Why is it hard for people to see from a different perspective?

Well the title says most of it but i was thinking back to this past school year in psychology. One day we were watching the news on the projector and something came up that I don't remember and I said it was a Conspiracy. My teacher ignored my comment and I proceeded to ask him what his thoughts were on 9-11 and why, since airplanes only hit the two towers, had the third building, WTC 7, also collapsed? I also added the fact that information was compiling as to how jet fuel would not had been enough to burn through the steel that is used for such buildings and that the buildings practically fell in their own foot print. Yet he still clinged to the story the government has given out and disregarded the facts I had stated.

That is just one of my experiences with these situations but why is it so hard for some people to stand back and look from a different view?

sorry if this seems a bit obvious but i feel like its worth saying anyways.

i think for most people its probably the fear of being proved wrong because of what it may imply, for example if someone believes crop circles are actually done by aliens, then the implications of that are fairly self-evident.
with 911 its even more scary to some, the implication being that the government will kill innocent people en masse if it serves their needs.

some people just can't accept paradigm shattering admissions whatever they may be, some people cant accept any change to general relativity and some cant accept that lord xenu/god/reptillians might not exist.

reply to post by America?

Have you looked at all the details and websites of his position?
Personally I believe 9/11 was a conspiracy, but I think you're making a wider point instead of making a thread about 9/11. In that forum there are passionate, informed arguments from both sides.
There is a difference between people who simply blind themselves to basic facts because of ideology (eg. our people/government would never hurt us), and people who have considered the facts and made up their minds either way. When people have considered all the views and arguments on a matter they are not intolerant because they stick to their opinion.

Nowadays few ideas are really repressed (for now), so one is never sure where the conspiracy lies and how various interest groups manipulate us.
We should always consider that we might be totally wrong.



[edit on 15-6-2010 by halfoldman]

reply to post by America?


IMO, it might have something to do with the fact that he's a teacher and probably doesn't want to get called out in front of the BoE because he's espousing support of what's still considered to be a conspiracy theory in front of an entire class of students.

I guess I am made of something different.

I love having my paradigm shattered.

I love being proved wrong. I love to learn something new.

I think it brings me greater benefit from life to take out the garbage every now and then...

If your viewpoints on the world are not in a constant state of change, than you are not paying attention.

Because you probably don't hold much water in the face of a superior.

Looking at things from the perspective of someone you disagree with is difficult because you have to set your own convictions aside and, temporarily, embrace new ones.

There are also a lot of weak arguments in that 9/11 truth-movement, arguments that have been previously thrown out by their producers.

I used to wonder about it, and Alex Jones fed that wonder with lots of wild and unfounded speculation. Now I just feel that what happened, happened. I'm still under the impression that some people way up top might have known, but I don't think anyone else knew what was going on.

In any case, it has been proven that politicians have spilled the blood of their own countrymen for the sake of acquiring capital/goods/services/influence/etc., in the past. I wouldn't rule it out now.



But admittedly, it is better to see them as obnoxious businessmen with warped psyche; rather than paint a picture of cloaked conspirators who take part in symbolic worship and plot our demise with every moment.


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AT LEAST, it makes sense to a rational person to look at it that way. For all I know, I could be terribly wrong. Maybe David Icke is correct?

Even though I think "changing the channel of what you perceive" is more like creating your own psychosis or doing some '___'. You might see the world as a rainbow of sunshine and hope, but in real life, you'd probably be twitching in a straight-jacket, giggling.

It could be a number of reasons, also not always obvious to us or you. Everyone has there own mind that there life and genes has made them into.

So it could be a bizarre reason, or it could be something like above.

It was almost as if he couldn't comprehend what i was telling him.

Why is it hard for people to see from a different perspective?

It is because of our early programming, our childhood and early adult life indoctrinations, that make most humans who and what they are.

The only difference between a human and a computer is that humans are (suppose to be) sentient (although I suspect many are not even THAT evolved YET). Other than that, we're all just computers running the software that had been loaded into us by those that were also programmed before us.

To illustrate my point, imagine you were born into a christian family but you were switched at birth with a muslim baby to be raised/programmed by muslims instead. Instead of being programmed to be an infidel and love eating pork, you would have been raise to spout "death to the infidels" and you wouldn't eat pork.

So you see, most people are as they are because of the particular program that has been loaded into them. Most humans do not even know who or what they really are, because their indoctrination/programming since birth has overlaid the truth and masks who they really are deep down inside. If one had been raised a vegan since birth, the very idea of eating sentient lifeforms would make them puke. Same with being raised as a flesh and blood thirsty vampire zombie, the very idea of becoming a vegan would seem insane to a vampire zombie human.

To overcome all these nasty indoctrinations/programs that hides and masks the TRUTH from us all, you must DE-PROGRAM yourselves .. UNLOAD that program that makes you a christian, or muslim, or american, or whatever operating instructions that had been loaded into you since birth. If you've ever had an EGO-LESS experience, you'd be able to see what I'm talking about here. Unload that programming, and you'll be able to see the truth.

Originally posted by America?
It was almost as if he couldn't comprehend what i was telling him.

But that could be for any number of reasons.

