Nullius in verba

There is nothing more dangerous to freedom than a True Believer. 

The tendency may be to flip immediately to religion when I say True Believer. Some go to Muslim terrorists. Some go to Polygamist Mormons. They used to be big on Satanists, but you don't hear much of them anymore. 

The truth is though, being a True Believer isn't really about God or the lack thereof. It's about the lack of doubt. 

If you think Socialism, or Capitalism is the only way for society to survive instead of tools to shape an economy, you don't believe in freedom. You believe you know the way, the only way, and you're so certain about it you can make everyone act on your beliefs. True Believers think they are helping, or at least they say they do. They have the one, true answer. Why wouldn't they share it? 

Oh yeah, and if you think only one skin color is good or one sexual orientation is correct, you're an asshole and a True Believer.

For some reason though, True Believers don't seem to be real big on entertaining arguments that run counter to their belief. The reason their ideas fall apart in the arena of debate is not because they're flawed, but because you just don't understand them correctly, right?

Weird isn't it. 

True Believers generally won't let their kids make up their own minds. I think it's because they know what they're selling isn't the truth. If it was, they wouldn't have to force you to see it. If it was truth it would be able to stand up next to competing ideas and win. But, instead of getting an education on how to seek out and find truth, they generally just get indoctrinated into a belief system.  

The Truth is that none of them are good enough to be beyond doubt. You know what is? Sunrise. 

People never argue about it. Ever see a war break out about dropping something and having it fall down? 

They might argue, poorly, about the reasons why it drops, but the drop is coming. Theories are what you're arguing about, not facts.

Beliefs can be very personal. Who cares what somebody believes? Well, there's the real problem. 

Eventually, True Believers are going to try to take away your freedom. Those competing thoughts are dangerous to their beliefs so, you can't have them. Even worse, your competing ideas might spoil the purity of their children.

We've seen it before and I'm afraid it's trying to come back again, from lots of sides. I don't think we can survive as a species when True Believers are at the controls. 

Teach your kids to seek for and find the truth rather than telling them what to do and the future will understand freedom. For everybody. I mean, what more essential freedom is there than the freedom to make up your own mind?

If someone says they have the one, True Answer, don't trust them. For people who know the Truth, aren't really searching for the truth.

The stuff about which there is no doubt, is easy to see most of the time. The rest is just a theory.