Do you trust your fellow American to be objective??

@HalfCactus: That makes sense. I believe in spite of the best attempts to be objective the majority if not all of us have "filters" through which we view the world.

@bijouxbroussard: That's why it's important to understand our biases, so we can know when we should take a second to reconsider the information we're given rather than outright dismiss it or the the people giving it

@HalfCactus: Thanks for the well thought-out response, while I don't think minimizing energy use in the use of assumptions is necessarily best for the human mind in terms of survival, I do agree that humans are quick to make assumptions, for whatever reasons they do so, and often without much introspection.

I think we as humans may feel strongly inclined to form biases & hold to our respective systems of ideals & knowledge & the like, but I do believe we are capable of being objective, of only making assumptions where they're due, but I think such a task is difficult and most will not do so.

I don't think realization itself does very much, not nearly so much as communication & empathy/sympathy/whateverpathy (except not telepathy or psychopathy). I think we need to not dehumanize people, I think we should not be so dissensious, I think we shouldn't ridicule one another and that we should speak to each other with the intent to understand and to convey understanding. I don't think we have to agree on everything, but that we should at least be able to treat each other respectfully, speaking as humans to humans. And a lot of other things too.

@puck61: 60 years of coddling liberalism has gotten us to this point. We never brought the fight, they did. A time is coming when they will see what real anguish feels like. There is so much illogic one can take before a volcano erupts.

I can see from your name that it's pretty important to you to be at least somewhat neutral/objective, I think objectivity is very difficult, almost to the point of impossibility, but I think with a [i]lot[/i] of [b]effort[/b] we can be objective (depending on your definition of the word).

Do you believe in their ability to make objective decisions?

@Winterwanderer: Not with the way your government is run, and how that affects your mentality, so no. But then again objective decisions are impossible to make for anyone

What is objectivity to you?

What do you mean?

@Winterwanderer: I believed that in modern times open, virulent racism and sexism would be a deal-breaker in choosing a president. Not only were voters not bothered, many refused to even acknowledge it. It's discouraging.

I understand what you're saying, though the opposition spoke also of the incompetence & possible corruption of the alternative.

Also, in such a circumstance as was presented, both sides voted not only for a president with their ballot, but a whole philosophy of how government & society should be, even if conservatives or liberals did not particularly desire to vote for the available candidates, to not vote would be similar to a forfeiture of their way of life.

Objectively, many aspects of the entire system could be different, better, but what most gets the most attention is the result of this system, not actual reform of anything, though I don't entirely blame people either, as the nature of the system is very difficult to comprehend (often, it seems, intentionally so), and not so easily accessed or promoted.