The Mahablog
Great essay on how ideology shapes thought, with which I agree almost totally. This is what causes the "our answer is the only answer" phenomenom, which drives far too many political, philosophical and economic activities. At many points in its history, America has been described as pragmatic - focused on what works over normative prescriptions about the way things should be; it seems like that's one of the things we've been losing in the last five years or so. Al Gore said it in his famous speech last year: the problem with the current administration is "ideology over reality." This expands on the theme:
Most ideologies are partly right, or relatively right, about at least some things. But none of them are always and absolutely right about everything.
We might define wisdom as the ability to recognize a truth that doesn't fit one's old cognitive filing system, and then to change the system to accommodate the truth. But hard-core ideologues can't do that. Instead, they reject the truth, or twist it around somehow so that it fits the ideology.
I'd add that probably none of them are always and absolutely wrong about everything, either. That's what makes cults, for example, work for some people - because what they claim does work in some way for the participant.
