You know, contrary to our collective self-image, we liberals can be mean sometimes. Especially when it comes to conservatives and their beliefs. Take, for example, this idea that religious conservatives believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old despite tons of research that prove it to be considerably older (something on the order of 4 billion years or so). We get a bit of a laugh out of this, but frankly I've often thought of this as nothing more than humorous (and admittedly somewhat mean-spirited) liberal hyperbole. That is until I discovered a co-worker (who will remain nameless in this post) who actually believes the Earth is 6,000 years old, that man lived with dinosaurs, and Adam and Eve rode out of the Garden of Eden on a T-Rex. Ok, I made that last one up, but the rest is absolutely true. My point here is...these people DO EXIST!
I consider myself fairly open minded, at least open minded enough to be able to rationally discuss pretty much any subject whether or not I agree with you. We can talk about Benghazi, the merits of Obamacare, or even gun control. But if the thing you hold as your core belief is a theory that is easily debunked by centuries of research as well as the evidence of one's own eyes (ever hear of the Grand Canyon), and doesn't even have a biblical basis to go on, let alone a scientific one (someone tell me exactly WHERE in the Bible does the age of the earth appear), then there is absolutely no way you and I can have an intelligent discussion on anything of substance, nor will I waste my time trying. In order for intelligent debate to take place between two people, both parties have to be capable of accepting and understanding factual information, or at least provable theory. If you believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, then it's pretty clear that you are incapable of understanding facts, and arguing anything with you would be like arguing with someone who still believes in Santa Claus. (Hello, Megyn Kelly!)
Right now in this country we have a segment of the population that interchangeably describes President Obama's policies as both Socialist and Communist, while having no clue what either of those terms mean, or that they have absolutely nothing to do with each other. They claim Obama is a Muslim, who just happened to spend 20 years as a member of a Christian church with a racist preacher...and, oh by the way, he's also Gay. We have lawmakers amending their state constitutions to ban Sharia law, which most people have never heard of before 2008, apparently ignorant of the fact that the national Constitution already does exactly that (you know, that whole "separation of church and state thing" that they belive applies to every religion but theirs). They bitch about raising the debt ceiling, oblivious to the fact that the debt ceiling is merely an agreement that we as a nation pay our bills, and that defaulting on our debt is tantamount to defaulting on one's mortgage. These people buy into whatever crazy-stupid idea that comforts them, not based on factual evidence, but solely on the say-so of a political party (and a cable network) that has dedicated itself to keeping them crazy-stupid.
Perhaps I'm just naïve, but I believe the extreme discourse in this country is not because of race, ideologies, or even politics. The reason this discourse exists is because there are people in this country who willfully, proudly, ignorantly belive what they know in their heart of hearts is complete and utter bullshit.
The Earth is 6,000 years old.
President Obama was born in Kenya.
WWE is real.
Sarah Palin is smart.
When encountering these people (and you will encounter these people), I find it best to simply leave them to their own devices. These folks have encased themselves in a titanium enforced, Fox News, fact-free bubble, and no factual argument you can make will ever penetrate their willful ignorance. There's no point in trying to get the last word in with these folks. In fact, there's no point in having words with them at all. For me, I choose to go with Proverbs chapter 26, verse 4, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him." In age of Twitter and Facebook, where discourse and ignorance spread like a bad rash, this is very sound advice indeed.
Correction: Thank you, CanisMaximus, for correcting me on the true age of the Earth. Appropriate update made to this post.