Right, righter, righteous

Language is considered the greatest gift of us homo sapi-apes, because of it we teach, exchange truths (and lies) make relationships, exchange experiences and can use it to avoid violence.
But if language is so important, which nobody will deny , then listening and the ability to hear what people are trying to say instead of the actual words coming from their mouths must also be on a par. But do we listen? or do we just hear what we want to hear? After all it's tiring to have to adjust your point of view because the counter argument is made with 'truths' you hear for the first time. Most of us form views about everything from terrorism to tennis, politics to pop music and we make a personal 'view' on the argument at hand and that becomes our 'thoughts' on the subject, although never written in stone once these 'thoughts' are formed we, generally speaking, look for evidence that we are right. Is it not so that this is how we listen to others? Try to remember the last time a 'debate' on a heated subject ever changed your mind, how many times have you ever said to yourself (and others) "I used to think 'X' but I listened to this speaker on the subject and I have had to conclude that I was wrong all these years, I now think 'Y'."
These thoughts have been troubling me lately, 'what if I'm wrong?' what if my whole life has been based on the wrong decisions because I haven't looked at my 'points of view' under a critical light?
I comfort myself by the thought that 'at least I think about these things, at least I'm critical of my opinions, even if it hardly ever leads to change'.
How can people be so damn sure, I ask myself, how can people be so sure that they and only they know 'truth' , I constantly hear and see people who never question their own personal thoughts on a subject. Take a look at the so called 'social' (what's in a name) network sites, the ranting and raving going on there is horrendous, millions of people everyday shouting and raging at each other trying to prove each other wrong. Actually they don't 'prove' they usually just state their point of view without evidence, and if evidence is used it's 'evidence' that is carefully selected to prove the own opinion.

I used to like watching political debates on television, politicians hardly ever debate to get to the truth, they always debate just to be proved right, the party line is X so they argue that X is right and all the rest is wrong, that's not a debate to get to the truth, it's an exchange of opinions to prove the other side wrong. I've always said that I would most certainly vote for the politician that had the guts and the nerve to  admit that his or her point of view had been changed by the arguments brought to the table by the 'other side', this would be a great leader, a great politician, because they would not only have the ability to speak and argue a point non violently but also the ability to listen, evaluate and make changes.
what a shame that in our society we don't have the culture of admitting that we are sometimes

wrong, people who dare change their opinions are made out for 'turncoats' or 'wishy washy' or even losers, when they might just have found a way of listening and self criticism.