Are you objective?

I think it perfectly reasonable to have opinions based on prior experience/investigation which are going to be quite hard to shift. We don't go through the world empty-headed, assessing each situation as though we haven't come across it before.It's our ability to take on and objectively assess new information that might challenge already formed positions that's critical.It's also an approach to life - we can all assess an EVC poster's ability to be objective after a year or so of reading their posts. Some are and some aren't. Some are usually but on particular subjects they're not.

Yup. Where we stand affects what we are able to see. Well we know objectively that no-one is imune from cognative bias. As Percy's opening post says, I judge myself more than averagely objective. (Which is, of course, objectively true :-). But I regularly catch myself trying to dismiss inconvenient evidence without properly considering it.The difference though is that the cultural norms that I hold dear are the scientific, evidence based processes for establishing fact. That's really all we have that knowledge can grow from.As far as EVC goes, we know who's normally rational and who's normally not. It gets interesting when you see the normally rational people abandon critical thinking when the subject involves stuff that they irrationally believe in - gun control springs to mind.But sometimes the arguments here are fake so often it's hard to tell - arguments for arguments sake. It's possible to argue any point at all, no matter how stupid it is, and make it seem rational. No names, no pack drill.