ya see, if a person says they’re a free thinker but yet offers up someone’s definition, then that free thinker isn’t thinking free at all but relying on someone else’s description of what they should be. Ergo, that person a free thinker is trying to be isn’t who he is but What he is expected to be. Just another mass produced label saying what but rarely who. To me, the best example of a real free thinker is the jailbird who made spaghetti his higher power. It’s completely outside the box and absolutely absurd but absent of any outside influence and gives a small picture of who the guy is.
We actually have the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who claims to worship a flying spaghetti monster and is always demanding the right to give the invocation at public events, such as city council meetings. He is trying to ridicule organized religion.
I think that most of those who fancy themselves as free thinkers are heavily involved in group-think, the only difference between them and those who they disdain is that they are in a different group.
It's just my opinion, but if we label ourselves we are placing ourselves in a category--and are anything but free. In order to evolve and learn we must walk a 'middle path' as some say, and view the world as a child would--with a detached wonderment possibly. We only know what we've been told, or what we've read, or what we've learned for ourselves thru observation, self-education, and conviction. We must also keep in mind to be open to the fact that even our strongest convictions should be open to change.
I was a moderator on a gun forum. Lots of us there were of faith, and there were many open discussion of it. I can't tell you how many immature people created accounts merely to mock "The Flying Spaghetti Monster," and then double-down on it when you politely told them that we respect everyone's feelings there. Until that experience, I had never heard the term or its origins. I have no idea why that forum seemed to be so much of a magnet for them. So many trolls, so little time [to ban.] And so little self-awareness.
Exactly. A better topic of conversation might be "If you are a free thinker, how to you manage to coexist within your culture (or your country/state/neighborhood/etc)?" Group think can be tough to buck. It can also be dangerous.