Those who continue to speak in absolutes should be disregarded. Often throughout the day, people ranging from average students, neighbors, college professors, doctors, politicians and so on make statements that could easily be challenged. What right does anyone have to make an absolute statement without providing a source or proof? Sources are used in nearly every paper written so when a person makes a claim without any follow-up or with a ridiculous follow-up it is puzzling. More so, watching their audience eat up the statement as a child does candy is disturbing. There are no absolutes in the entire universe except those in mathematics and science.
When we get into heated discussions statements come up that sound as if they are factual when they could be challenged. However, the person being told these statements could lack the knowledge to challenge it and therefore either disregard it (which is good) or take it as fact (not good). Why is it not good? Because then the person speaking in absolutes could be regarded as intelligent or knowledgeable on the subject they are raving for. At times when a priest states, "this is what the lord said" they will try to sway the conversation away from that once challenged or maintain their stance that this is what the lord said because of the Bible (which is easily challenged) while other sects of Christianity dispute what the lord said all the time. If not called upon to explain further, that statement was still said without any real source being explained. Perhaps this is why so many become indoctrinated in religion and politics. Baptized at birth, brainwashed to believe representative democracy is flawless, and then dragged to church and hearing all kinds of absolutes that impact an impressionable young person. Those who are in hard times, such as in poverty, can also become impressionable and fall under the illusion that what preachers, politicians or anybody of authority claim is fact.
Dealing with someone who speaks in absolutes is simple and has been repeated multiple times above — simply question them. Even in your own realm of beliefs you should pose a question to those who speak for them and see how they answer. Another example would be the current presidential election. So many take the words of these politicians to be absolutely true when if the right question were asked a candidate could be tripped up, which occurs now and then. Just because you are a candidate for a high political position does not make you intelligent, yet the public relations industry makes a candidate look intelligent. Being engaged in the world is important of course, however, we should always be questioning whatever we find ourselves engaged in and not giving in to what we are told is absolute.
