The Importance of Having an Opinion

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"Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one..." --This is a true statement... but often times no one expresses theirs. In fact, any opinion that MIGHT POSSIBLY grate against the accepted norm or the majority is suppressed, as if it were a racial slur. My friends, this is a tragedy.

If you haven't noticed, I have an opinion that I voice at every opportunity. However, I don't force my opinion on other people. If you want to read it, you read it. If you don't, then sign my guestbook and leave. Go somewhere and read porn instead. I don't care. But it's important to have an opinion and to voice it.

Have you ever been in a class where everyone was thinking the same thing, but afraid to say it, and suddenly someone did and then everyone chimed in and agreed with them? If that one person hadn't spoken first, it's possible that no one would have voiced themselves. It's a psychological phenomenon that occurs in all types of groups. This is an illustration of the importance of saying what you feel. If you don't articulate it, there might be tons of people that would never come to grips with their opinion, who would simply suffer in silence, thinking that they were a minority, whether or not they were. Just because you kept quiet, hoping someone else would say it first.

But forcing your opinion on someone is one of the worst things you can possibly do. It makes people conform to other's ideas just to keep the peace. It causes anger, frustration, arguments. It's an asinine thing to do.

Furthermore, don't say something just because it's popular. Don't be a sheep. Be a trailblazer, say what you feel, and dammit, do it now. We have the freedom of speech... no reason not to use it.

And that's how I see it.

~*Feisty Charli*~
October 31, 2001