Can you respect a person but not their opinions or have they become so intertwined as to become indistinguishable?
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Having this question posed to me right now – at this time in the world and politics – the answer isn’t quite so black and white. Opinions are like Facebook (bet that’s not what you thought I’d say!), ‘everyone’s got one’. Even people who normally keep their personal outlook to themselves and only use Social Media for keeping up with family and friends, are currently voicing their beliefs on everything from whether it’s okay to post pictures of how many gifts are under the tree, to what color the dress is (black and blue, by the way), to whether guns should be allowed, while immigrants aren’t, and/or vice versa. For me, whether I can separate the person from their view, depends primarily on how well I know the individual, and secondly on how strongly I, myself, feel about the topic their opinion is in regards to.
…I don’t follow business or financial news, so I only truly knew he was a wealthy businessman.
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If it is someone I don’t personally know like a politician, let’s take Trump for example, it’s nearly impossible to separate the man from his strong (& misguided) opinions. Unlike many people I really had no preconceived ideas about Trump when the presidential campaigns began. I don’t watch a lot of TV, and no reality TV at all; I don’t follow business or financial news, so I only truly knew he was a wealthy businessman.
I know to some Americans money is equated with evil, or at the least snobbery, but I happen to know and love some successful businessmen and women, so I didn’t dislike him just because he was rich and white. Now, after months of listening to his insane plans, he could show up at my door with a hundred thousand dollars for the use of starting a Shepherd rescue, with tears in his eyes, holding an abandoned baby and/or kitten, and I’d still dislike him. By the way, I’m not using the term ‘insane’ because I disagree with almost every syllable that comes out of his mouth, but because the ideas he proposes aren’t actionable short of The Expendables and The Avengers coming off the big screen to lend a hand, and even if they could I feel pretty confident that Bruce Banner would channel The Hulk and destroy Trump. I said I don’t watch much TV, I didn’t say movies.
“You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”
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On the other hand, if the opinion belongs to someone I do know and love, or at least like, it’s easier for me to put aside our differences, and just not discuss them. Unless the individual pushes their opinion on me and it’s one I feel strongly about. Then it becomes harder to see past the person’s belief, for the individual I care about, and makes it difficult to maintain the relationship. I can easily forgive someone having different taste in music than I do — but cannot so easily forgive an opinion that I feel is hateful or hurtful to innocence.
So like with politics, I’m neither far right nor far left, but somewhere in the gray. And when forming opinions, we’d all do well to remember Douglas Harlan Ellison’s quote, “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”
Photo Credit: Kurt Bauschardt/flickr
Mark, if the free enterprise is so great, why is half the world’s population is barely living on $10 per day? Also, explain to me why so many American college students can’t get a job even though we told them that without a college education in a free enterprise system, they are not going to get one? Here are the facts about people in America going hunger and/or living in poverty: http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/hunger-and-poverty/hunger-and-poverty-fact-sheet.html?referrer=https://www.google. Who created the Great Depression of 1929, the Wall Street economic scandals of the 1980s and 2008, and the Savings and Loan collapse in the 1990s. It wasn’t… Read more »
hat free enterprise. Mark? It is impossible for anyone to start a business with the way bankers won’t give you any money but feel that they can use your money in their banks to deregulate government and then cause a worldwide economic meltdown in 2008 and then we bail them out. It is also impossible to start a business when you have people like Bill Gates that don’t like people starting their own companies because they can’t stand competition and are afraid of losing control of their workers when their workers can either start their own companies or can go… Read more »
What is your problem with free enterprise,G? I could give a rat’s butt if 6 members of the Walton family has more money than the bottom 30% of Americans. You start a business. You invest your time and money on a venture that may or may not pan out. You deal with regulations that will drive anyone crazy. But you seem to think that because they have so much wherever it came from is immoral or at least unethical. I don’t know. Do you want the 35 or so immigrants in Spain that won el Gordoto give it back or… Read more »
Mr. Brechlin:: Harassing and firing people who tried to organize workers into a labor union is non-debatable. Punishing whistleblowers for exposing bad things is a no no. Allowing wealthy people and corporations access to the court and other government services while denying it to the rest of the population is criminal. Another taboo topic that is not discussed in America is money where six members of the Walton family has the more wealth than the Bottom 30% of Americans. I know a lot of conservative Americans who are anti-union and anti-government; however, many of them have government jobs that are… Read more »
I really like Ellison’s quote. I post a lot of comments on Yahoo discussions. That is the theme I’m constantly trying to get across. I see so many opinions out there that are clearly uniformed opinions and point out the science and psychological studies that refute what they say. I don’t attack the individual but do try to educate. Usually I fail but I try. I’m also middle of the road politically and do not resonate at all with the far right or left. I find them equally boorish and generally abounding with uninformed opinions. They’re both too caught up… Read more »
I think it is impossible to respect someone if his/her opinions, beliefs, and ideas have been harmful to society. There is no place to talk things out and come to a compromise. American politics has been so polarizes that many families have been torn completely apart by it.
G, I tend to agree with you. If someone I know condoned perophelia, there is no discussion to be had. justifying Spouse beating? Nothing to talk about. But they say you never talk religion or politics with someone you’re close to. I can see how someones views may taint how you see him or her. I have a close business associate who is an avid pro-lifer, finding out that he was atheist didn’t bother me in the least. In most cases we can simply agree to disagree and move on. Heck, I even have some liberal if not very liberal… Read more »