Most of the people who claim that they are open minded, particularly in justifications for how others are wrong, are full of it.
In the absolute sense"open minded" would mean something like what the Thunder said, except even more objective- a truly open-minded person wouldn't even make the judgement that that was necessarily wrong. I took a shot at being open-minded in the absolute sense once. It sucks, and it really is more of a euphemism for empty-minded.
Generally, it simply means that one is open to the most compelling facts and ideas presented, and tries to weigh everything objectively, without preconceptions getting in the way. This is the way I try to be, but I'm not always successful. Plus, the arguments that formed my opinion in the first place were generally pretty damn compelling, so it's not too often I encounter comething that changes my views completely. But it happens, occasionally.
Most of the people I've observed who make that claim, though, are anything but. They say it because they're politically within what is defined as "leftist", and since leftists are generally stereotyped as more willing to be reasoned with (hence the misuse of the term "liberal"), they let that work for them in calling everyone else a bigoted redneck who wouldn't know a logical argument of it crawled up their ass and laid eggs. Hence the term "hysterical liberal"- one with ultra-leftist views and a fascist, bullying concept of how to spread and enforce them. They're the most repulsive people on the planet to me, because they attempt to equate themselves to the great people who ARE truly objective and reasonable.
In fact, I've seen more stubborn, ignorant jackasses on the "left" than I have on the "right". I think all the terminology gets into their brain, and convinces them they really are the most reasonable people on the planet, and thus that they need make no attempts to be. Effectively, they're Nazis, and fairly dangerous sorts, so it's best to avoid anyone who says they're open-minded (or anything of the sort), and then proceeds to prove themselves wrong.
