Opinions.

Opinions. Everyone has their right to one. Even if (and when), people strongly disagree. Two entirely reasonable statements in theory  but when these are put to the test, even the most morally upright, open minded people tend to struggle stretching their patience for the outcasts to the folks prejudicing against them.

A wonderful mantra I like to live by is this crazy notion that you have a right to your own opinion, I have a right to disagree with it (and I find myself disagreeing with people a lot these days) but despite this I will fight tooth and nail for us both to have our own opinions even when they directly oppose one another.

Sounds pretty fair to me. And if you like to think of yourself as a fairly open minded, rational person, driven by logic and reason but also by a level of human understanding then it probably doesn't sound too far-fetched to you either. However, the internet is a tricky place, it's a place where you can post an opinion too foul to say aloud and walk away from your keyboard feeling like you got away with murder. It is also the kind of place where real life morals get put to the test and then put to rest in the face of an irritating commenter. By this I mean, it is so easy to preach proudly to your friends about how much patience you have when debating with seemingly irrational people about the more controversial topics of life but when it comes to arguing your case to anonymous on Facebook, it seems that you couldn't care less that 10 short minutes ago you believed that everyone was entitled to their own opinion.

I have just witnessed this in the heated comment section of a video about abortion. Pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike clashing with characters. Most of the pro-lifer arguments made me roll my eyes, all blathering on about how selfish abortion is and how evil it is and 'oh life starts at conception don't ya know!'. And the condensation that comes along with the delusion that you are so in the right, that anyone who disagrees is the epitome of stupid.

I used to waste my time trying to out mean the people with opposing opinions to my own but the time came when I found it to be too tiring to keep up with. It's just as stupid to be just as ignorant as someone to try and prove that you're better than them.

1. You waste good time and energy forgetting how to be patient and respectful in the face of idiocy.

2. Your opinion does not automatically make you a better person than the stranger on the internet who just happens to be cursing you into oblivion (especially if you're cursing back!)

As much as it pains me to go in on my fellow pro-choicers, yall' can be just as much of a mess too. Everything from calling the opposition dumb idiots to claiming that they have 'no right to say anything about it'. And while the morality snob in me wants badly to agree with them (well at least the whole dumb idiot thing anyway), something holds me back from giving them a virtual high five. What makes their opinion any less valid than your own? Is it the whole it's not your body argument that I have made many times? Because while I agree with that sentiment as an argument against making abortion illegal anywhere in the world, it just doesn't hold up for an argument based on someone simply stating their opinion.

Believing something so strongly you become a bit of an arsehole, works both ways as far as I'm concerned. Whether you believe people have the right to their own bodies or not, putting down the people who don't by rendering their point of view invalid just makes you a hypocrite. This is not me defending the people who are against the right to have an abortion because I'm not, I'm just not willing to group all those people under the category names YOU'RE WRONG AND STUPID because I don't agree.

And this stance doesn't just apply to this particular subject, it applies to all of them. You don't always have to like people's opinions, hell you don't necessarily have to respect it, just respect people's right to have an opinion because, the way freedom of speech is going, you might just find yourself fighting for your opinion right along side them.

Be kind(er) to each other,

Love,

The Girl in Blue
xoxo