“I won’t wash my hands anymore.”
on “opinions”, testing the truth, and maintaining relationships (even when it is hard)
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I tried to stay out of the fray. My instincts have been honed through my work in the church and years as a therapist. I’m typically pretty good at moving back to what is actually important, avoiding “straw man” diversions or attempts to bait me into an argument.
My default is to return to the relationship between us versus simply trying to be “right”.
But that part, about being “right”, is where I got stuck recently.
The context was on someone else’s Facebook page, a post about hydroxychloroquine's ineffectiveness against COVID-19. This was immediately followed by several people posting responses detailing how the “real” results are being covered up in a worldwide conspiracy to sink the reelection of President Trump … or more generously that we should “keep an open mind”.
One post was from a reputable news source, but was an opinion piece, so against my better judgment, I pointed that out.
“It’s all opinions,” was the response I received.
And I could feel myself getting angry, frustrated, dismayed, and tempted to withdraw … to move into a nihilistic space where I think to myself “what is the point anyway?!?”.
“You know not to get into pointless arguments on Facebook, right?!?” I say in my head.
“It’s all opinions.”
“It doesn’t matter what you say, they are not going to listen. Their mind is made up.”
“It’s all opinions.”
“Don’t you remember what ‘confirmation bias’ is and that we just continually seek out information that confirms what we already believe?!? The minute you write something, you will be placed in a category as a co-conspirator or ‘sheeple’ or some other pejorative. The point is, no one will listen!”
“It’s all opinions.”
And then it struck me. This phrase, “It’s…
