People Have Some Really Surprising Opinions
They’re Entitled to Them and You Should Learn How to Deal With Them Civilly
The amount of women I know personally that I’ve heard say “It was over thirty years ago, get over it” this week, has really caught me off guard.
I expected it from my crusty, old, white Uncles who resemble the senate judiciary committee Dr. Ford faced — but maybe not from a female my age.
It’s not a stance I agree with but it’s hard to argue with a woman who is taking that stance, while mentioning in passing she was groped, inappropriately touched and basically sexually assaulted more than once growing up.
Who am I to tell them how they’re supposed to feel or what they should have done? Though, one is related to me — and I had half a mind to ask her for a list of names. I didn’t though, I just kind of sat there sad about how normal this seemed to them.
The truth is, I was wrong for assuming they’d be on Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s side, simply because they are women — just like someone would be wrong for assuming I want to see Kavanugh confirmed, simply because I’m a white male.
I literally sat there and listened to two women I’m pretty close to yesterday say “Short of penetration, it’s not rape”. Damn — wow — okay.
While part of me understands what they were trying to say, the other part of me disagreed and was extremely uncomfortable with how comfortable both of them were with the fact they’ve apparently been groped. I was truly at a loss.
What I didn’t do upon hearing their opinions though, was angrily scream like a maniac, like the man who is this close to being appointed to the highest court in the nation did on Thursday. Like damn Brett, get it together bud. After all, she’s the one alleging rape, what’re you possibly crying about?
And what is all the screaming about, my dude? You’re supposed to be the definition of cool headed and even handed. Alyssa Milano is like ten feet behind you, tighten up pal.
I guess I just expected the women I spoke to about the issue, to be more like the women behind Kavanaugh in the picture below. Priceless, by the way.
While a handful of women’s opinions have surprised me this week, I stopped being shocked by other people’s opinions in November of 2016.
I remember how naive I was, in believing nobody in their right mind would put Donald Trump into a position of power. I’d speak openly about it — and it’d get real quiet. Who knew so many good people, were such a bad judge of character.
One thing is for certain in this country right now, most of us disagree with one another about at least one really important issue. Which means we should all probably get a little better at digesting opinions that aren’t our own.
After all, if you’d recall — America was built off the back of such founding principles. We’re all entitled to voice our opinions. Unfortunate as we may find this sometimes — it’s what also gives us the right to voice our own that others disagree with.
Everyone is so quick to take the moral high ground these days. Nobody is really even listening to the people they’re debating with. We want to be heard — but don’t take the time to hear anyone out. That’s not how this works.
I wrote this article filled with unpopular opinions yesterday, then read a handful of YouTube comments on the subject at large and immediately regretted it.
Talk about some surprising opinions. My God, Who raised these people?
My point in all of this, is people you think probably agree with you, might not. It’s doubtful you’ll change their mind about any of it, especially if you go about doing so through shouting and calling them names. You are not Thomas Jefferson, your truths are not self evident.
We need to get better at hearing the other side out, regardless of how much we may disagree with them. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone or with a healthy debate — the problem is we see less and less of them lately. We’ve gotten entirely too self righteous for our own good.
Here’s another unpopular opinion, just because you think someone did something, doesn’t make them guilty. Have you never been falsely accused of something? Do you not remember how bad of a feeling that was?
To be clear, I’m not claiming Kavanaugh is innocent. I’m saying, your guess is literally no better than mine — unless you were there that night. Point blank.
If we could all get off our high horse, discontinue trying to build our soapboxes and start actually hearing each other out, we just may get somewhere. Or just keep screaming at one another, I don’t care. Just don’t bring that bullshit my way.
