Guest post by Alex: Where Have All The Open Minds Gone?

The following is an excerpt from a conversation I had with a friend, Alex, who is discouraged by the lack of willingness for people to have an open mind when arguments don't coincide with their political alignment:

The problem with America right now is a problem of ideology: ideology makes it very difficult for someone to decipher the forest from the trees. Information that supports your ideological position will be acknowledged and taken as 'the truth', whereas information that conflicts with it will be ignored.

America (and other modern European states) are strange, strange places where reality is divided up as either 'conservative' or 'liberal' - as if reality could be placed into check-boxes. Until Americans can see this, most dialogue will just go back and forth between people who already agree with each other: there isn't any sharing of meaningful information or solutions to political problems between parties or across party lines.

I have found that I can give great reasons for thinking a certain way - but if, for example, someone is a conservative, they won't listen to reason regarding the possibility of climate change.

I echo Alex's frustration at the lack of willingness for people to modify their ideology due to political affiliation.