Did you try and talk to your teacher alone, and ask him about his stance on it. If not, do it if your friendly with him, and ask him why?

Tradition, choice and ego based belief paradigms embedded by denial, society and cognitive dissonance, among many other reasons.

I realize that after making this thread there seems to be a somewhat simple answer and thank you all for the replies. This was just a question I asked myself sometimes because i tend to see things from more than one perspective so maybe that is why I couldn't understand why some people are close minded, now i see why they are that way. Thank you for the answers.

Well, I still maintain that Pluto is a planet.

That aside, not everyone can handle a bursting of their mental bubble.

For some people, changing their perspective is aligning themselves with "the enemy". When the s**t hit the fan in the Middle East, people absolutely would not even consider reading the Qu'ran cover-to-cover... because that was the book of the enemy, and goodness forbid that they read something that they might agree with!

As was mentioned, the teacher might also get in trouble for straying from the lesson plan, especially if it's in a public school setting. You might have more luck with a college professor, if it's a liberal college.

Originally posted by America?
Well the title says most of it but i was thinking back to this past school year in psychology. One day we were watching the news on the projector and something came up that I don't remember and I said it was a Conspiracy. My teacher ignored my comment and I proceeded to ask him what his thoughts were on 9-11 and why, since airplanes only hit the two towers, had the third building, WTC 7, also collapsed? I also added the fact that information was compiling as to how jet fuel would not had been enough to burn through the steel that is used for such buildings and that the buildings practically fell in their own foot print. Yet he still clinged to the story the government has given out and disregarded the facts I had stated.

That is just one of my experiences with these situations but why is it so hard for some people to stand back and look from a different view?

because people have lost their jobs and worse for speaking out.
you need to spend some time in the seat and do some research...and not all from one side. pay attention to how words are used, context in which the writer is using them, and verify all reasonable facts from different sources as much as you can...even with that, there are going to be questions that cannot be answered, mainly due to containment and secrecy.
NIST report is a good place to start, due to it's particular wording and phraseology. you'll see what i mean when you read it.

Don't worry about other people, let them think for themselves because one day they will have to if they don't already.

I think you have to respect whichever side of the opinion on 9/11, as long as they try to use facts rather than silly anecdotes.

reply to post by America?


Cognitive Misers ?????

People using the least amount of mental effort and attention to process information. Utilising the relatively effortless and simple mental short cuts that provide the prompt but often inaccurate solutions . As opposed to the steady , effortful and complex cognitive processes which often provide more accurate answers, albeit less prompt.

But i do not know why i`m telling you this , as you are just a truther, and i have heard enough about ye` to know ......... you are wrong !










[edit on 15-6-2010 by UmbraSumus]

reply to post by America?

Not sure about US schools at present - but by my experience teachers talk
and subtly extract information about each other from students. The official version goes that conspiracy theory is some horrid social problem that students pick up by surfing the Internet. It's constructed as an affront, rather than an addition to thought. So when ideology is challanged they change the topic very quickly. Conspiracy theory may simply not be entertained as debate-worthy - perhaps only when it is ridiculed.

Growing up in the old South Africa we had military conscription, with very strict schools (corporal punishment and so forth). Politics were not allowed to be discussed in white schools, although the blacks of our age were highly politicized. Anyway, the one day us boys had to listen to a talk by some general from the army where we could ask questions. It was the usual stuff at first: is the food as terrible as they say, do you pay for haircuts, blah, blah? Next thing this guy asks: "Does South Africa have the atomic bomb?"
That was highly classified information at the time (we had four).
The general went red and purple in the face and seemed to sink.
Then he stuttered: "I am not qualified to answer that question".
End of Q&A session.

Another session that upset me was being at university and attending a talk by the late Palestinian activist Edward Said. It was mainly attended by Jewish and Muslim students with the usual rhetoric. But then one old professor - he looked ancient and had several badges of honor on his jacket - stood up. He spoke so eloquently and rationally about how states cannot guarantee our peace and freedoms, and that the answer lies in globally securing undeniable rights to the individual. I cannot remember his short speech, but I was so impressed and thought everyone would applaud when he sat down.
There was a moment's silence, then Said said: "That's an interesting point - next question!"

So in situations like that it's usually fear, ideology and the pressure of a teacher asserting his role.


[edit on 15-6-2010 by halfoldman]

I'm gonna throw another 2 cents into the bin...

Another reason that it's hard for people to see from a different perspective is because we may not have all the information to be able to see the other person's point of view clearly...


For the past 6 months I've been despising my co-worker because she usually comes across as a Queen Bee Bi***. Snarky responses to questions, complains, not very helpful in solving problems.

Then, after being able to talk with her for a few hours about work related matters, I realized that she wasn't really a QBB, she's just jaded from working the job for 20+ years. (We're secretaries at a public school, and the rate of turn-over is very frustrating when trying to get everything done in a coherent fashion.)

I just didn't see that because up til the past few weeks, my job has been (primarily) to answer the phones and deal with parents. Not a whole lot of paperwork, so I just witnessed the frustrations without actually feeling them.

I still think that one should guard one's responses -- and she serves as a very good reminder for that.
As Chris Rock said, "I'm not sayin' [s]he shoulda done it... But I understand!"