Do you have attitudes and beliefs that seem to contradict each other?

@TheHorse (205776)
Walnut Creek, California
December 6, 2015 12:25pm CST
For no particular reason, I was reflecting on my attitudes and beliefs this morning, and realized that some of them are contradictory. For example, I'm an animal lover, and sometimes prefer giving a dog a good scratch or a horse a treat over interacting with humans. And yet I eat meat. I love sports, and will never miss a chance to play catch with anyone, be it softball catch with an adult buddy or football catch with a kid. And yet I smoke now and then, and never go near a gym. I'm a pacifist, and have the ability to calm even inmates (in one of my former jobs) and engage them in constructive conversation. And yet I'm pro-death penalty (if it could be less expensive), and am for much harsher sentences for violent crimes than currently exist. Do you have attitudes or beliefs (I guess I should add "behaviors") that are contradictory?
22 people like this
19 responses
@rebelann (111189)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Dec 15
That didn't really sound contradictory. Humans are all born omnivores not herbivores so eating some meat is normal and to love nature and animals is also normal. As for smoking, well, I used to and would advise against it especially since you seem active. There's a huge difference between being against violence or war and wanting those who commit heinous crimes to be put out of our misery, I don't find that contradictory at all.
5 people like this
@rebelann (111189)
• El Paso, Texas
6 Feb 18
You have the right to your opinion but please do not tell me that I have to agree with you @saritflor
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Dec 15
Maybe they're not as contradictory as I think. I'm also pondering ways in which my attitudes and opinions have changed over time.
3 people like this
@saritflor (3914)
• Hungary
6 Feb 18
No @rebelann eating other individual who HAS feeling it's not normal, it's a crime.
1 person likes this
@just4him (306351)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
6 Dec 15
I never considered myself a people person, always a loner, and had a job in customer service for 11 years.
4 people like this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
7 Dec 15
Same here! Technical support and I hate people. :)
3 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
Oh, that's a good one! I consider myself a bit of a a shy person, and I didn't always like performing music (people watching me), yet I'm a college professor and have to get up and lecture all the time.
3 people like this
@just4him (306351)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
8 Dec 15
@TheHorse I've gotten up to read some of my poems before the congregation at church and each time I shook like a leaf in the wind.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Dec 15
This is controversial, but I am anti-abortion yet pro-choice, although I am completely against late-stage abortion. If the woman cannot decide within a couple months, then clearly she can take a couple more months to carry the baby to term.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
Good one! So am I. I'm pro-choice politically, but pro-life at ground zero. One of my favorite ever humans (a kid I worked with in Oakland) was supposed to be abortion, but the line was too long, his mother told me.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
8 Dec 15
@purplealabaster I agree entirely. Withdrawal symptoms are terrible, but they don't necessarily lead to developmental delays.
1 person likes this
• Preston, England
6 Dec 15
I'm sure I do have such contradictions - being a meat eating animal lover is one of mine too
4 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
Yep. I bet many of us share that one!
2 people like this
@jaboUK (64361)
• United Kingdom
6 Dec 15
I can't think of any contradictory beliefs at the moment, apart from the one you've mentioned about being both a meat eater and an animal lover.
3 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Dec 15
I bet that one is pretty common.
2 people like this
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
7 Dec 15
Truthfully I never thought of this before. I guess if you look at certain thing everyone in life can have them it just takes time to sit down and notice them.
3 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
I think the first one I noticed was my love of both animals and meat. When I talk to cows and chickens (yes, I talk to cows and chickens), I say things like, "How strange that I might eat you one day."
1 person likes this
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
7 Dec 15
@TheHorse Yes people do love animals and a lot of people will eat them. I personally don't eat meat. I will eat chickens but for some reason the ones I raise and feed I hate to cook them and eat them. I also raise rabbits. They are my babies and I love them a lot. My partner wants t kill them to eat them. I refuse to allow this one to happen. I know I have a giant aquarium full of tropical fish. I don't have a like or dislike one way or the other. I know I love fish and I do eat fish. But in some ways I don't feel lilke this is a conflict in my life. Not sure why. I just think about the fish I put in my aquarium and they would not be found in the ocean. Now if I had salt walter this one sure would be different for me.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 Dec 15
We all have many contradictory opinions and morals. It is inevitable that some of the many standards that we develop during our lives will conflict.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Dec 15
Very true. Life experiences change our attitudes, yet we holed on to old ones. Do you have any contradictions that come to mind?
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
6 Dec 15
@TheHorse None that come to mind at this moment, although I am quite confident that all my opinions will not concur with each other.
