Excellent point and article Alex- I agree. We all, especially at Uni, tend to be outspoken about our political viewpoints- and I definitely think it's good because fascinating, productive, and enlightening discussions come out of it, but you are also right- we need to be able to criticize our viewpoints and actually listen to and contemplate others' viewpoints, instead of becoming more iron-headed about the opinion we have chosen to go with when we hear dissenting ideas. And that is a HARD thing to do. Being more open-minded about things I have strong feelings about is def a personal goal of mine, and I think a lot of people at Uni are realizing we need to be more willing to listen to each other and learn from e/o's opinions- we need to do that.