I was at a bar last night. Everyone was watching the TVs and they all said the same thing: War with Iraq has begun. And then they showed this live feed from Baghdad of an empty street. It didn’t much look like a war, just an empty street.
This girl we were with was really drunk. She started talking about politics….in a bar. I told the girl she was talking to that everyone knows you can’t talk about politics, religion or past romantic relationships at bars. It is a serious buzzkill.
This chick takes issue with everything I say. I think she likes me or something. Like in elementary school when you used to be mean to the cute girl with blond pigtails. But she did bring up an interesting point.
When is it proper to talk about politics and religion? Or more specifically, when do I talk about it? Honestly, almost never. She took that to mean that I have no opinions and don’t care in general. While it is true that I am often apathetic, I do have strong opinions. I just keep them to myself.
In my experience, people just like to hear themselves talk when it comes to stuff like that. It makes them feel good to express their opinion, but it does not make them feel good when your opinion is different than theirs.
People cannot keep from taking it personally. When your view differs from theirs, they always somehow associate that with an attack on themselves. They feel judged. And the discussion digresses into arguments of semantics and then things just get plain petty…then ugly.
I have opinions. I’ve expressed them in the past. It mostly got me judged and pigeonholed. You stand to gain the most when your opinion is the same as the majority or the side that will eventually win. I didn’t really like learning that and have trouble doing it. There is some strange attraction to telling everyone what you think, especially when you’re in the minority. Galileo did it, was proved correct and change the world forever. On the flip side he got put to death for it….alot of good it did him.
So….do I have an opinion about the war? Not really. What is done is done. Let it be speedy and decisive and let us move on with our lives.
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