Having the right to speak freely has done some absolutely amazing things for people, not only in the United States, but all over the world. Freedom of speech allows me to study Communication and continue working on my passion for writing. That being said, because we have the right to speak freely and have our own opinions, we often forget how to educate ourselves before we make judgments and create opinions about important topics.

I see these types of situations every single day, especially with my use of social media. Twitter fights and Facebook banter are great ways to get us to communicate with each other and exercise our freedom of speech, but in order for these conversations to generate positive outcomes, ideas and opinions must be based off of facts and as much Truth* as we can find. And when opinions spread that are based off of misinformation or misinterpretation of certain information, it only leads to more misunderstandings by those who share the same opinion.

Take, for example, the I Am A Female And I Am So Over Feminists article published by the Odyssey on May 2, 2016 (Here's the link in case you missed it https://www.theodysseyonline.com/female-over-feminists).

Now let me start by saying that I understand that people will always disagree on things; there are going to be an infinite amount of opinions on any one subject. However, claiming that you are "so over feminists" when your opinion is clearly based on an incorrect definition of feminism, only invalidates your stance. What this specific argument does is narrow its focus on how the extremists represent feminism, and if these extremists promote that one sex is superior to the other, than they are not true feminists. The definition of feminism is not hard to find; one Google search will lead you to the Merriam-Webster definition that could clear up any misunderstandings one might have about what feminism is meant to represent. There are also false statements about the large biological difference between the male and female brain, which research has actually proven that there are very few significant differences between the two.

While that specific article is what provoked me to share my thoughts, I use it as a platform to show that we are constantly promoting the creation of extremely strong willed opinions and judgements that are based on false information. As a society, if we plan on making progress while promoting peace and understanding of differences, we must be willing to expand our knowledge and tolerance about subjects before we pass judgement. There are certain facts and Truths that are much harder to find which creates controversy when it comes to forming our opinions. Just look at the Presidential Election - I'm not sure anyone will ever know the Truth about any part of these campaigns. So when we are expected to make informed decisions about who we side with but can't be exposed to the Truth, how do we make valid arguments for our stance? We make an effort. We become willing to take the time and energy required to try and find out the Truth (or at least recognize that we might not know the Truth) and expand our knowledge before fueling our opinions.

My biggest issue with all of this is how people treat others based off of their opinions. We are so quick to judge and tear down and ignore any side of a story that does not support ours. We make an opinion and the last thing we are willing to hear is that we formed our opinion based off of something that just isn't True. I am so tired of people being so disrespectful to others who disagree or attempt to shed light on a subject they might have more knowledge about. We are lucky to have the right to freedom of speech, but why not be respectful? Respect includes really knowing what you're arguing about before you put it in someone's face but also being willing to hear another side of the story, and admitting that maybe you were wrong.

Peace and compromise would come a lot easier if we all tried to expand our knowledge and really started listening to each other to engage, not to simply just generate a clever response.

*Truth with a capital "T" refers to Truth as an undeniable fact, instead of the lowercase "truth" which could refer to one's personal values and beliefs.