Where has the right to an Opinion gone?

Where has the right to an opinion gone? It clearly has gone away, because when you do have an opinion on anything, there is always someone ready to try and shoot you down, even if your opinion is yours and yours alone? why why why?

I want to delve into this to try and understand myself, the year is 2021, we have just left 2020 behind, a year that has changed the way the world works and plays, we are dealing with a global pandemic, the UK leaving the EU, Donald Trump’s presidency ending and Joe Biden’s beginning, Black Lives Matter etc.

These are a tiny snippet of things that have raised debate, indifference, segregation but overall a breakdown in the ability to have an opinion on virtually anything, it saddens me that our society has drifted to this persuasion and I now feel that I have to remain silent keeping my opinions entirely to myself, so why am I feeling like this?

I used to feel that having an opinion was my right, my privilege I chose not to force my opinions on anybody, and I always remain respectful of other peoples opinions even if I completely disagree with them, and yes I will always engage in respectful debate, but always maintaining that key word “RESPECT” yet here we are now, I’m a man with a gag on my mouth, because my opinions must now be constantly disagreed with, tore apart, belittled, and desecrated, seems we are now only satisfied with creating unnecessary issues that really aren’t needed.

I voted to leave the EU for my own reasons I’m not an expert on politics but I had a choice to make, some of the online trolling and disgusting comment, were shocking, yes during debates I stood my ground but it descended into all out name calling, such nastiness as calling me racist, xenophobic, selfish, country destroyer, parasite and much much worse! Why must a difference of opinion be ridiculed and dragged to such degrading levels? why can we not simply agree to disagree?

So many things going on in the world that I must remain tight lipped on, suppose this is the shape of how things of gone, I would love to be able to air my opinion to happily debate with my peers but remain respectful, so my aim is to have my opinion here in my blog, there will be many that may disagree with my opinions and I welcome that, but I must be able to to voice them and I shall.

“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.” Albert Einstein

Has the world gone crazy? Or…….

News news news 24hrs a day every channel an endless stream of information, some factual some fuelling the panicking and fear we are currently seeing globally.Coronavirus allegedly came out of China narrowed down to the Wuhan Province? But how does an illness thatis, we are being told bring the people of the globe to its knees, suddenly appear after thousands of years of basically “nothing” to elevate itself to a global pandemic? How can this be? Now I’m not delving into conspiracy theories or anything like that, I’m an ordinary person from a small town called Leigh, I’m no scholar or academic just mister ordinary, but this situation is becoming a concern to me and my family.You turn on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram even LinkedIn, I’m engulfed with COVID-19 misery stories, and visions of ridiculous panicking, every news channel the same, radio is pumping the same stories, we are completely encapsulated in this story every turn, I’m confronted by it which in turn makes me start to panic, there has to be a balance surely?I’ve watched on news and social media outlets, long queues to get into Costco stores around the world why? What are people so desperate to buy? I’ve seen local shops stripped bare of everything, how much Jam and tomato sauce will people eat, if we are quarantined hmmmm.We need to “STOP” just for a moment and think about this logically, let’s think about our elderly who cannot bulk buy as they struggle to even get to the shops, do you need thirty toilet rolls whilst they have one? Do you need so much pasta that you can feed your entire estate, whilst others can only find one tin of spaghetti, come on reality check please!The best way for us collectively to come through whatever this is, is to do it together, call and ask your neighbours if they are ok or need anything? Don’t go and buy up an entire shops worth of provisions, this is not a movie, zombies are not coming, Dustin Hoffman is not going to appear on your street in a yellow suit.Has the world gone crazy? I think it has, whatever this is as ordinary people we will as our grandparents would of said to us, “chin up” “it’ll soon blow by this”Paul (16/03/2020)