open-mindedness

I was having an interesting conversation earlier:

I asked a girl, "so, what's something you're not open-minded about?"
"I'm open minded to everything," she replied.
"Even eating fried-dog?" I asked.
"Um, no. Maybe not fried dog."


What can we learn from this seemingly-random exchange of words that has none-the-less remained on my mind? Well for one, our idea of open-mindedness is completely limited by subjectivity. Our entire reality is inherently subjective because it is consists only of the portion to which we have been exposed. That subjectivity in turn transfers over to our very definition of things. So, what do we really mean when so many of us claim to be "open-minded", or look to surround ourselves with people who are "open-minded", or instead say that we are turned-off by "close-mindedness"?

if the idea of a subjectively limited open-mindedness is true, then it must follow that each one of our ideas of open-mindedness is different. for example, that girl's idea of open-mindedness stops somewhere short of eating fried dog, as would most of the American public's idea. But what about the Chinese public? Or how about most Muslim countries, who's idea of open-mindedness falls short of eating pig? It becomes obvious how much this idea can vary, and for so many different reasons.

So, maybe all we are really trying to do is surround ourselves with people who's idea of open-mindedness matches that of our own.

I just wonder if that's a good thing or a bad thing.