The spiral of silence.

Can't count the times I've had heard some of the most reactionary, vulgar, and bigoted nonsense from a NYC relative who would not stop to spit on a guy from Alabama if he was on fire. It's the same pig-ignorant racism, you've just got two groups of white people finding new ways to hate one another.

It’s very difficult to maintain an open mind. Groupthink is not a product of the right nor the left.

There's definitely merit to being self-aware. Understanding that you didn't just fall out of a coconut tree, you exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you, is important.

But I think there's a reflexive urge towards being contrarian (or, at least, presenting yourself as such) as a shield against the merits of collective wisdom. I see this shit from the more libertarian straining of Americana all the time. People who will insist free markets for heroin would be great, child pornography isn't hurting anyone, and why shouldn't personal ownership of nuclear weapons be legalized? People who will slap a hot stove just because you told them not to touch it.

The Joe Rogan "Mind so open everything fell out" type of person isn't any more admirable than the dogmatic conservative. In many instances, it just leads to the same stupid bullshit - one by being too stubborn to change the views hammered in by 40 years of AM radio and the other by taking bald face lies at face value.

Merely saying "Yes" after you heard a bunch of people say "No" isn't self-aware.