This one little quote has been bothering me for ages. It really shouldn't be, since my general opinion on quotes is that they are basically useless, except for the times when you dump them in your essays to make it look as if you know what you're talking about. Quotes on their own are full of assertions, never explained, never substantiated, just left hanging for people to interpret. I guess that may just be their purpose, but still, that just means that they bother me even more.
I'm assuming that people should know who Eleanor Roosevelt was, but just in case you don't for some reason, she was the longest serving First Lady of the US and wife to US's 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The succeeding President Harry S. Truman called her the "First Lady of the World" for her several human rights achievements. I don't believe the quote above has anything to do with a specific event, but a little history lesson never hurts anyone.
"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
I don't exactly agree with this quote, mostly because I don't think these three areas of discussion - ideas, events and people - are mutually exclusive, like the quote seems to suggest. However, I can see why this quote may hold true. The lowest levels of discussion, which is more common-placed in discussions between females (as if I'm not one), is gossip and the spreading of rumours.
What do I think about rumours? Well, I don't like them and I try to steer clear of them, but I see them as not completely avoidable. What are rumours and gossips anyway? I would define them as speculations on another person's or persons' private and personal affairs. Basically, you are going off a hunch and you don't know the truth, yet you are spreading that speculation as a fact. To me, that is disgusting, but it doesn't mean I don't do it. It is, like I said, inevitable, because you can never know the exact truth behind every single affair. It is part of human intellect to make inferences and speculations, though I believe that latter, because of the lack of evidence, should be kept to oneself. What does it have to do with the quote? Well, most of the time, when girls gossip, while situations and events are described, what takes precedence in the discussion is the person in question. The gossip usually starts off as "You know I saw ___ doing ___ the other day?" and somewhere down the line of gossip, it becomes "I heard that ___ is ___ kind of person."
Often, the conclusion is an over-generalisation and, sometimes, even a completely unfounded accusation. I really want to use the example of the RGS girl who sued the school, but I believe I've written about that before. I am in no position to impose my judgement on others, because I'm not involved at all, but I still believe that some people are judging her a little too harshly. I would call their accusations of her as a "bad person" to be a gossip, because if you don't know her, I don't think it's fair to assume she's a bad person because of one thing that happened. I can say that what ever she did was horrendous and misguided, but I don't think it should define her as a person. This opinion of mine has been met with outrage, but I hold onto the belief that she may not necessarily be a bad person and even if she were, it's not even that important.
Why isn't it important? Come on, it does not matter whether she's a good or a bad person, because it does not make what she did any worse or any better. It's not a show of mercy, because judgements in court are not passed based on a person's character, but on a person's actions. To conclude so quickly about a person's character and pass it off as the truth, thus framing the entire person for life, isn't that gossip?
And then we move on to "average minds" that discuss events. You see that when people discuss daily happenings, whether in the news, on the radio, etc. I think the biggest differentiation to make between these kinds of discussions and the previous ones is that while both may start of with discussing events, the previous kind of discussion often shift focus onto individuals involved, rather than looking at the situation as a whole.
This then makes the final assertion of "great minds" easier to understand. Small minds are narrow minds, which focus on the small and often, not that significant, aspects of a situation. Average minds focus on the situation and sees the situation as it is. Great minds extrapolate every situation into a bigger idea, that develops as more deductions from various situations are taken into account. For example, the assertion that "Humans are inherently selfish" isn't an idea that just pops out of no where. It's the combination of everything a person has gone through that contributes to his/her perception of the world and forms an opinion, or a subjective idea. When an opinion is discussed with opposing minds, it becomes objective and forms a solid idea.
Why don't I agree with the quote then?
Like I've mentioned, the quote makes it seem as if these three where mutually exclusive. If you discuss people, you have a small mind; if you discuss events, you are just average; and if you discuss ideas, you mind is superb. I really think that the quote describes more of a process, rather than a classification. Often, discussions about a person and about a situation are not mutually exclusive and you often address both at once. While you discuss anything, your brain forms an opinion that is shaped by the discussion, the beginnings of an idea.
This sort of reminds me of the opening lines of Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The game begins like a play almost, probably because of the quote at the start and it's this quote that emerges in my mind when I first saw that quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.
This may seem quite irrelevant, but I'm sure you can draw the little links yourself. The quotes are not identical, not at all in fact, but both contain three aspects (prophecy/idea, event, hero/people).
Also, another problem I have with the initial quote is that I believe that even among great minds, there are humanitarian minds and the more...scientific minds. If the idea has to do with people, then if your mind great or small?
That said, whenever people ask me about my opinions about another person, I wonder whether they are asking me from a narrow-minded (small mind) perspective or they are trying to build upon their own ideas (great mind). In time, I have realised that the faster a person is in trying to overturn your opinion, the more narrow-minded they are, naturally. I often try to give more unconventional responses, if I'm being genuine, and given the response the other person offers, I can then draw some opinion of my conversation partner. If they are quick to oppose, like when I said that RGS girl isn't bad person and got a glare, I know that they are looking for confirmation for their narrow-minded perspective on her, not really trying to develop an idea. If the person falls silent and looks like he/she is considering what you are saying, then you know you found a great conversation partner.
Even so, it's not like I can be picky about my conversation partners. Nowadays, my most common company (i.e. those who talk to me everyday without fail) are quite narrow-minded people, who will not hear my differing opinion without giving me the weirdest looks. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy their company because there is a time and place for everything, including arguments (I call them discussions, but whatever), so I try not to be disagreeable most of the time. They are great company for relaxation, but I want someone who will willing fight me. Most of the time I just end up coming home and writing stuff down everywhere, but it's like talking to a wall, you get no response.
This is probably why I walk away immediately when a guy I'm talking to agrees with my opinion despite having every reason to disagree. If you aren't going to offer me your genuine opinions, then I don't get why I should either. I think a wall is honestly better in those cases - at least they weren't meant to have an opposing opinion in the first place.
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