Jumping to Conclusions
| April 23rd, 2011I always become a little perturbed inside when people are quick to become defensive and/or hostile for no good reason. I remember my 18th birthday, mid-December 2009, when my mom gifted me a copy of Richard Dawkin’s newest book The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence For Evolution. It’s a sort of primer that sets out all of the evidence for biological evolution, and even clears up some people’s misconceptions on scientific theory and fallibility. It’s a thoughtful and informative text especially for those who are not well-versed in scientific reasoning.
I digress though. For my birthday, I was with my mom, my sister, and my brother-in-law. I was enjoying myself, at least, until a point where the mood shifted a bit: As I uncovered my newly-gifted book from its wrapping paper, I was met with an extremely cynical and disconcerting look from my sister. She immediately, quite forcefully exclaimed, “Seriously, Danny? Seriously?”
To which my mom added, “You know, the LDS church doesn’t speak out against evolution. Not at all.”
Across the table, my brother-in-law nodded in agreement. “Nope, they don’t.”
I hadn’t said anything this entire time. Rather, I was sitting there in disbelief, shocked, and slightly offended by this exchange that just occurred in front of me. It had only been a few seconds, and already my family appeared to be up in arms, speaking defensively about the church, and getting bothered by something that really shouldn’t have bothered them at all. Based on this, I can only assume they believed the book to be deceptive anti-Mormon fuel, granted for me to keep in my arsenal of evil, misguided, confused atheist literature. My family was aware of my negative feelings toward the church, so they felt compelled to immediately tell me how the LDS church really isn’t like that, and I’m looking in the wrong places to get information.
Except… it was merely a science book. And those weren’t my intentions at all.
It disturbs me to think that my family’s reactions were mostly because of me, and not just the book. Had it been someone else unwrapping the shiny, new, hardcover text, they would not have spoken out the same way. It pains me when people jump to conclusions like this. Also, the fact that you had to call me out on something because of your own poor reasoning has more to say about you and not me.
That was the first occurrence.
Later that night, one of my good friends stopped by to watch a movie. Dinner was winding down, and sitting in my bedroom were two of my unwrapped birthday presents, one of them being the unexpectedly-controversial Richard Dawkins book. My friend, an active member of the LDS church who was aware of my animosity toward religion, picked up the text. “Yeah, that’s the new book I got for my birthday,” I said. “It’s pretty cool. It’s kind of an all-in-one book that describes all of the current evidence we have for biological evolution and natural selection.”
He flipped through the pages, pausing to look at the few pictures that were there. Then he turned to a page, and while pointing to a diagram of an equine, he said in a snarky, defensive tone: “Uhh, yeah, this horse totally proves there’s no god.” He turned to another page. “Also, same with this turtle. Obviously evidence of there being no god.”
My jaw was through the floor. This time it had gotten worse. What a terrible, absolutely terrible display of blatant, immature, and petty defensiveness. For the record, my friend was usually a pretty reasonable guy. Unfortunately, however, he stooped down at times… and this was a whole new low. I told him, “You realize this book has absolutely nothing to do with proving or disproving god, don’t you? You realize this has nothing to do with spirituality either?” To which he responded that I was right. At least he had the humility to stand corrected, and I respect him for that.
I don’t know. I think I need to be more diligent in questioning people who get up in arms about trivial things. Why do you feel the way you do? Why are you offended? I, personally, was offended twice that night because of how people reacted to my book. I think the book is a fine, informative, well-thought-out resource on a scientific subject. Apparently other people don’t. I would like to talk to people more often about why they feel a certain way, but I can’t, because my own emotions take too long to register, and later on I regret it for not seizing the opportunity to get closure. I spend too much time getting mixed up in my emotions.
It feels good to get this off my chest. I know it happened a long time ago, but it’s one of those things I just couldn’t get out of my head. It’s weird how people are.
3 Nephi 14:1-5
I think this ^^ book is a fine, informative, well-thought out resource on eternal truth, but some people don’t. I would like to sit and talk to certain people more often about why they feel a certain way, but I can’t, because they will treat me like I’m an idiot. That is why I’m offended by people like Richard Dawkins. Does that answer your question?
I really don’t think I ever said anything of the sort (assuming you’re talking about me.) Maybe you were just being paranoid and defensive that everyone is against you because you are “different.” I personally don’t care if you read about or subscribe to evolution.