-By Warner Todd Huston
On a Facebook fan page for a movie today I saw the one reply that I hate the most. It is a reply that smacks of empty-headed, politically correct idiocy. And if you’ve made replies like this yourself, or you agree with the reply, you need to stop it right now.
So, the thread in question was one where people were expressing their opinion of a recent movie release, one where people were sort of giving their mini reviews. While most on the thread liked the film, one did not. Then came this reply after the one who did not like the film raised the ire of several who did…
She is entitled to her opinion. I get that, having the same feelings and worry, but all of you have taught me to be tolerant and I respect her views as well as all of yours. We don’t need to fight in our special group…
If you are one of those nitwits who feel driven to say “everyone is entitled to their opinions,” you deserve to be slapped upside your empty head.
If you ever feel the impulse to write something or say something like the above, STOP IT RIGHT NOW. There isn’t a single intelligent thought in that type of reply. It neither makes you look smart nor compassionate. In fact, it makes you look like a spineless moron who is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
So let’s break down the stupidity one point at a time, here…
She is entitled to her opinion.
Firstly, if someone disagrees with another’s opinion, that does not mean they are also saying that somehow the other person doesn’t deserve to have an opinion. No one who is arguing for and/or against something is doing it under the rubric that no one else is allowed an opinion.
If your first impulse is to blurt out that “everyone deserves to have their opinion” you are a reactionary moron. No one is saying anything to the contrary.
There is almost never, ever a reason to make the argument that “everyone deserves their opinion.” This is a fact taken as a given by every American in most situations–especially when arguing about a mere movie. No one enters into a discussion about a movie with the thought that others have no right to an opinion. Sure they may think your opinion is stupid, but they don’t deny you have a right to be as stupid as you wish to be.
…you have taught me to be tolerant and I respect her views as well as all of yours.
No you do not “respect” someone else’s opinion if you disagree with it.
You may certainly respect a person’s right to have an opinion and to have a disagreement with your opinion–and everyone should respect that right–but if you “respect” their contrary opinion, then why do YOU have an opinion at all? I mean, if their opinion is just as good as your opinion, why do you hold your opinion in the first place? What is so great about your position if someone else’s contrary opinion ranks just as high in your mind?
Instead of showing that you are tolerant of other’s opinions, what you’ve really shown with this sort of mindless, PC blather is that YOU have such a squishy mind that anyone’s yapping will shake your resolve.
We don’t need to fight in our special group…
If you think every disagreement is a “fight,” then this also makes you a halfwit who should stop using valuable oxygen.
It is possible to be passionate and have disagreements without being engaged in a “fight.” Get a spine, you jerk.
The problem with this sort of thinking isn’t just relegated to a single person on a Facebook page. This idiotic thinking is endemic all across the USA and anyone who has engaged in discussion of any topic on line will have seen stupid replies like this. There is always at least one fool who feels it necessary to say “everyone deserves their own opinion” and other such brainless crap.
So, understand the facts: No one is saying others don’t deserve the right to an opinion, you shouldn’t “respect” a contrary opinion if you have a reasoned opinion of your own, and a passionate discussion–even if there is some name calling–does not mean there is a “fight” going on. People can passionately disagree without feeling they are “fighting.”
People need to grow up, put on their big boy pants, and grow a spine.
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing news, opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that wrote articles on U.S. history for several American history magazines. Huston is a featured writer for Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart News, and he appears on such sites as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Wizbang.com, and many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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