Rob's Soapbox - O.J. Walked Too

<p>If you’ve spent any time listening to me, you know that I don’t suffer ignorance gladly, and perhaps only when it is combined with arrogance does it become more reprehensible.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A confident person is able to form an opinion, calmly make a case for it using facts, logic, and reason, and listen intently to those who are willing and interested in doing the same.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>An arrogant person forms an opinion first and then seeks out those who agree with his conclusion to bolster his claims, without ever checking the veracity of what he’s being told or considering the motives of the speaker he has sought for validation. From there, armed with only the information he wants to believe, and with no interest or desire in hearing alternative views, he loudly repeats whatever surface-level talking points he can remember, and then quickly tries to demean or personally attack anyone who suggests there might be more to consider.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It is the latter group that populates, permeates, and for the most part, dominates society today, and certainly, this group controls entirely both sides of the media and social media as well.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Both sides of the political and social aisle have adopted the same tactics; find out first what their tribe thinks, and then formulate whatever story you have to in order to defend the thinking of your tribe. Using the same person as the obvious example would be as follows: If Donald Trump said it, then, as far as the right tribe is concerned it is true and/or it should be, so we shall support it. Meanwhile, the far left tribe is immediately certain that it is both a lie and it is dangerous and must be objected to. Clearly, this is ludicrous. Trump said and did a lot of great things, while also saying and doing a lot of very stupid and wrong things.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>At this point, I have lost 90% of you, and that’s the problem. The idea that I suggested that Trump did anything well, made half of you laugh and scoff, and the idea that I p