Interesting post, Brother Step. I know that I am mentally challenged (as you have so often pointed out) but let?s see how far off I am in distilling the kernels of truth from your initial post:
1. It?s not good to insist on looking at something from only one single point of view.
2. When a bunch of people begin to agree on stuff, over time they tend to develop a ?we are right and everybody else is wrong? mentality.
3. The said ?we are right? mentality constricts the flow of constructive criticism and dialog within the group, inhibiting its growth.
4. Views of the group come to be held up as ?truth? and all opposing views are (or come to be) seen as ?untruth.?
5. People in said group fear speaking out against the inherent groupthink for fear of reprisals, up to and including ejection from the group.
6. Many of these aspects of groupthink occur at the Kingdom Hall.
7. It would be sad if, after coming to see the counterproductive nature of these phenomena, one fell into repeating them over and over again.
8. No group, even the dreaded WTS, is totally void of some good although it may require a fair and objective search(er) to find / admit it.
9. No matter how adamantly we think we?re right, we could still be wrong.
10. In view of Number 9, it?s sometimes a good idea -- worth our while, even -- to try to see the other person?s viewpoint.
11. Sweeping generalizations are generally untrue.
12. Despite what some of your friends think, you haven?t gone cuckoo.
Am I in the ballpark?
Those are some quite profound ? I must say downright radical ? ideas you got going there, Brother Step. I dare say that with the possible exception of Number 12, these maxims are pretty much beyond reasonable dispute. Cheers.
Edited to add:
