No matter how open-minded...

[Farson89]

Reading books. I can't get into it no matter how much the book fits my interests.

Ok, I'll throw another idea in that's not quite as poignant as my previous one. I cannot comprehend why people would not like to read books. It blows my mind. What blew my mind even more was at university, there were people on my English Literature course that didn't like reading books. Now that thought definitely makes my face twist grotesquely in confusion.

Wait... Why in the fuck were they taking a literature course then?

Oh God I think my brain is melting from the lack of any form of logic.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

Wait... Why in the fuck were they taking a literature course then?

Oh God I think my brain is melting from the lack of any form of logic.

Exactly.

Admittedly, it was more that they only liked one specific genre of literature and hated having to branch out/read something out of their comfort zone. There were indeed people who disliked reading in general...I think they took the course because they thought it would be "easy"? Also, some of them were doing a joint honours degree and English was their minor. We had people doing History/English, Drama/English, Psychology/English...a whole host of crazy combinations.

 

[rutger5000]

There are way to many things that I can't wrap my mind around to mention. You just have to come to peace with it that you won't ever be able to understand some people

 

[Insanum]

There are just two things I cant stand, People who are intolerant of other peoples races & beliefs, and the dutch.

Aww come on, that's harsh!

There are just two things I cant stand, People who are intolerant of other peoples races & beliefs, and the dutch.

Okay, I have to ask, why the dutch?

<spoiler=Allow me to educate you> <youtube=QJ882QYzr-M>

 

[Dastardly]

Being open-minded doesn't mean that you can comprehend everything, it just means that you don't shut things out. If you don't understand why somebody does something that doesn't make you close-minded. You're close-minded if you refuse to give the subject or their reasoning any consideration.

I'll also add that being open-minded doesn't mean agreeing with everything. I understand that desperation can lead someone to do stupid things, but that doesn't mean I automatically excuse someone for doing this.

Winner!

Empathy is an important skill, as it allows us to make predictions about what people will do, and how they will react to what we do. But empathizing with someone doesn't mean agreeing with them. I can understand how a serial killer arrives at the conclusions he does, and that might help me catch him, or treat him (if that's the goal), or even predict other killers' patterns in the future... but that doesn't mean I think he's okay to do what he did.

 

[viking97]

but i'd never in a million years try to tell anyone else what to believe, as long as their beliefs don't affect me in any way.

Really? This is a bit of a departure from our earlier conversation, but you wouldn't try to right someone's wrong even if the belief didn't affect you? What if I believed that the integral from 0 to pi of sin(x) was 1? That belief is completely harmless. Would you not try to correct me?

well, in the area of objective fact i might try to correct you.

There are quite a few objective facts that religious people deny. Would you try to correct those?

not really, it's pretty futile. unless they a genuinely deceived by another person and need some lies revealed, they're gonna believe what they want to believe.

 

[Dangernick42]

Militant Athiests. The majority of religious people aren't stupid, or violent, or trying to convert everyone they meet in the street. So why do many atheists feel that they have to continually point out to all followers of any religion (or sometimes just to each other) how stupid they think religion is. All it does is cause a bigger rift between believers and non-believers and force people to choose a side on religion/science.
I am a Christian doing a maths degree, and I believe in a scientific world, but that doesn't mean I can't accept that a God exists as well. The fact that everything fits together so beautifully through science is proof of an intelligent creator for me.
I don't mind if someone chooses to believe in something different to me, or not believe in anything at all, so why should my choices matter so much to them? Saying how much death religion has caused isn't an argument against the existence of God, and it isn't an argument against religion. The cause of that death was still man, maybe using religion as an excuse, but still ultimately man doing wrong. If religion wasn't the excuse, something else would be.

Edit: So many people saying they can't understand religious people. Here is a slightly logical answer:
If [insert deity here] does exist: you will go to heaven or be reborn as a cow or something.
If it doesn't exist: doesn't matter now that you're dead, does it?

Like the use of Pascal's Wager here, was going to mention it myself.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Obsessive fans of anything, and also how people can do such terrible things to each other for the flimsiest of reasons...

 

[Kriptonite]

I cannot, as of yet, quite understand how people can look down at others simply because of gender or race. I was actually just thinking about this the other day. I just don't understand how having darker or lighter skin makes a person superior or inferior to another. The same goes for the sexes. A penis does not make someone better, nor does a vagina. People are people. That's it. I guess I'm still close-minded, but I just don't get it. Some people say that it's hard to overcome what you are taught growing up, but I think that as an adult, or even an adolescent, you have the tools available to think, and therefore make decisions, for yourself. You, at that point in your life, are able to decide what is right, what is wrong and what is plain preposterous.

 

[Durgiun]

For the life of me, I'll never understand people who see 2001: A Space Odyssey as THE greatest movie of all time.

It was filmed in 1968 and looks better than most movies made in the 2000's.

It is also a f)(*_(* epic novel.

It is also f(*( Kubrick.

Not my greatest movie of all time personally, but its in my top 20.

In the sense that they were busting their ass to make excellent set pieces and so forth, yes. But Special Effects do not a great movie make (Star Wars prequels, Michael Bay's Transformers etc.)

