Yay! New lj friends! Of course it is alright to add me. I shall add you back. It's especially nice to have friends whose opinions differ from yours- I learn so much more about stuff when I'm not just preaching to the choir. :D
I feel like people throw the terms homophobic and heteronormative around in the same way that people will call Obama a fascist and a socialist in the same breath. They don't really know what the terms mean, they are just using them as a word synonymous with "bad" that makes them sound smart (or at least they THINK it makes them sound smart). When you question those people further, it turns out that they have no idea of what the term actually means. Honestly, if you have a strong opinion about something, you should know your reasons for having such a strong opinion so that you can articulate your argument. If you can't articulate your reasons, why did you have a strong opinion in the first place?
But then, I'm a philosophy major and I guess the whole, "Know your argument forwards and backwards" is just kind of ingrained. It surprises me how much of the population feels totally justified in acting on a gut reaction or emotion without first analyzing why they feel that way. Or how many people will have an opinion on a topic they have little to no knowledge of just so that they can have an opinion. What happened to everyone that they suddenly think it's not okay to just say, "I'm not sure," or "I don't know," when faced with a question on an issue instead of bullshitting some sort of opinion? It's just sloppy and makes me despair for humanity.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-09 02:09 am (UTC)I feel like people throw the terms homophobic and heteronormative around in the same way that people will call Obama a fascist and a socialist in the same breath. They don't really know what the terms mean, they are just using them as a word synonymous with "bad" that makes them sound smart (or at least they THINK it makes them sound smart). When you question those people further, it turns out that they have no idea of what the term actually means. Honestly, if you have a strong opinion about something, you should know your reasons for having such a strong opinion so that you can articulate your argument. If you can't articulate your reasons, why did you have a strong opinion in the first place?
But then, I'm a philosophy major and I guess the whole, "Know your argument forwards and backwards" is just kind of ingrained. It surprises me how much of the population feels totally justified in acting on a gut reaction or emotion without first analyzing why they feel that way. Or how many people will have an opinion on a topic they have little to no knowledge of just so that they can have an opinion. What happened to everyone that they suddenly think it's not okay to just say, "I'm not sure," or "I don't know," when faced with a question on an issue instead of bullshitting some sort of opinion? It's just sloppy and makes me despair for humanity.