“I think that we are all equals. People deserve respect for our opinions regardless of our views.”
Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? I think we should all cultivate that sentiment in our hearts and keep it in the back of our minds when we are relating to one another. Absolutely no sarcasm or cynicism intended here, I truly mean it. It is a sweet and valuable sentiment to hang onto.
Back to the real world however, the physical and material one we all live in, and my question is, are you bloody insane? What are you even thinking?? Are you even thinking?
So perhaps that sounds a bit harsh, but I’m going to plead victimhood and triggers here, and wallow in some emotionalism. This idea, this concept that suggests “we are all equals, all views are valid” has just made my life a living nightmare for a number of years now. That is not a truth anywhere in the natural world, it is not true in the social world, and as far as I know it is not true in the Kingdom world.
What an abyss we have created simply by suddenly deciding children are equal to their parents, for example. Equal in what way? They are smaller, weaker, more vulnerable, less wise, and they don’t pay any bills. “You can’t tell me what to do,” is one of my favorites. Who in their right mind came up with that one?
People are not all “equal.” I know a man with some dementia right now, totally controls the finances, and his wife has had no luck as of yet having him deemed incompetent. He allegedly has an equal right to decide what they’re going to do with their money. Well, he recently went for a drive, forgot who he was, wound up in a casino, lost a bunch of money, and got caught trying to marry another woman, who of course, just wanted access to his money herself. For various reasons related to competency, we are not all “equal.”
The idea that all views are equally valid is downright ridiculous, too. No, sorry, some views are more valid than others. Some are more reasonable than others. Some are more sane. Some views are just totally out there, orbiting on their own little planet.
I am the last one who believes in labels, I mean people are not their behavior, we are not defined by our circumstances. Just the same, thieves, pedophiles, people actively using heroin and meth, alcoholics, terrorists, these people’s views should not be seen as equal and valid, they should not carry as much weight as other people’s. Yes, that’s a form of intolerance and discrimination. Too bad! I’m also extremely intolerant of those who believe we must tolerate absolutely everything until all common sense leaves our body and our brains just fall out.
And another thing I’m feeling a bit intolerant about today, people who have this happy dappy, “We are all equals, all views are valid,” just don’t live in my world. They don’t even care about my world. They care only for their own perceived virtue.
Yesterday I was just a preaching and a screeching in the mini-mart parking lot. Mr. Right in the start of DT’s is shaking like a leaf and trying desperately to get my kid to buy him a beer. Another group is sitting on the pavement begging for money, and I look over and there’s a girl I know half my age, missing all her teeth, looking so darn old, so walking dead. It didn’t used to be like this here. The predatory homeless, the pedophiles, the meth dealers, these people aren’t victims, they’re predators, they suck the life out of others, they drain our kid’s of their youth, they prey off of people’s compassion, and I’m angry, so angry that we just keep opening the flood gates and welcoming them all in. That little gal from the walking dead, she didn’t stand a chance. Kids here are so naive, so vulnerable, so inexperienced with the horrors of the real world, and no one in power cares. No one even really sees it.
“We are all equals, all views are valid.” No. Some people are bloody parasites and some ideas are beyond foolish.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
Wow, this is a great post. It speaks of a lot of things that frustrate me. Reading it helped ease me. Thank you so much.
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Halle-freak’n-lujah! I’m sorry, I know that might sound/read sacrilegious, but that’s how I felt reading your post. Absolutely fantastic and definitely going to get reposted as soon as I get through with this comment. Loved it and agreed with every word – and every word was well-written and a joy to read, too.
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Reblogged this on The Recovering Legalist and commented:
it has been a long time since I read a blog post that made me want to stand up, wave a hankie, and shout “AMEN!” after nearly every sentence. This post, however, had to be shared, for it is absolutely true. Loved it!
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Thank you, much appreciated. 🙂
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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” I like what Psalm 139 says 🙂
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Ow ain’t that a reality check?!!!🖖👏👍😏
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Uh, I meant Now not ow. But either way it works. 🤓🤔🙄😊
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From “created equal” the path sure develops in “unequal” ways, most often because of the choices one makes for himself. IB, you are a fabulous philosopher! ,
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“We are all equals, all views are valid.”
