Over the last two centuries, the ability to think rationally has been systematically and deliberately undermined in people everywhere, but especially in Western Civilization. I frequently mute (unfollow, unfriend, etc., depending on the social media platform) people, not because I don't like them or don't want to associate with them, but because they express the most absurd ideas in a manner that advertises they will savagely attack anyone who challenges them.

Maybe I'm just a sensitive snowflake, but it hurts me when I see it. It's heart breaking and sometimes I just can't bear it. I don't understand how people get sucked into these bizarre fantasies. I have learned that engaging those people on those topics doesn't help them. They didn't arrive at their beliefs through reason, and so they can't be reasoned out of them. Their circular "logic" and rejection of common sense and all contrary evidence is quite literally infuriating.

If I mute you it's not because I hate you. It's because I don't want to think badly of you. I don't want to be angry at you.

I'll keep teaching and trying to give people the tools they need to avoid those black holes of insanity before they get sucked in too. I love people who are asking questions and are ready to explore ideas outside of traditional boxes.

Everyone needs some guidance at times, and people who are blazing new trails away from convention and dogma often need a little bit more even as they are rejecting their old guides. It's important to recognize that everyone who is wrong isn't necessarily lying to you. Everyone who lied about one thing isn't lying about everything. Not all doctrines, philosophies, or systems are man-made constructs designed to enslave people.

Convention isn't always wrong. *Sometimes* the trail is here and not there because it really does lead to the truth.