ZEITGEIST

I think one of the biggest problems we’re facing as a society today - speaking from the vantage point of the United States but also referring to the global society that exists on the Internet - is that people are too attached to ideologies and not concerned enough with the pursuit of truth.  This may not be anything unique to modern times, but it’s a serious problem either way.  It can be so easy to adopt a particular worldview and accept its perspective as ultimate truth, especially compared to the alternative path.  The path of the truth-seeker is hemmed in by doubt.  In fact, it is largely doubt that forms the path, but beyond doubt - driving doubt - is the longing for true understanding.

The reason that I find the acceptance of ideology without applying skepticism to be so dangerous is that it betrays lack of confidence in the foundations of the ideology.  Honestly, to adhere to a doctrine without testing its validity undermines the doctrine itself.  Any doctrine, ideology, worldview, etc. that is worth following ought to stand strong in the face of reasonable criticism.  If you are not willing to entertain the notion that your beliefs may be false, you do not have real faith in those beliefs.  If this mindless adherence to doctrine persists over time, even if the doctrine was logically sound to begin with, the foundations of that doctrine will disintegrate and it will destroy itself from within.