Never ever (also known as The Art of Expressing Opinions)

Disclaimer: I am writing this entry for myself as a reminder. If it hits you, then… you deserve to be hit. [evil cackle with thunder and lightning in the background]

It’s funny how we all have this tendency to cram each other into tight little definitive boxes of what we perceive as right or wrong, what’s acceptable or no, or what the more intelligent choice is over the insipid one. Worse, we picture whoever does not share our views as someone who is necessarily against us personally, and is out to ruin us as they voice out their opinions and therefore, they deserve to be hated and labeled as enemies.

* image from www.quotesdump.com via Google Images

The ideal scenario should have been to confine the discussion to the issue at hand and no crossing over to the personal plane. While it is important to assert one’s point if we truly believe in them, it should never be to a point where we start impressing our own choices on others and depriving them of making choices of their own no matter how pathetic or how wrong that might be in our assessment.

I will come clean and admit that I am guilty of being a pompous bitch especially during my younger years when I was liable to allow my emotions to run away with me faster than I could control it. But hey, I am not perfect (I hope I don’t sound like I’m making that an excuse) but I also know that as much as possible, I do put in effort to respect others and their different views by not attacking the person, just his point of view. A personal attack is just such an immature and stupid move and it shows one has no real conviction (or may not, perhaps, really understand what the issue is?) for whatever it is he stands for.

Let me cite for example this crazy way we’ve all come to be so dissatisfied with PNoy and his ‘daang matuwid’ that seems to have flown out the window. Lately, citizens have resorted to calling him Abnoy, Panot, Noytard, and whatever other perceived derogatory label anyone could think of by way of criticism. Well, surprise, peeps. Those labels are not part of the issue. And please, leave our mentally-challenged brethren alone. What they are is never a label for insults. At any rate, PNoy can’t help if his hair is thinning and that, definitely, has nothing to do with his personality or his convictions. Let us focus on his incompetence, his insensitivity, his bias, his blatant disregard for propriety, his stupidity. Panot certainly does not figure in the picture.

Anyway… Onward to why I wrote this entry in the first place… This is for me, right?

To show respect for people’s opinions and their space…

1. I should never ever accuse anyone of not knowing what they are talking about or that they understand it all wrong unless I am able to logically and intelligently argue every point why I believe them all to be wrong. Otherwise, I know I stand to lose my own credibility by being so immature as to insist on my side of the story without sound facts to back me up.
2. I should never ever assume that they are not as well versed in a particular issue as I am, or that they do not know anything because information can be sourced from just about anywhere, not just from the material I have and am familiar with. What is the internet good for except to research, right? Oh, yeah… apparently, there are millions of Facebook users who do not know they are on the internet. *sigh*
3. I should never ever underestimate the person who is putting across an opinion as someone who knows zilch especially if I have never known the person to make stupid remarks or interjections. There are unspoken and unwritten nuances I may not have inferred from what I read or heard and it would be unjust of me to simply jump to conclusions and label the person incompetent. If I had any respect for him/her, I should be able to recognize that he/she is not in the habit of forming and offering opinions just to spite others.
4. Lastly, and probably the most important… I should never, NEVER EVER tell anyone to zip it just because they have an opinion that’s different from mine especially since they’ve never told me to shut it either. I can do no less in terms of affording them respect than to just leave them to express themselves freely just as much as I am enjoying the freedom to express myself as well.

We all have our own truths. We all have our own personal views. Live and let live, people. Paix a tous!

P.S.

Something to do with self-preservation, I need to remind myself to choose wisely who to pick a fight with. I am not willing to be cannon fodder for a bigshot bigmouth wordsmith who can pass of as Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s protege when I only have bitchiness to fight with. In cases such as these, I should be the one to zip it because I don’t want and I don’t need to embarrass myself. *wink*