Are We Opinionated Or Insensitive & Uninformed?

Today, more than making sense, everyone wants to have an opinion and more than being opinionated, everyone wants to be right and that too, the only person who is right. However, this is in itself fundamentally messed up as the very fact that people can have different opinions calls for a situation where there is necessarily no right or wrong related to that matter. But, it is important for people to understand when their opinion is wrong, and this time we are talking on ethical grounds.

First of all, as we know an opinion is a thought or view point that an individual or a group of people have/hold. Now different people have different views but it is one thing to hold a view and between thinking unethically and unmindfully.

Your opinion ceases to be an opinion when you are being insensitive to society or a faction of it. Here are some examples of this:

“Female feticide is justified” or
“Girls should not play cricket as it is a ‘Man’s sport’ or
“Boys should not wear makeup or cry because it makes them less of a man”

Opinion or Self Righteousness?

When someone is discriminating and being biased in a negative way, say towards a religion, caste, sex, culture on frivolous grounds, they need to realize that is not their opinion. It is a disgusting, terrible thought process that they are trying to cover up, using the term ‘opinion’. You cannot be sexist, misandrist or casteist and like in the image used above, call it your opinion.

Sorting opinions out:

Opinions related to some fields are obviously personal, but unless we filter out what is immoral on our part even on a personal level and weed out any toxic and hateful thoughts, we are not being opinionated, we are failing at being decent people and I am certain you would agree that that is more vital.

Another thing which rules out an opinion from being what is, apart from what has been said above is when there is no research carried out. Simply jumping to conclusions post reading one news headlines from sources which are not the most legit ones, like Times of India is yet another example of failed attempt at taking a stand. The Hindu, Reuters, BBC News are much more credible sources.

We are humans and are bound to have opinions, specially personal ones. Maybe of dislike or maybe of admiration. The most important aspect is questioning which grounds it is based on, and if we are broadcasting this view in a direct way which could be negative for the headspace of the person being talked about.

Let us make an effort to not only be ethically right, but also factually correct. Other people can be right too and similarly, you can be wrong as well. So that is what is needed to bake a great opinion: Constructive reading to gather information and mindfulness to not be morally off-limits.