2 people like this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
8 Dec 15
It is a survival issue really that we create such situations that contradict with each other. When our instincts take over we just have to go along in order to survive. Hope I have not confused you (lol)
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130064)
• India
8 Dec 15
@TheHorse In that case you can surely stop eating meat and give your attitude a green signal
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
8 Dec 15
Confusion isn't in my vocabulary. At least it wasn't. Heh. But I don't really need meat to survive I just like it.
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
8 Dec 15
@allknowing But it tastes so dang good.
@mythociate (21437)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1 Feb 18
Everything is contradictory if you put it in the wrong context!
@mythociate (21437)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
6 Feb 18
@TheHorse yes; the example I've been dealing with recently ... I'm a Christian--baptised as an infant, confirmed Catholic (son of St. Jude)--but don't necessarily "believe" a historical Jesus Christ existed (as portrayed in the Bible), and don't believe that prayer does what Christians say it does.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Feb 18
@mythociate Good example. I'd say...what SOME Christians say it does. Prayer does not heal Grandma oIr help a team win the Super Bowl. But it can put someone in touch with their personal spiritual center. Like you, I'm open to the possibility that Noah's Ark, Moses's parting of the Red Sea, and Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection are all just lovely metaphors, or parables, or stories...whatever they might be.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
2 Feb 18
Can you give me an example or two?
@jstory07 (134465)
• Roseburg, Oregon
6 Dec 15
I am an animal lover but I will eat the meat from animals. Especiall a good steak.
2 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
I'm nice to moo cows we meet while hiking. But I love a good steak too.
@amnabas (13742)
• Karachi, Pakistan
6 Dec 15
Yesi do have behaviours and atitudes .
2 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Dec 15
Do some of them contradict each other?
1 person likes this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
7 Dec 15
I love food and try to diet?
1 person likes this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
7 Dec 15
@TheHorse Yep, because diet is moderation and/or abstaining the food I love.. It's not a contradiction, it's a hardship. xD
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Feb 18
@Drosophila Heh, that I can understand.
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
Hmm. is that really a contradiction?
1 person likes this
@Lucky15 (37346)
• Philippines
6 Dec 15
Hmmm.. can not think of any, yet. Maybe it ia the one that i cry when a chicken is being.. you know but i love to eat chicken :(
2 people like this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
That's why I chose a chicken for my photo. I love kicking back and feeding chickens by hand. And just watching them do their serious chicken things. But I eat them.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
@Lucky15 I think I'm kind of the same way. I wonder how I'd be different had I grown up on a farm and raised Fifi the cow and Ginger the chicken.
@Lucky15 (37346)
• Philippines
7 Dec 15
@TheHorse i can say no to have the chicken's neck to be cut but i can not say no to having chicken-'fried one on my plate. Sigh
1 person likes this
@saritflor (3914)
• Hungary
2 Feb 18
Well for eating normative food (Not seeing any individual as "Food") in the 21 century it is consider to be something very strange. That's fine for me, though not always easy because I feel pain for all these poor individuals people see as "Food".
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
6 Feb 18
Including squash and broccoli?
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
9 Feb 18
@saritflor Broccoli is good. Especially with salted butter.
1 person likes this
@saritflor (3914)
• Hungary
6 Feb 18
@TheHorse I can only feel joy from eating broccoli LOL
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
7 Dec 15
I am an animal lover and love meat too. I see a lot of attitudes and beliefs that are contrary but that work pretty well.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
I don't feel too much "cognitive dissonance."
@yalul070 (1713)
• Manila, Philippines
7 Dec 15
a lot. sometimes I think i'm dr. jekyll and mr. hyde -- although that speaks of a medical case. i think it's normal to have contradictions within oneself. like yin and yang: one part of you telling you to do this while the other part tells otherwise. although sometimes you need to be more consistent to be credible.
@yalul070 (1713)
• Manila, Philippines
8 Dec 15
@TheHorse Methinks as long as you can control your inner contradictions -- i mean, as long as people don't see you as a mental case -- you will be fine. There is a bubbler who writes about these things, Dark Age Prophet. I wonder if he made it to MyLot.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
8 Dec 15
@yalul070 Not sure. Nah, people see me as pretty stable, but somewhat philosophical at times. I think.
• United States
7 Dec 15
I love most animals yet I eat meat, you aren't alone in this.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
This was actually the first one that came to mind for me as I was thinking up this post.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
7 Dec 15
Wow, are we related @TheHorse ? Every one you named would be mine.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
8 Dec 15
No, we're just both RIGHT. (smilay face emoticon)
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66857)
• Philippines
7 Dec 15
I have to have self-evaluation so I know if I am indeed a contradicting personality. (I am shy but I like to mingle with other people. I think this is one).
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (205776)
• Walnut Creek, California
7 Dec 15
I can relate to that one as well!