Apparently, having an opinion on anything is a difficult task in our society today. Well, let me rephrase: Having and stating your own opinion about current social issues is difficult. I know that probably sounds super weird to some of you, but if you think about it, it’s totally true. How many times have you scrolled through social media and wanted to post about your opinion on something a candidate said, but didn’t due to the fear of negative feedback on you as a person? I know I have. I think talking about issues and difference of opinion is a good thing; this is how we push our society to think of better compromises and move forward in an ever changing society. However, what I think is ridiculous is that once you decide to place your opinion about something out for the public to see, you are automatically called ignorant, intolerant, uneducated and stupid for not believing in the other side of the argument. That philosophy itself is actually ridiculous.
Go look at your Facebook feed at any moment and you’ll probably see someone ranting off about how the government is this or that and a few posts down will be someone’s opinion about a certain presidential candidate. If you go look at the comments, you’ll see others chiming in with their two cents about the topic, usually those who disagree with this viewpoint. Eventually the conversation goes from a healthy debate over what is best for our country to slamming each other personally for not seeing their opinion. I don’t know about you, but that would not make me want to post my opinions on things anymore. The main misconception here is that difference opinion is viewed as ignorance and agreeing to disagree is seen as accepting defeat.
I am about to blow everyone away with my next point, so hold onto your hats, people. Disagreeing on a topic is not a bad thing. I know, that’s difficult to comprehend, but, having different opinions on a topic is OK. Take a breather everyone, I know you’re all probably confused out of your minds by this point, but it’s true. Like I stated earlier, having this difference of opinion actually helps facilitate advancement towards a better society. Talking about your opinions on different issues will help advocate policies that address each take on a given issue. I know there are some things, like abortion and recreational marijuana, where most people are either for it or against it without much grey area in the middle, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about our different perspectives and the information we use as our reasoning. Just because you don’t agree with the other side doesn’t make you uneducated or intolerable, it means you think something different. For those of you who only get your news and information from one source and only listen to one side of the argument, I would suggest that you broaden your horizons and at least hear what the other side has to say. You’re still not “uneducated” per say, but understanding how other people might think about a topic will help you better grasp the entire issue. Talking about different opinions is healthy and it’s good to hear what others have to say, it’s a problem when the discussion turns into shaming on each other’s intelligence due to the difference of opinion.
On another note, let’s talk about agreeing to disagree. I know most of you may think that when you decide to go this route in an argument you both are accepting that you are right and the other person is wrong. I am here to tell you that agreeing to disagree does not make anyone right or wrong; it simply means you decide to drop the subject before it turns into personal attacks on each other because you haven’t reached a point of compromise. Opinions are interpretations of facts, background, mindsets, etc. of an individual. Information can be skewed to help one side or the other, which can help create wild opinions, but this is why it’s important to at least hear the other side of the argument when we are discussing social and political issues. Agreeing to disagree does not make one person right and the other person wrong, it just means you don’t see the discussion going anywhere but downhill so you cut it off before it gets to the point of insulting each other personally. I understand that there are some issues, like racism and sexism, that are sadly prevalent throughout society and need to be taken care of immediately. People who believe in discrimination are in serious need of life principle reevaluation. This is why we have to talk about our opinions and facts to back them up so that we can stomp out these kind of problems in our world today. The reason we still have problems with discrimination and things of that caliber is because we are too concerned with being right about other topics that we fail to discuss practical ways we can start changing society.
My main point is quit shaming each other for having different opinions on social and political issues. We are all entitled to an opinion and we form them based on our different backgrounds. Engaging in thoughtful conversation about these topics is for facilitation of learning. There is a lot that this country needs help with and sitting around bickering over who is right and who is wrong really isn’t helping us get anywhere.
