Opinions and Why you shouldn’t take them seriously

In life, everyone has an opinion. Few are valuable, most are a waste of breath. Given a chance, everybody can form an opinion about anything, some will be educated, most will be lazy. To beat yourself up because of someone else’s opinion is like complaining that night has come. There will be night and there will be day, suck it in, move on. The idea is to live and play the game of life despite other people’s opinions. Different people will have different opinions about you, it’s what we humans do, just grow some thick skin and get on with it. It is painful to watch grown ups, men and women, loss their heads because someone said something about them.

Opinions are formed where ignorance begins.

Ken Juma 😁

Ok, so someone thinks you are ugly or that you are a bad person, so what? If I genuinely think you are ugly then it simply means that my subjective experiences and limited world view is shaped like that. It means I have been taught to think of you as ugly and so no amount of your frowning will change my mind. Everybody attends a different school of life and in mine you are ugly. And that is ok. It is inevitable that some people will like you and some won’t. In this example, the real tragedy is your expectation to appear appealing to everyone. Kwani who do you think you are, Cleopatra? GTFOH!

Isn’t it funny though, that while we love ourselves more than we love others we tend to fancy their opinions ahead of our own? It makes no sense. What you think about yourself is more important than what any other mortal thinks. Yes, they may have a different perspective from your subjective one, but still, your opinion influences your life more than theirs. It is incumbent upon you to sympathise and understand those of narrow world views. You can only be you, neither beautiful nor ugly. Whichever opinion others choose to form of you is their doing. So chill out Linda, let me watch the game.

Isn’t it funny though, that while we love ourselves more than we love others we tend to fancy their opinions ahead of our own?

What are opinions

Oxford dictionary defines opinion as “feelings or thoughts about somebody/something, rather than a fact.” Which means that opinions are just our personal biases. Wikipedia defines a bias as “disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair.” So in a sense, opinions are just a way we express our ignorance. For example, the fact is Linda is just Linda. But if I choose to think of Linda as ugly then it exposes how narrow a view I have. I’m just trying to show you how close-minded I am. This aligns with views held by philosophers.

In philosophy, more precisely moral nihilism, things and events are neither good nor bad. They just are. “We are not making an effort to describe the way the world is … we are venting our emotions, commanding others to act in certain ways, or revealing a plan of action” (Shafer-Landau).

So if opinions are an indication of our current ignorance level which keeps evolving, meaning our opinion will keep evolving with it. Your believes of yesterday might be completely different from your believes of today depending on the occurrences between then and now. So if opinions are numerous and always changing, why treat them special? Why waste breath fighting over such triviality?

We are not making an effort to describe the way the world is … we are venting our emotions, commanding others to act in certain ways, or revealing a plan of action

Shafer-Landau

So what should i do?

Now, I know you are about to start whining “But Ken, does that mean I can’t have an opinion?” So let me clear that up. Listen Linda, listen, I’m not saying you shouldn’t hold an opinion, I’m saying opinions are just opinions. They. Don’t. Mean. $h!et. Don’t take anyone’s opinions seriously, not even your own. In fact, distance yourself from your opinions. Be careful to separate your opinions from yourself and have a bird’s view of them. Always remember, opinions are formed where ignorance begins. It’s because you only know this much that you therefore hold such and such opinion. Perhaps if you knew better, you would be holding a different opinion. As we’ve seen above, opinions are always evolving. Imagine how many things we’ve been wrong about as a human race. We once thought the earth was flat and was the centre of the solar system, in fact, we killed those who thought otherwise. We once thought that by cutting some veins, we would drain diseases from any patient. Imagine. I mean, until 2006, Pluto was a full blown planet. 500 years from now, they will be laughing at how stupid we are today. Those opinions you are killing yourself over may just turn out to be a Pluto.

In the social media world, there’s never a lack of opinions. In fact, one would argue, there’s just too much opinions. But if opinions are a triviality, what’s to do with too much of it? Is it worth shedding a tear? Boiling of anger? Most are not even worth the energy needed to type a response.