In this beautiful creation we call the world, we often come across people rude to us; strangers who, for no apparent reason, seem to have a problem with our being. The dictionary defines these people as “pricks”
always stick our nose in places it’s not supposed to be?
The internet lends anonymity to people all over the world, giving them the freedom to do and say whatever they want to. Most of the time, this great, but sometimes, people have some not so gracious things to say about even the tiniest of things that irk them.
And if what the person rants about is not “politically correct,” they get insulted back and their online existence becomes a living hell.
“Words hurt more than sticks and stones” is an adage we are all familiar with, but even the wisest of men cannot follow this in their lives. Push a person’s buttons, and you can get even a Buddhist monk to rant over why they don’t like pineapple on pizza.
In 2017, the adult film star August Ames killed herself, after being bullied on the internet for saying something along the lines that she would not sleep with a homosexual man.
Think about this for a second. They forced a woman into depression and suicide by strangers who suffered no consequences for their actions for doing something rather mundane. She had the right to decide who she has sex with, but in the right of being “politically correct,” she was called homophobic and driven into a corner; so much so that the only way out she saw was ending her own life.
Now assume that I had taken the bullies’ side. What would you, as the reader, have thought of me?
Were the “bullies” not in their right to speak their mind. They did not have the full context of Ames’s life and what she had done and therefore made a judgment on her character based on what she presented to the internet. Was that different from what you would have done, given that your actions would have no consequences?
Imagine if the roles were reversed. Imagine if a homosexual man had refused to sleep with a woman.
It would have been normal, right? It was their right, and they did so. But even this would be met with criticism from people who still think homosexuality is a disease.
Even the smallest disagreements turn into heated battles. People have received death threats over their choice of yogurt flavor.
And all of this extends to real life, too. If you dress differently than your peers, you get looks of disgust. If you voice out your dislike for what people call trendy, you are met with criticism. If you stand up for yourself, what you get in most cases are broken bones.
Why?
We brand our own neighbors our greatest enemies; we shun people we grow up with; we harbor hatred for people we don’t know. Why?
All of it comes down to the most simple aspect of it all: Objectivity.
Humans are incapable of looking at things objectively. We can’t not have a bias. Our survival depended on deciding fast, so we developed instincts that help us decide, even if we don’t have the full picture. We take whatever we see right in front of us, and our brain fills in the rest of the information itself. When something goes against our standard values, or “belief system” our mind tells us that this is dangerous.
We are afraid. Back in the day, when we used to live in forests and caves, we didn’t venture out into the forest at night because we didn’t know what lurked in the dark with us. We weren’t scared of a monster; we were afraid of now knowing what was there with us. This is a rather peculiar trait we possess: We fear what we don’t understand. We project that insecurity and paranoia on to whatever, or whoever, is on the other side of things. We brand it evil.
We condemn what we don’t understand.
And the worst part of it all? Even if we recognize why we do what we do, and we know that it is not the right thing to do, we will still do it; because we are wired to pass judgment that way.
Even the most open-minded person you have met will have a bias, certain likes, and dislikes for certain things. That is why it’s called an opinion.
All we can do is understand that these opinions only appertain to the person giving them out. They hold no value in anyone’s lives.
We no longer live in a world where going out of our house at night means death. Even if your neighbors have a different faith than you, they won’t harm you.
As things stand, when you form an opinion, consider keeping it to yourself unless it affects you directly.
And remember, what you do and say will always have consequences, even if you are not the one who’s suffering from them.
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