Why there is no such thing as your own opinion...
We're always taught to have our own opinions in life, to always stand up for our beliefs and to always respect opinions of people that are different to ours. As I grow older, I find that hard to believe because if you don't hold a belief that is accepted by the vast majority, then your opinions are irrelevant and often most time than not, you are ostracised for it. I for one think that more and more people are becoming more sensitive to issues. As much as I do agree that you should be take an initiative to understand others and also to ensure that everyone isn't judged in one way or another but it just seems that it might have gone a little too far this time.
If you ever read the news these days, if ever even one word that was used was off, then people would start riling up and going on protests for that matter just because it was an insensitive thing to say. Alright, maybe, sometimes, the media does spout nonsense and we all know some that do. But then again, I think with there being freedom of speech, of course you're going to hear opinions that are not to your taste. I think in a way, it is good to be exposed to things that you don't believe in because it expands your worldview on things.
Recently, I had been watching a video on moon cups or diva cups, whatever people would like to call it and the person was talking about periods as you would imagine. I was scrolling down the comments section as I would normally do, to gather what other people were saying about the topic, as I think a lot of people do discuss their opinion and most of them are quite reasonable. Until I stumbled upon a comment which said, "For future reference, please use people who menstruate rather than women who menstruate as it is more inclusive speech", or something along the lines. I for one did not even notice that she said women who menstruate and additionally, I was sort of baffled as women are technically the ones that do menstruate naturally anyway and you would think that it would be okay to say that, but then you have people who disagree with it. Of course I did some digging with why this is such. Apparently, there are people who are trans and who choose not to transition physically, but then there are others who do choose to transition and go through the physical procedure and take hormone pills and all that, so, it is a possibility or something along the lines where you can read more here.
I am very accepting and understanding in general regardless of a person's background. I never intentionally or unintentionally try to upset people and most definitely I try my utmost best to educate myself about everything and anything. You would see that it is technically impossible. So, I would consider myself having a good grasp of current issues and I also try to be friends with a wide group of people rather than only having a small clique so I think generally, I'm not too bad with it. However, I find myself increasingly either left flabbergasted or dumbfounded because I literally just feel that it is something that was never done intentionally. For example, because of the tone of my skin, I do get often asked if I am from India, or often times, if there are middle eastern people around, they tend to think I'm one of them, but I don't get offended by it because I understand that they don't know and they're making a guess, because as humans, you do try to relate to something that is as close to what you know. So, really, it's not anyone's fault. Of course, I do get taken aback sometimes, because I'm like, "please don't enforce your beliefs on me", but most of the time, people would be very understanding and say, "I'm sorry, I didn't know" or something along the lines of trying to understand me.
But nevertheless, I just feel that our society is somewhat a little too sensitive and tend to attack people who have a different belief system. I think you do need to hear a different narrative and why must you feel so personally attacked? After all, the freedom of thinking and forming your opinions should be on both sides. I think the only way we are going to resolve our differences is through having a genuine conversation and trying to understand the fundamentals behind why someone have formed an opinion of someone or a group of people in that way. Is it because they have had bad experiences with them? Is it because that's what their parents believed? Is it because of the news they read? It's very easy to attack others but I also think maybe we should hear the other side of the story. We are all a tad bit too sensitive and this environment that we live in is not good for us.
We cannot just sue someone because we are unhappy with it. I find it increasingly worrying that we take time out to scrutinise everything that is being said or posted on social media. I feel sorry if this would be the case in the coming years and more so when my child (if I ever have one) is growing up in an environment where they cannot express their opinion or if they were expected to conform. No, I think we should form our own opinion on things. I am very happy to include anyone at my dinner table and I have met friends who have allowed me to form a different narrative on certain groups of people and as much as I do share liberal opinions, I also find it necessary to have some sort of an opposing opinion so that I can form my own belief system.
However, having said that, I do not believe in violence, as many would consider this a passivist behaviour, but I also don't like labels. So, to me, I think as long as something is being said in a calm, collected and respectful manner, than it should be addressed with something similar. I don't believe in attacks against someone because of their beliefs. I also don't believe that you should be nasty to someone because of their belief system. But at the same time, I equally believe that we should live in a peaceful environment where we are able to share our opinions. Of course, we don't live in an ideal world and sometimes, things just don't pan out the way we want it to. For example, the viral video of that New York lawyer who was racist towards the Spanish customers, calling them immigrants and saying that they should be deported. Now, that kind of behaviour is appalling and unacceptable. There is a time and place for everything and going on a hissy fit during your lunch break is not okay.
But speaking to people and trying to understand their circumstance might just be it, but we know that the reality of the situation is that a lot of people are generally not going to think the way that we do. But, it's up to us to change ourselves and also hope that we are able to change the opinions of people around us. So, even if it is just one person, we will form a chain reaction.
Last but not least, can we just stop being so sensitive about everything and try to understand why people are racist, or mean, or whatever it is they are. I am not saying to accept their behaviour and I must say this because I don't want to be misunderstood, but I think we should condemn their behaviour but also try to rehabilitate these sort of people and what better way than trying to understand the root of the problem and then trying to address this. I hope I have not offended anyone through this post, as I do believe that everything that I have said was meant with good intentions in mind. I hope everyone has a pleasant day and the next time that you hear something, maybe try to take them aside and have a conversation with them instead of publicly humiliating them (if this is someone you know, of course).
