"To push Godwin’s button, not every Nazi was evil."

fantastic planet » YOU IGNORANT BASTARD:

"The problem I can see, though, is that this self-satisfied, smug approach to conversation can very quickly cause an anti-intellectual backlash. When we don’t acknowledge that other individuals are just as capable of learning as we, our pseudo-superior attitude can really detract from whatever message we’re trying to relate and turn our fellows against us.

This even relates to Gnosticism, which, for thousands of years, has unfairly laboured under the assumption that it is, at its root, an “elitist, intellectual” philosophy. It’s not– not in the least bit, but when we discuss Gnosticism and begin by assuming that all non-Gnostics are dumb hicks, we sure make it seem that way. But, we’ve got to give people the benefit of the doubt! We should *always* give our fellow humans the benefit of the doubt. Who are we to say who is right or wrong? All we can do is share our own experiences and recognize the possible validity of any other individual experiences.

This isn’t to say that it’s wise to assume complete knowledge of this or that thing on part of other people. It’s all about the approach. Instead of speaking to others with a patronizing voice, we might instead begin by asking others to share their knowledge of the subject in question. If they don’t know anything about what we’re talking about, we can’t assume that it’s because they’re unable to do so and therefore we are intellectually superior. In short, it behooves us to stop acting like smart-ass know-it-alls and to start treating those with whom we disagree as just as intelligent as we are, even if they believe in something that we find completely distasteful.

This also isn’t to say that we shouldn’t speak about what we find distateful in other belief systems. The key difference is, to me, to try to differentiate between an off-color belief system and the individuals who perpetrate that system, at least at first. To push Godwin’s button, not every Nazi was evil. "