In A World Of Controversy, Respecting Other Opinions Is Mandatory

Well. If I had a dollar for every time that I saw someone disrespect someone else's opinion via social media, I would be richer than every Kardashian combined. I have made Facebook statuses in the past attempting to explain the importance of respecting each other’s opinion and attempting to not be arrogant assholes, but nothing really sticks. After the election, I thought for sure all of the Facebook riots would be taken down a notch and people could post their opinions without receiving hate and insult from fellow Facebook friends. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not what happened. With everything that has gone down politically in the past few months with our new president, respect and kind words are a rare sighting on any social media platform.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t post your opinions on social media. That’s what it’s for. Post away. Post about how you think the ban of transgenders from the military is a terrible decision and makes no logical sense what-so-ever (my opinion). Or post about how you think it’s a great idea and will end up saving this country tons of money (not my opinion). Either way, it is your RIGHT to be able to post what you want, when you want and where you want. If I see something I disagree with on Facebook I think in my head “wow I really don’t like that at all” and then I keep scrolling. If I do feel the need to comment on an opinion, which I never do, it never starts out with. “You’re literally so stupid how could you think this were you dropped on your head as a small infant.” Which is what I seem to be seeing a lot of on social media.

Now, having said that, it is your right to post that opinion. Freedom of Speech allows you to do just that. But be very aware of the consequences of doing that. Once you get violent about the opinion of someone else and refuse to respect it, they then will most likely react in the same way and not respect your opinion. I constantly see people posting on Twitter something along the lines of “I wish people would just respect me and my opinions and stop attacking me because of my political views.” But that same person will turn right around and comment a hateful statement on someone else’s post because they disagree with it. PEOPLE. You cannot expect to be respected if you do not respect. Treat others how you want to be treated. I know damn well all of your mothers/fathers/guardians have said that to you at some point in your lives.

If you are one of those people who attacks people on social media for their opinions, but you don’t care about having your opinion be respected, well then this article/rant doesn’t apply to you. It is applied to the people who want to be respected but refuse to respect others.

Trust me, people, I get it. I have plenty of friends and family who I disagree with. I see their posts on social media and a small fire sparks inside of me because of how much I don’t agree with their opinions. But at the end of the day, I would NEVER want people attacking me for my liberal views and for worshiping the Obama's (greatest humans in the history of the world). I make the executive decision in my head to keep scrolling or to just have a conversation about it with them. Some of best friends voted for Trump this year. I don’t like him. I personally would rather stab myself in the foot than vote for him, but I respect that my friends did. I respect their right to have their opinions and I respect and admire them for respecting me and my choice to vote for Hilary. In my OPINION, respect is everything when it comes to opinions. I want to be respected, so I respect others.