en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:22:36 GMT 15 By Ashley Wiener
Society today has many religions, languages and opinions. As soon as it’s challenged, people get overly defensive and conversations end on a sour notes. This is a major problem for me, especially when I am involved in a serious debate about important issues ranging from abortion to samesex marriage. Everytime I bring up a new issue, it gets immeditaely shut down for my different opinion on the matter, and then the other person I’m having a conversation with gets so upset that it seems as though they are very angry at me. When people get really upset, they take it too personally, and it seems like the issue is slowly covered up and pushed under the rug as if it weren’t there. This means all of the country’s issues that have given us so many problems in the past will be ignored until we slowly get overwhelmed, and the issues prevent us from moving on. This makes me believe that every important issue, such as immigration or death laws, won’t come to a conclusion because we’re too sensitive. When I think about all of the topics and laws I want to discuss, it seems like I put too much consideration into what everybody else thinks about what I say, even though it’s my constitutional right to be able to voice my opinion. If I really worry about everyone else’s opinions, I will have limited originality. I will most likely not have a specific religion or a clear cultural opinion. It would be as if I were some sort of mind-controlled drone that does whatever it has been told to do. I believe if something exists, it’s bound to offend someone. The country needs to get used to the fact that the world is still going through a state of progression, whether it be for better or for worse. No matter how many people hate the fact that the world is changing, it is bound to happen. No one should be able to change anyone, and no one should have to be different for anyone. If our subject-censored activists pull us behind, the world is going to change without us, and we will be stuck in the same point in time with even more troubles on our hands. I have had many conversations where we ended up fighting because one person or another got offended about the subject because it directly related to both of us. But we ended up understanding that in order to have our opinions heard, we actually have to listen and respect different perspectives. Think about when people were coming up with new ideas that still influence the world we live in today. Historical figures such as Newton and Copernicus came up with these crazy, original ideas that gave us information on how gravity works and what placement the earth has in the universe. They probably offended a whole generation of people, but that didn’t stop them then, and it shouldn’t stop us now. Since the beginning of time, the control by overbearing tyrants have fought to obtain the right to speak freely. We had many revolutions and acts of rebellion to get this right; yet nowadays we are fighting to protect all the people who take offense to it. We are going to end up in a state of national confusion caused by our indecisive laws and statements. I do not understand why people would get so offended by something as simple as words. If we have our right to speak freely taken away, then the constitution would be void and useless, causing mass chaos. Without the constitution, this country has no law or real structure which leaves us open to a messed up society. If we don’t have our freedom of speech, this world would be filled with silent anger and anguish. The world would be controlled by fear because we would all be afraid to hear the words of others, thinking that it might disrupt the balance that we have as a society. Everyone should be able to say what they feel, and if someone doesn’t like it, then they should do one of two things: they can ignore the other person or respect the different perspective. We can not just let our world be controlled by an overly sensitive society. I know I do not want to be the same as everyone else. If we all could take the time to just listen to others without getting too offended, upset, or trying to convince them otherwise, our world would be a much better place. Now we just need to teach society how to control their feelings instead of lashing out. ]]> Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:15:00 GMT