<\/p>\n
Aristotle said “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”<\/p>\n
I love this quote. I love the open-mindedness of it, and I think of myself as educated, open to new ideas, and considerate of other points of view.<\/p>\n
It is commonly accepted\u00a0etiquette\u00a0that one should never discuss sex, money, religion or politics in polite company.<\/p>\n
There is a conflict for me between these two ideas: the acceptance of alternative ideas and the avoidance of alternative views.<\/p>\n
I conversed\u00a0with a new acquaintance this past weekend that left me drained within 15-20 minutes of our first conversation. I started out the conversation standing, then sitting, then lounging, then laying down, and it was mostly that I tired\u00a0of being weighed down with what I viewed as nonsense being presented as fact. In the very short discussion, which touched upon the topics of artificial intelligence, computer based emotion, intelligent design, nature as religion, human nature, man-made vs. natural, humanism, addiction, belief, faith, and trees, I found myself defending\u00a0facts against ideas, emotion, and opinion.<\/p>\n
To say I did not enjoy the conversation is not entirely true, but I don’t want to ever do it in the same way again. It wavered\u00a0with contradiction, loosely supported ‘truths’, anonymous statistics and studies without citation or source, and a metric ton of assumption and prediction. Worse yet, these were on both sides of the argument. I should have been more\u00a0ready to defend my views with conviction.<\/p>\n
You can have your beliefs, but please don’t trample mine in the process of sharing yours. In the mean time, I will do a better job of preparing the defense of my beliefs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Aristotle said “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” I love this quote. I love the open-mindedness of it, and I think of myself as educated, open to new ideas, and considerate of other points of view. It is commonly accepted\u00a0etiquette\u00a0that one should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3653],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-insights","8":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3h6y2-iL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1158,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/08\/13\/manifesto-of-open\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":0},"title":"Manifesto of Open","author":"lemsy","date":"2012-08-13","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Part of my success with fitness and nutritional awareness has been the openness with which I have shared what I know and have learned, the openness of studies and findings on nutritional topics, and\u00a0free-flowing information. Knowing other things in life can be\u00a0easy too. Openness is the way. There are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "insights"","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":686,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2010\/05\/27\/157-of-365-says-do-not-covet-your-ideas-in-inkscape-typography-creativecommons\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":1},"title":"Do not covet your ideas by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #typography #creativecommons","author":"lemsy","date":"2010-05-27","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw this great post on Lifehacker (at http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/5543914\/do-not-covet-your-ideas) that I feel clarifies a big part of why I'm doing this project. This quote belongs to Paul Arden, and the Lifehacker post shows more of his related ideas.\u00a0This idea rings true for me. It explains why all of my work,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "portfolio"","block_context":{"text":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/portfolio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Do not covet your ideas by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #typography #creativecommons","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/20100527donotcovetyourideas.png?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":707,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2009\/12\/15\/highlands-regional-library-consortium-presents-practically-designed\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":2},"title":"Highlands Regional Library Consortium presents: Practically Designed","author":"lemsy","date":"2009-12-15","format":false,"excerpt":"Image by lemasney via Flickr Date: Thursday, November 19th, 2009 Venue: Hasbrouck Heights Public Library Abstract: During this workshop on the basics of visual design best practices, we\u2019ll examine examples and counter-examples of great design, the basics of layout, simplified color theory, rules for fonts and legibility, images and photographs,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "professional activities"","block_context":{"text":"professional activities","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/cv\/professional-activities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42180,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2015\/06\/18\/my-first-keynote-presentation-lib2-0-at-stockton\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":3},"title":"My first keynote presentation: Lib2.0 at Stockton","author":"lemsy","date":"2015-06-18","format":false,"excerpt":"I am very excited to have been asked to give the keynote presentation and other presentations at Lib2.0 2015: A Media Specialist Symposium, in October 2015.","rel":"","context":"In "affiliations"","block_context":{"text":"affiliations","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/cv\/professional-affiliations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Losing Weight: John LeMasney after picture","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/headshot.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/headshot.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/headshot.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42808,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2015\/10\/23\/technology-and-the-arts-episode-78\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":4},"title":"Technology and the Arts: Episode 78","author":"lemsy","date":"2015-10-23","format":false,"excerpt":"In this episode, John and Brian talk about updates in local arts, their adventures with Ardour, and their new plan to start bringing ideas together for the collaborative song project.","rel":"","context":"In "affiliations"","block_context":{"text":"affiliations","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/cv\/professional-affiliations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Technology and the Arts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/logo_final.png?fit=706%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/logo_final.png?fit=706%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/logo_final.png?fit=706%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/logo_final.png?fit=706%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7283,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2014\/02\/09\/40-365-ampersand-greater-modified-typography\/","url_meta":{"origin":1163,"position":5},"title":"40 of 365: Ampersand Greater Than modified typography","author":"lemsy","date":"2014-02-09","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I decided to use Inkscape to play with type. 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