I agree, IB. I could change that to say, “While we are all loved and valued by God equally; NOT all views are valid.” In fact, our erroneous views are what creates the mess we’re in.
Here’s where I think we’ve lost the plot. While there are many facets to a truth, there are things that are simply not true. And correction doesn’t mean rejection of the person. Just like with GPS navigation, we ALL need constant course correction in order to find the life we were meant to live. To say that every view is valid is like throwing the GPS out the window and driving blindfolded. It’s just nonsensical gobbledygook. We can’t seem to separate the viewpoint from the person, so we think confrontation is invalidating the person instead of invalidating the idea.
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I recently had a discussion with an agnostic friend of mine about this. He said it was prideful to claim that anyone knows the character of God or can say their faith is correct. But how can that be so? How can you say Christianity and Hindu are equal? Either there is one God or there are many; both cannot be true. How can Islam be equal with Christianity? Either Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the Saviour or He wasn’t. You can’t have both; you can’t be mixing oranges in with your apple pie.
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Really good point, Ada. When it comes to faith, I sometimes say I don’t want equality or freedom of religion, I want Christian dominance. Why? Because it is Christian dominance that gives us the values that protect and defend notions of equality and freedom of religion!
Secular communism sure didn’t do that and neither has Islam. They simply execute all their atheists and radicals. So if we really care about some of the values we hold dear in the Western world, we’re going to have to proclaim that our belief system,one heavily influenced by Christian values, is superior. I’m sorry if that somehow hurts the feelings of those who actually…behead people, but it is what it is.
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You had me at the parents/children comment. #truth When someone says their kid “runs the house” I roll my eye. Good luck when they enter the real world!
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To be fair to the person who wrote it, I think it was in the context of atheists and religious people treating each other with no respect in internet arguments. There’s nothing wrong with saying we are all equal, I think that’s the foundation of decent society, and certainly captured in the Christian faith. It is more problematic trying to view all opinions as valid, given how strongly most of us feel some of our view are Truth. As you say at the start of the post, it’s certainly something we should all aim for, simply to ensure we are open to listening.
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saw a red pill today.
reminded me of you…
**edited
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The problem I think is our education system. We allow people who are not particularly wise to teach our children. They decide both what and how to teach.
These statements are illogical. These statements are so illogical that people have to be thoroughly indoctrinated to believe them.
We should all be equally treated by our legal system, but we obviously have different capacities and abilities. So in practice no one treats everyone else the same way unless they are FORCED to do so.
Some views are insane. Some people are insane. However, taking care of insane people is lots of work. So it can be convenient to ignore insanity.
What about the religious aspect of the idea that all views are equally valid. That is new age/eastern religious nonsense. Even multiculturalists don’t actually believe all religions are equally valid. In practice the people who say and believe such a thing contradict themselves. To believe that all religions are the same requires us to believe that the belief all religions are the same is superior to believing that only one religion is true. That makes no sense.
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Thank you 🙂
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Context! Two people can’t debate the statement “we are all equal” without placing it in some sort of context. Clearly we are not all equal in height, weight, health, economic status, measurable intelligence, or many other things. But in some areas we are all equal (or should be). Our legal rights are equal in the courtroom; no one should be entitled to more or less justice based on economic status or fame. While not all sins are equal–some cause more harm than others–all sinners are equally under God’s judgment. All are equally saved by the same redeeming sacrifice.
“All views are equal.” Of course not. Some views are right, some are wrong, some are incomplete. But expression of all views should be equally tolerated, with only a few exceptions (libel, slander, or putting other people in danger–shouting “movie” at a crowded bonfire, for example). J.
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LOL! Uh oh, now we have some disagreement, Salvageable. Equal rights in court is an ideal, not a reality.
“no one should be entitled to more or less justice based on economic status or fame.”
I agree, we should all be working towards more fairness, more justice, but the very reason why we do that is because we are keenly aware all people and all things are not equal. We’re trying to balance those scales based on inherent inequalities we can clearly see.
“All are equally saved by the same redeeming sacrifice.”