Till my next post. xx
If you ever read the news these days, if ever even one word that was used was off, then people would start riling up and going on protests for that matter just because it was an insensitive thing to say. Alright, maybe, sometimes, the media does spout nonsense and we all know some that do. But then again, I think with there being freedom of speech, of course you're going to hear opinions that are not to your taste. I think in a way, it is good to be exposed to things that you don't believe in because it expands your worldview on things.
Recently, I had been watching a video on moon cups or diva cups, whatever people would like to call it and the person was talking about periods as you would imagine. I was scrolling down the comments section as I would normally do, to gather what other people were saying about the topic, as I think a lot of people do discuss their opinion and most of them are quite reasonable. Until I stumbled upon a comment which said, "For future reference, please use people who menstruate rather than women who menstruate as it is more inclusive speech", or something along the lines. I for one did not even notice that she said women who menstruate and additionally, I was sort of baffled as women are technically the ones that do menstruate naturally anyway and you would think that it would be okay to say that, but then you have people who disagree with it. Of course I did some digging with why this is such. Apparently, there are people who are trans and who choose not to transition physically, but then there are others who do choose to transition and go through the physical procedure and take hormone pills and all that, so, it is a possibility or something along the lines where you can read more here.
I am very accepting and understanding in general regardless of a person's background. I never intentionally or unintentionally try to upset people and most definitely I try my utmost best to educate myself about everything and anything. You would see that it is technically impossible. So, I would consider myself having a good grasp of current issues and I also try to be friends with a wide group of people rather than only having a small clique so I think generally, I'm not too bad with it. However, I find myself increasingly either left flabbergasted or dumbfounded because I literally just feel that it is something that was never done intentionally. For example, because of the tone of my skin, I do get often asked if I am from India, or often times, if there are middle eastern people around, they tend to think I'm one of them, but I don't get offended by it because I understand that they don't know and they're making a guess, because as humans, you do try to relate to something that is as close to what you know. So, really, it's not anyone's fault. Of course, I do get taken aback sometimes, because I'm like, "please don't enforce your beliefs on me", but most of the time, people would be very understanding and say, "I'm sorry, I didn't know" or something along the lines of trying to understand me.
But nevertheless, I just feel that our society is somewhat a little too sensitive and tend to attack people who have a different belief system. I think you do need to hear a different narrative and why must you feel so personally attacked? After all, the freedom of thinking and forming your opinions should be on both sides. I think the only way we are going to resolve our differences is through having a genuine conversation and trying to understand the fundamentals behind why someone have formed an opinion of someone or a group of people in that way. Is it because they have had bad experiences with them? Is it because that's what their parents believed? Is it because of the news they read? It's very easy to attack others but I also think maybe we should hear the other side of the story. We are all a tad bit too sensitive and this environment that we live in is not good for us.
We cannot just sue someone because we are unhappy with it. I find it increasingly worrying that we take time out to scrutinise everything that is being said or posted on social media. I feel sorry if this would be the case in the coming years and more so when my child (if I ever have one) is growing up in an environment where they cannot express their opinion or if they were expected to conform. No, I think we should form our own opinion on things. I am very happy to include anyone at my dinner table and I have met friends who have allowed me to form a different narrative on certain groups of people and as much as I do share liberal opinions, I also find it necessary to have some sort of an opposing opinion so that I can form my own belief system.
However, having said that, I do not believe in violence, as many would consider this a passivist behaviour, but I also don't like labels. So, to me, I think as long as something is being said in a calm, collected and respectful manner, than it should be addressed with something similar. I don't believe in attacks against someone because of their beliefs. I also don't believe that you should be nasty to someone because of their belief system. But at the same time, I equally believe that we should live in a peaceful environment where we are able to share our opinions. Of course, we don't live in an ideal world and sometimes, things just don't pan out the way we want it to. For example, the viral video of that New York lawyer who was racist towards the Spanish customers, calling them immigrants and saying that they should be deported. Now, that kind of behaviour is appalling and unacceptable. There is a time and place for everything and going on a hissy fit during your lunch break is not okay.
But speaking to people and trying to understand their circumstance might just be it, but we know that the reality of the situation is that a lot of people are generally not going to think the way that we do. But, it's up to us to change ourselves and also hope that we are able to change the opinions of people around us. So, even if it is just one person, we will form a chain reaction.
Last but not least, can we just stop being so sensitive about everything and try to understand why people are racist, or mean, or whatever it is they are. I am not saying to accept their behaviour and I must say this because I don't want to be misunderstood, but I think we should condemn their behaviour but also try to rehabilitate these sort of people and what better way than trying to understand the root of the problem and then trying to address this. I hope I have not offended anyone through this post, as I do believe that everything that I have said was meant with good intentions in mind. I hope everyone has a pleasant day and the next time that you hear something, maybe try to take them aside and have a conversation with them instead of publicly humiliating them (if this is someone you know, of course).
Till my next post. xx
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