Jane_the_Bane
Gaia's godchild
- Feb 11, 2004
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Here's an observation I've made throughout my life: we tend to receive exactly what we bring to the table. So if we go through life feeling that Christians are superstitious anti-modernists, or that atheists are immoral materialists, or that muslims are fanatical islamists - somehow, our real-world experiences tend to reflect that stance, and not just because of selective perception.
It's like that person who has been abused by a partner before, sets out to find someone better, and yet always ends up with abusive types again.
Now, a conflict situation changes all that to a certain degree: facing danger together, pursuing a common goal, being strangers in a foreign country - all these and many other factors contribute to a sense of solidarity that can pierce our pre-conceived notions, and make friends out of people who would possibly have looked at each other with cold disregard if they met under different circumstances.
I do not think I could be friends with a person whose ideology (political, social, or religious) I consider abhorrent, yet quite a few of my friends embrace stances that are quite distant from my own, and I do not hold them in less esteem because of that.
It's like that person who has been abused by a partner before, sets out to find someone better, and yet always ends up with abusive types again.
Now, a conflict situation changes all that to a certain degree: facing danger together, pursuing a common goal, being strangers in a foreign country - all these and many other factors contribute to a sense of solidarity that can pierce our pre-conceived notions, and make friends out of people who would possibly have looked at each other with cold disregard if they met under different circumstances.
I do not think I could be friends with a person whose ideology (political, social, or religious) I consider abhorrent, yet quite a few of my friends embrace stances that are quite distant from my own, and I do not hold them in less esteem because of that.
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