Extremely Lame

The other day I got lambasted at a gathering because I and another philosophy geek were discussing existentialism. People who weren’t even part of the discussion overheard us and because they thought that we were talking about religion, we were not-so-politely told to shut up because religion and politics aren’t  appropriate for “polite conversation,” never mind the hypocrisy of rudely butting into a conversation and telling others to be more polite.

Oh, how I despise this idea that politics and religion are to treated like radioactive waste in “polite conversation.” Maybe it’s my philosophy background, but the very idea of actively not discussing something cheeses me off, particularly when it’s something so important. I’m so cheesed off that I’m even using scare quotes.

Why should I have to tailor my conversations to the least common denominator because some people aren’t mature enough to disagree without getting pissed off? Oh, no! Someone might be offended because they disagree with me about something important! What’s the point of having a discussion if it means nothing to you? Are people just trying to pollute the air with noise simply because they are terrified of silence, but equally terrified of having to think?

A cooler-headed person than I has discussed this very thing recently, positing that such a socially manufactured censorship is actually detrimental to society in that it enables these immature people to continue their charade and never requires them to mature. Furthermore, he makes the very convincing point that, “if the conversation would turn to bickering simply because there’s a disagreement, than it is not a polite conversation to begin with, only pseudo-polite,” and that, “the parties to a conversation like that never had any real respect for each other in the first place, they just didn’t have the opportunity to display their disrespect.”

This artificial censorship construct may very well be the reason for the widening chasm between liberal and conservative and Christian and atheist that has gotten significantly worse these past few decades. Because you cannot discuss your political views with the other side, as it were, the only conversations you have on religion and politics are merely echo chambers where the loudest, most radical views tend to be the most heard and eventually shift everyone bit by bit to the extreme. For every Fred Phelps, there is a Christopher Hitchins and for every Mike Meehan there will be a Michael Newdow. Mind you, it’s not that I completely disagree with some of these people, but all of them are so pigheaded that they just make their side look equally ridiculous.