When did having your own opinion become a bad thing? And
when did it become ok for people to trash yours when they don’t line up to what
they themselves believe to be correct? People’s politics, religious views, clothing
choices, movie tastes, what sports you watch and teams you root for, music
preferences, and even whether you prefer an iPhone or an Android are subject to
ridicule if it strays from what is considered ‘the norm’. Who defines what is ‘the
norm’ anyway?
One of the ‘norms’ that bothers me the most is the battle of
the Beatles. If you are not a rabid fan somehow you are not human or something equally ridiculous. Let me go on the record and state that although I enjoy their music
they are not my favorite, and in my opinion they didn’t revolutionize
anything. They merely made popular what other artists like the Beach
Boys and Elvis were already doing. Yesterday I shared a video on Facebook and
stated that although I’m not a fan, I love this particular song. I immediately
had a friend attack me and call me a loser because I am not a member of the
Beatles fan club. What I WANTED to do was go on the defensive and retaliate to
the personal attack I felt was being thrown at me. Instead I tried to take the
high road (which I may have failed at) and stated I feel I am an individual
because I don't merely go along with the crowd because it is the ‘cool’ thing to
do. The person then attacked me (or so I felt) again by saying people can say
that about Disneyland. Not wanting to get into
an ever bigger, more pointless argument that would do nothing but tick me off I
decided to let it go.
My question to you, dear blog readers is this. Why do people
think bullying people with different views is ok? I enjoy a good debate and the opportunity to share my point
of view with other people, and I may get passionate (which may sound angry but
it’s me just wanting to be heard and have my point of view respected), but I would NEVER attack someone
personally and resort to bullying, name calling, and mud flinging for what they believed,
so why do people think it's ok to do it to me? Are they that insecure with their own beliefs
that they are afraid a differing point of view will cause them to come toppling
down? What ever happened to live and let live? Maybe this is the wrong approach
to take, but at the end of the day I am only worried about the choices that
affect me directly and what I will have to stand accountable for before the Lord. Will He care that I was a rabid Beatles or Disneyland
fan? I doubt it. Will He care how I treated the people who didn’t share my
beliefs? You betcha. So here’s my proposition-fitting because it is anti-bully month and all: you worry about you and I’ll
worry about me, and anything we don’t see eye to eye on we’ll respect each
other’s right to our views and just agree to disagree, yes? Ok, good.
*and for the record I DID talk to this particular friend rather than just passive-aggressively posting here.
4 comments:
And going one step further in the "yes, I'm a crappy friend because I don't always see things the way you do" debate, it seems to me (and yes, this is just a generalization) that the people who jumped at you the quickest and the meanest are the ones demanding acceptance of their opinions that differ from you when it's something you feel very passionately about. It's amazing how intolerant a person can be while insisting on acceptance and tolerance. I've had people tell me, without even getting to know me, that because of my religion, I'm a racist, bigoted, intolerant idiot who blindly follows what I'm told and spouts the "company line" when pressed with what they see as a "hard issue" that should totally disprove to me (because it does to them) everything that I believe. They haven't taken the time to ask me how I came to believe what I believe, or find out what my experiences are that have brought me to where I am. But I have to give them that courtesy. As you can tell from this post, it DRIVES ME CRAZY!!! You can believe whatever you want to believe, but don't ask me to approve of everything you do. It's just not going to happen. But not approving of everything you do and believe is not the same as not loving and accepting you as a person, just like you can accept and love me as a person while not approving of everything I do and believe.
Okay, end of rant.
Amen sistah. Can't stand the hypocrisy either. Makes me want to throw things...
Throw really nice things that I love, too. And that just burns my purple peeps to no end!
I always thought a debate was to prove your side based on evidence not opinion. Saying your opinion is wrong is not an acceptable rebuttal in a debate. Those people are just mean and I'm sorry you felt attacked. Opinions are just that. You wouldn't go around to your friends telling them how they dressed is wrong, no you notice, agree or disagree and then see past that. I think you're great, and a whole lot more amazing than the Beatles in my book and that's not up for debate.
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