On opinions

I read and hear a lot of very intelligent opinions every day, both in social media and in real life.

But the truth is that, sometimes - however clever these statements are - they often feel rather shallow. Topics (or better said, our views toward such topics) seem to work similar to how fashion trends do; they are seasonal, follow a vogue and at their worse - they are disposable. Whether the current subject is a particular country in war, a crisis abroad, a political issue, a women’s issue, an issue of sex and gender, an issue of ecology, etc. Whatever the hot argument is, I notice that we tend to extremely quickly adopt pre-assembled beliefs and views as our own and repeat them whenever the suiting conversation comes up, defending, explaining and safeguarding our opinion (an opinion that, isn't truly entirely ours, or is it?). We do this with the same ease and swiftness that we have when we open, microwave and eat a package of convenience frozen food - only that said plate of food lays at touching distance while many of the matters of current discussion tend to take place in great distances (both in time and geography) away from us, how could we possibly have an objective viewpoint on such matters?

It feels to me as though if instead of coming to these opinions on our own (after days of reading, researching, experiencing, questioning and being challenged, or whatever the “right way” of coming to conclusions should be) we would rather acquire them by simply reading short, pre-digested statements and adopting them as ours, like stickers that we stick over our foreheads.

To make it even worse our attention span for world issues is painfully small and inconsequential; in social media I notice that just as quickly as we (as conscious individuals) become ‘’experts" in the topic of the moment, we turn the page and jump to the next one. Every month or two we choose which horse to ride in that big messy carrousel that media platforms are. Worst-case-scenario we inform ourselves through not much more than a few Instagram posts and cross-read articles, some maybe even fight fiercely for a couple of days or weeks to defend the newly acquired viewpoints and then, we jump to the next big, shiny thing. Completely calm in the perception that we've got the right stand and the most comprehensive information about what we're choosing to talk about (which usually always perfectly matches the ideologies, philosophies and beliefs we already had, fortifying them, which is to me the most dangerous aspect).

Some of these opinions and conversations feel like a beautiful house built over paper foundations. Is that better than an ugly house built over strong cement foundations? I don’t know, maybe it is.

Sometimes it feels as if I’m reading and listening to the same clever, trendy opinion, only that differently worded. And I wonder, where does this come from? How did this come to be? How fast? Based on what? Questioned by what? Reinforced by what? What’s behind? What’s within?

Everybody sounds so intelligent and yet - in a way - we’re all a bit like parrots.

And if our opinions are strong, stable and firmly rooted then they still face our cultural obsession with hyper-labeling; one line of thought about one certain topic can cost you to be thrown to the ‘’left’’ or ‘’right’’ or ‘’radical’’ or ‘’liberal’’ or whatever corner without further exploration of who you are. We throw each other into labeled boxes with comical agility.

But just as if this societal showering of labels upon us wouldn’t be enough, we also push ourselves into such boxes, creating mental borders (and even prisons) of our own choosing, limiting our thoughts to wonder never further than the bounds and edges of the label (or labels) we’ve enclosed ourselves into (a ‘’left’’ never daring to entertain a thought that would be branded as ‘’right’’ and viceversa, could be a very simplistic example of this).

Why are we so afraid to listen to those who think and talk so differently and so apart to us? Why are we so afraid to allow entrance in our minds to dissimilarity? Where does this separatism come from? Does it serve us at all?

Above all, why are we all so sure of ourselves? Why do we hold our opinions as flags of truth and honor? Defending them using our words and silences as weapons against those who dare to disagree on the topics we hold dear and sacred. Why do we demean and nearly vilify the people who could instead expand our understanding?

Maybe everyone is a bit right, maybe we should never aim to fit in political labels at the cost of our own (very valuable) contradictions. Maybe we should listen at the same level as we speak, maybe we should constantly surround ourselves with people who think different (maybe even radically different than us), maybe the more controversial and sensitive the topic, the more we should coexist with those who disagree with us, maybe we shouldn’t repeat what we hear without observing and questioning beforehand (even if we really respect and admire the source), maybe we should cherish everything that triggers us because maybe, just maybe our triggers are our biggest opportunities of growth, specially those that make us sick to our stomach - opinions shouldn’t be shields against that discomfort.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.