Wile I understand what you are saying, I hang onto the idea that God does indeed play favorites, based on His own will. People don’t like to hear that, they like to believe the rules are precisely the same for everyone. No way would God ever choose Peter, the bold and blustery fisherman, over a pious and righteous monk, but He did. God gave His favor to David too, an adulterous murderer, and not someone else who human perception would insist was more qualified, more worthy. Of course God loves us all, will redeem us who turn to Him, but the idea of God meeting some human perception of what we think is fair or just doesn’t sit right with me. He has His favorites.
“But expression of all views should be equally tolerated…”
Free speech? I’m a big fan of free speech, but not of tolerance. You should be legally able to spout off neo nazi rubbish for example, but that does not mean anybody is required to tolerate it. Tolerance is not a legal word, it means to put up with, to endure. We should not tolerate such things, we should loudly speak out against them.
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Some disagreement, but perhaps not as much as your first thought.
“Equal rights in court is an ideal, not a reality.” Sadly, that is true. But our system of government, our Constitution, are designed to work toward that ideal. “We’re trying to balance those scales.” I’m not sure about that. The courts are there to punish criminals while protecting the innocent. If that’s what you mean by balancing scales, we agree.
Does God play favorites? Of course he does–John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” But when it comes to salvation, God plays no favorites. He does not desire the death of any sinner, but Jesus was sent to save the world. Not everyone believes in him, so some perish, but that’s not God’s fault.
“Bad” free speech is not tolerated, but permitted–I’ll accept that correction. J.
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I really wish “we are all equals, all views are valid” was true, but except for the equal standing before God as sinners, we are NOT all equal and too many views are invalid.
Saying and believing “there is no God” doesn’t make it valid. Ideology that assumes equality is a necessary component of unity has actually confused ‘equality’ with ‘conformity’. Such is the humanistic dogma of socialism.
The humanist believes that mankind can and will solve ALL its problems without God or religion. Therefore, its first goal is to meld ALL religions into one, creating the illusion of unity. We see it now as Shari Law is being introduced as equal to Judaeo-Christian ethics – when in reality; it is in direct violation and opposition to it!
Humanists honor no religion while defending some religion in the name of equality. Similarly, they cite racism, as a NEGATIVE influence, rather than the acceptance that different races do exist. Instead, they intend to genetically eliminate the issue through inter-breeding on a global scale and through the genocide of ‘inferior’ races.
Their hypocrisy goes mostly unnoticed because they hide behind perceptions of benefit to all by naming their organizations appropriately: Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, Women’s Rights, Save the Planet. Disagree with any of their views; suddenly ‘equality’ (which in their minds is actually ‘conformity’) has been violated!
Their answer to Dylan’s quip: “Why are the rich more equal than others” always vilifies the rich in an attempt to secretly destroy the middle class, while they of course, remain rich! Anyone with money who doesn’t agree with them is immediately labeled apostate.
It’s all quite silly, but far too real. God does see us as equals – sinners in need of a Savior. His remedy is unilateral forgiveness through grace. While such favor can never be earned, it is freely given to all who accept it. But to truly accept it, one must truly stop resisting it. It really is God’s way or No way to righteousness. That is the only valid ‘view’, everything else is debatable.
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We are all entitled to an opinion and that right should be respected but all opinions are not worthy of respect in the least.
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“I think that we are all equals. People deserve respect for our opinions regardless of our views.”
Even if we are equal, which we aren’t, but even if we were, people don’t automatically deserve respect for their opinions. For instance, President Obama ridiculed certain opinions by comparing then to flat Earthers. Obviously, he thought flat Earthers opinions weren’t worthy of respect. And while many of those he ridiculed were more deserving of respect than he on the issue at hand, there are clearly some opinions deserving of no respect at all. This is particularly true when the issue involves policy and available data demonstrates only the mean effect is negative.
And, well, Stalin, Hitler, Jeffery Dalmer, all had opinions which shouldn’t be respected at all. What many never seem to get is that respect is not free. It has to be earned. And even if the person is respected, they’re still likely to have any number of dumb opinions which shouldn’t automatically be treated with respect, either.
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@dream
Ha good one.
No doubt Mr. Obama does not understand the pretended reality of the ‘disappearing ships’ over the horizon, due to the eye looking against an infinite sky and pure perspective.
He no doubt never heard of the illusion of curvature, which illusion is made plain from any height, where the horizon always eye level. Eh, but what do I know, as my opinion is useless. lol
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