I feel like the world has never been more divided on absolutely everything.
Perhaps its just me getting older and becoming more attuned to what is going on around me. Perhaps it’s because I have children who are at impressionable ages, and so my eyes are more open to all the world’s and society’s issues and concerns.
Perhaps at every social event I attend or every time I see anyone, friends and family included, the conversation always shifts to one party either asking or expressing their opinion on something.
Checking social media these days has become the most painful process. Never has my news feed been so populated with images, quotes, videos, and rants of people loudly stating their opinions on anything and everything.
It’s exhausting!
It also feels like gone are the days where anyone actually asks, or wants to know where you stand on a topical issue.
Nowadays, society has normalised that its perfectly ok to shout your opinions with megaphones, and damned if anyone around you has opposing thoughts.
I describe myself as blissfully ignorant.
Make no mistake, I’m not ignorant in any way; I have just grown tired of seeing the same news topics day in and day out. I have gotten bored with reading the newspaper, it’s all the same shit, just delivered in differently.
So when the discussions become opinionated or I’m actually asked what my stance is on a certain topic, I start saying, “I’m just not informed enough about this to form an opinion.”
I have taught my teenage daughters to say the same thing. Sometimes it is better to use this statement, than start exploding verbal diarrhoea about a topic that you actually do not know enough about.
To have an honest opinion, don’t you need to be wholly educated on the topic?
Don’t you need to be able to see both sides?
Surely you need to be able to empathise with both effected parties before you can voice your thoughts and feelings about many issues, most of which will likely offend someone.
Admitting “I am not informed enough”, also buys me time. Time to go and read or take a moment to think about what my thoughts and ultimately my opinion are about the topic.
Sometimes I end up just having to throw my hands up in the air and say “not my circus, not my monkeys”!
I just cannot devote all my brain power to all this thinking all the time.
In every space, from online to the real world, we are all being constantly told to “pick a side”!
Choose.
Are you left- or right-winged?
Are you Pro-this or anti-that?
Do you vax or no vax?
Breast feed or bottle feed?
Fold or scrunch? (fold, obviously!)
Nothing is sacred!
Perhaps in 2024, people can be a little kinder to those who are “fence sitting”?
Maybe those who choose to sit on the fence of an issue are just resting and taking their time to give thought to what they really think?
Maybe it’s ok if they decide that the topic at hand is too much to think about and they have better things to do than make a choice.
Maybe if they do formulate a choice, their decision is to keep their opinions to themselves?
Maybe they come to the conclusion that Switzerland is a lovely place to visit and that if they do commit to scrunching the toilet paper, then they are perfectly fine with that!
