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Can we stay neutral in
a highly opinionated world?
We, all of us have opinions. We have
opinions on every aspect of our life. We seem to know it all. We have an idea of
everything right from; How the Government should function? How should parents
bring up their children? What is the appropriate way to dress in public? Should
gay marriage be legalized or not? How should Ukraine deal with Russia? and a
lot more.
Similarly, we have an opinion about every
person we already know or who we newly meet. We classify them, as smart or
dumb, lavish or stingy, noble or selfish.
We are constantly making a judgment of
situations and people based on our perceptions. We are constantly judging what
is right and what is wrong.
Now, let us try to understand how our opinions are formed. Though opinions seem shallow, it springs from our deep-rooted beliefs. Our opinions are formed as a total of our knowledge, information, attitude, upbringing, and experiences. So, our opinions are prone to be different from others.
This leads to a certain amount of
bias, in all our opinions. This
difference of opinion creates a sort of divide. And any divide progresses
toward polarization. So, it is important to curtail it, for peaceful
co-existence.
It is common, we are always looking
for the company of like-minded people. It is easy for us to gel with them. It
feels safe and comfortable. But true intelligence is to look at different
perspectives and gain a bigger picture. This can happen only when we are open
to what people, who have a different opinion from us have got to say. It calls
for an open mind and empathetic ears. At the end of the conversation, we may
still not be convinced enough to accept their views or opinions. It is fine. It
is the openness that counts.
I often wonder whether we can be free from all bias. Whether we can stay neutral in a highly opinionated world. Though we may proclaim, that we are totally free from all bias, they are unconsciously deeply rooted in us. Where there is bias, there is no neutrality.
So, being neutral is impossible. The
closest we can do to avoid social conflict is to keep our opinions to
ourselves, on several occasions.
We can keep silent on the things that don’t concern us. We can also keep silent on things, where we do not have sufficient information to comment upon. It is OK to keep quiet or just say I don’t know. People think they will appear stupid if they say so, but the truth is they will cause a lot less harm if they develop courage to say that.
We can avoid talking about sensitive
issues in common forums. In
an organization called Toastmasters, in which I am a member, there is a simple
rule in the meeting. It says, Sex, Religion, and Politics are taboo topics,
which shouldn’t be talked about in the meetings. It makes a lot of sense
because these are sensitive topics, which could flare up someone’s ego.
This comes from the understanding that
just like how we have the right to our own opinion, others have the right to
their opinions too. By respecting the rights of others to have their own
opinion, we can avoid unnecessary conflict.
In this way, our relationship can
transcend our opinions and still flourish. It is very much possible for people
with two different ideologies to be good friends. We can see examples of this
in politics, cinema, and many other fields too. We need to respect others as
they are, without expecting them to change their views or opinions, to be
compatible with them.
So, the way to stay neutral is not by
overcoming our own biases, which seems impossible but by respecting others’ opinions,
without criticizing or condemning them, which very much seems possible.
D. Senthil Kannan,
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