Never read the novel, but I plan to.

I did like the Shining and A Clockwork Orange, but 2001 was just so boring. I usually refer to it as a SFX Demo reel, than an actual movie.

 

[Wuggy]

[EDIT]

 

[Robert Ewing]

I can't grasp Kanji. What do those moon runes mean?

And that terrible human trait that's sort of like... Well, let me give you a scenario.

-- You are charged with protecting a town. A deadly zombie virus breaks out in the town. There are 200 people in the town. 75 of them are infected. You have a chance to kill all the 75 zombies almost instantly, ending the zombie infection, and saving the town and the world. The villagers won't let you, because it's their friends and family. And human rights and shit.

Why don't people overcome their 'bawwwww Disney movie ethics' and think of the greater good? 75 UNDEAD people, or 7 billion UNDEAD people? DAMN YOU DEMOCRACYYYY

 

[Vkmies]

People who dye their hair.

I can handle nose rings, nipple piercings, earrings, belly-button rings, and tattoos, but dying your hair, or altering any aspect of your body that you were born with just doesn't feel right.

Same with any cosmetic surgery.

Not trying to create conflict, but completely out of interest: Why is eternal pictures on your skin (tattoos) less altering your body than putting colour in your hair, since that wont be there for too long? Why draw the line in the hair?

Does sex-changes fall into that cosmetic surgery? It's pretty much the most extreme alteration of body that you can do.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I don't get why people drink beer....It tastes like crap, IMO. I don't see why anyone would want more than one glass of the stuff.

And while we're on the subject, why the hell do some people WANT to get drunk? I mean, how can you enjoy yourself if you lose most of your judgement, and likely can't even remember what the hell you did the night before? I understand the appeal of having a bit to drink, even getting a bit tipsy. But totally PISS DRUNK? Why?

 

[Mau95]

German grammar...
IT MAKES NO SENSE!!

Edit: So many people saying they can't understand religious people. Here is a slightly logical answer:
If [insert deity here] does exist: you will go to heaven or be reborn as a cow or something.
If it doesn't exist: doesn't matter now that you're dead, does it?

German grammar makes total sense, although it depends on where you're from.

Ok, it does make sense, but the endless lists of exceptions make it hard to grasp.

If only it were more like English, which has no exceptions at all.

 

[Togs]

I don't get why people drink beer....It tastes like crap, IMO. I don't see why anyone would want more than one glass of the stuff.

Its an acquired taste, and one that just keeps on giving when you have.

And while we're on the subject, why the hell do some people WANT to get drunk? I mean, how can you enjoy yourself if you lose most of your judgement, and likely can't even remember what the hell you did the night before? I understand the appeal of having a bit to drink, even getting a bit tipsy. But totally PISS DRUNK? Why?

Oops almost went off on rant at this one, but on reread it was alot less confrontational then I thought.
Being drunk is fun, as it gives us an excuse to let our more animal natures run free and give our battered egos a break from trying to balance the demands of id and superego.
After a heavy night (apart from all the cringing and horrible flashbacks) I feel like Ive had some kind of cartharsis- its emotionally refreshing.

 

[Nalbis]

As already said, religion and crime. I can't understand how in this day and age people can still believe in religions, but each to their own. Crime baffles me, I mean real crime... I'll purchase some drugs, or hop a train barrier or something if I don't have the money for a train, but I think most people do that (maybe not the drugs part).

 

[Mau95]

I think you guys tend to generalize religion and portray it in more of a bad light than it deserves. There are many things about religion that have benefits. Yes, there are negatives to religion, but there are negatives to everything. Yes, the more zealous religious folk can do some very immature and very mean things, but so can a very zealous atheist.

I know that zealous atheists can be assholes sometimes, but you're ignoring scale when you say that. I mean when's the last time a zealous Atheist went around killing people they had philosophical disagreements with? I can't think of a single example of an Atheist killing for the sole reason of being over-zealous about their Atheism. Meanwhile this is a disturbingly common practice among more zealous Christians, in some parts of the the U.S. abortionists are frequently murdered and their clinics bombed, and homosexuals are still lynched/dragged through the streets/beaten/shot etc. My fellow Atheists do kill people sometimes, but when they do it, it's for individual reasons, not zeal.

First of all: people really still do that in the U.S.?
Point for me: there are less Atheists. Larger groups do more damage then small ones.

 

[Denamic]

Dunno if this has been posted before, but this is a superb video about open-mindedness.

 

[AquaAscension]

The Ponies.

You might want to expand on that so you don't get hit with a low content warning.

OT: For me, it's rap and hip hop. I can't get how people can honestly like that stuff.

I used to think that way, then I took an ar... sorry, no, no I didn't. But, seriously, I used to think how you think then I listened to some pretty good hip hop.

Granted, this doesn't mean I've become a hip-hop fanboy because sometimes I can't listen to it anymore (I start craving more melody and chords, less fast rhyming with words).

OT: I don't get people who don't like poetry. Okay, I actually understand it, because more often than not, it just means they're poorly versed in "good" poetry, but give it a chance man. It's as old as humans are and it was the original way to convey a story - it was the method of immortality for our ancients, they... never died so long as the story was alive.