Open-mindedness is always a good thing

Open-mindedness is a virtue, there is no doubt in my mind that that is true. Being open-minded has led to many societal and scientific achievements. It is also one of the traits that makes a good leader or judge. Even the very existence of this website is because of open-mindedness! With my claims now out of the way, I will prove them. "societal and scientific achievements": When I mean "societal achievements" I mean that society has been improved for the better of its members by changing legal and/or cultural views on a particular subject. Excellent examples of "societal achievements" would be the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's, which ended racial segregation and the women's suffrage movement which culminated in the passing of the 19th amendment to the constitution, allowing women to vote. The only reason these movements succeeded is because people were open-minded about the idea of women and non-whites having the same rights as everyone else. If they had not been open-minded, women would probably still not be able to vote or get a proper education and non-whites would probably still be slaves and certainly not be able to vote because the people in power (white males) would still think of both of those groups as lesser beings, and would not listen to any ideas that said otherwise. I don't feel like I have to explain why "scientific achievements" have happened because of open-mindedness, but for those of you that don't know why, I will. The scientific method relies on series of observations, hypothesizes and experiments as well as evidence in order to attempt to understand reality, as you know some of these results have gone against what was previously the explanation for something (diversity of life/origin of the universe/earthquakes anyone? ). Science requires open-mindedness, it requires its practitioners to be willing to consider new and different ideas. If people were not open-minded, science couldn't happen! Nor could all the things science has done! "It [open-mindedness] is also one of the traits that makes a good leader or judge": What are the traits of a good leader? Let's see. .. Confidence, intelligence, humility. .. Oh, and the ability to listen to other people! No leader is always right, good or bad, and they need to be corrected from time to time. This, once again, requires open-mindedness. If a leader is not open-minded on a subject, that means that they are closed-minded on that subject (you cannot be partially open-minded on a subject, that's called selective hearing), if a leader is closed-minded on a subject, that means they are unreceptive to new ideas or information regarding that subject. If a leader won't listen to new ideas or information on a subject, they will most likely make a mistake in judgement if a situation around or including that subject changes because they are still basing their judgement off of old ideas and information which may not be the best way to make the decision. However, if a leader listens to the ideas and opinions of the people they govern/represent, they will not only avoid the problem of basing new decisions off of old ideas and information, they will also make the populace happier with their leadership! I think it's pretty obvious why a judge has to be open-minded, but here's an argument anyway: I will take a well-known kind of case and use it as an example, how about rape accusations? Pretend that a case of rape is brought before a judge, a woman says that the defendant, a haggard-looking 40-something year old man, raped her. Now, this man looks like a rapist if anything, but the judge cannot be sure whether the man raped the woman or not on looks alone. Even if the woman says he is guilty of rape, the judge has to be open to the possibility that the man is innocent, no matter how damning the testimony or appearance, until solid evidence is brought up for one side or the other. This doesn't prevent the judge from making a decision, solid evidence may not be possible for whatever reason, but it still means that the man could be either guilty or innocent. This is why judges need to be open-minded. "Even the very existence of this website is because of open-mindedness": What is the purpose of debating? Why have big debates like the Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye debate? To change the opinions of others of course! If people wouldn't consider other points of view and were unwilling to listen to new ideas, there would be no point in debate because no one would have their opinion swayed! But people (some anyway) do consider other points of view and are willing to listen to new ideas, like we are right now! And one of our opinions could be swayed! That is why websites like this exist, to make it easier for people to debate and sway each others opinions with good, well-reasoned arguments. I hope you didn't find any of my argument to be hostile, that was not my intent, I probably should've warned you. I look forward to a good argument on your part.