Rant: Opinions

Hey, I don't believe I've ever made a rant before formally. Formally as in, making a post about it, I've definitely typed a few paragraphs in chats before. This isn't anything official, I just feel like I should really get this off my chest. So, let's get onto my opinion on opinions.

Why am I Making This?

Alright, so obviously everyone has opinions, right? You like this character, another person does not, you love this ship, another person despises it. Of course, you all know that this fandom and all others have a constant clash of opinions. These clash of opinions don't normally turn out as fun debating, they're more of a battle royal. I couldn't necessarily say war because that takes place over years, and it requires strategy and careful planning.

Do I need to talk about how you should "respect others opinions" and "don't hate on others for their opinion?" No, I don't think I so. In fact, I think putting everything as bluntly as that causes some issues I'm going to talk about. A lot of you are capable of learning how to deal with opinions, but I'm honestly not sure how well some of you truly understand what these repeated phrases mean. They're said so blankly and so often that there's bound to be different interpretations of them. Yes, there are definitely people who don't understand the message entirely, but there's already been enough rants and messages that there's no point of reaching those people.

I want to talk about some of the technicalities that come with opinions. Stuff that just, bothers me to an irritable extent.

Where to Start?

It can be a little hard to pinpoint exactly what I want to talk about, I feel like a lot of this rant will be about little aspects that add up to something bigger.

Perhaps it's best to talk about the one-sided approach to opinion sharing. This is especially common with "unpopular opinions." A person will post their opinion, state it's unpopular, explain why (or maybe not) and then they should expect two results. Either they find the rare person that agrees with them, or they're expecting to find the "haters" of their opinion. Knowing the rules of respecting opinions, they should think that people will accept their opinion and move on with their lives.

However, this person doesn't exactly understand the other side of respecting opinions. When another person comments on their post disagreeing with them, perhaps pointing out some flaws and such. The first person doesn't understand that others can disagree. Well, they did, in fact, they were expecting it. However, they consider the elaboration of the commenter's opinion to be some form of hate. The person who then made the post will start arguing with the person, saying how they should respect their opinion and they didn't need to say it. The first doesn't realize that in the process of following the "respect others opinions" rule, that they are going against that very rule.

I recall seeing a situation a few days ago where a did this exact thing. They made an unpopular statement, they got opposing opinions in the comments, they rudely talked to anyone who said something against their opinions, and they even made a post about how "this community has a problem" where they describe the situation purely from their end. This point leaks into two other points I'm going to make. Although this specific instance may not seem to apply to too much, it's like a broad umbrella over more specific topics.

Side Note: Research

It peeves me when people don't do enough research on the topic they're discussing. Of course it's okay to make a few mistakes. However, when an entire argument is based off of a misunderstanding, that's where the line between facts and opinions gets meshed. For instance, I recall a awhile back that made a post about Gundham and how they thought Gundham killed because he needed to feed his hamsters since he didn't care about people. First off, if this post was a joke, then I find it a little sad that I believe someone could do something like this. Second, that statement's completely invalid because Gundham stated the sunflower seeds from the plants were enough to feed his hamsters.

You can't really say that someone's opinion is invalid, but their facts are invalid. It's not entirely wrong for someone's opinion to be based off of facts like these, but it's annoying isn't it? Whenever opinions get thrown into a conversation and someone talks about, let's say, an ill- formed opinion, what are you supposed to do? Sure, there will be people that understand, but once you have an opinion you identify with it can be hard to change.

Point is, opinions are weird. Do your research before you say something or it'll lead to a mess.

I'm betting my statement here will lead to something hypocritical in the future, so it's your guy's job to crop this and post it wherever I do something like this.

Positivity

"If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all"

This problem comes up in waves. By following the above quote, controversy is sparked about what is okay to say to others. Positivity's a great thing, it's kind of a good thing not to call someone a fucking shit faced twat, you know? In realm of opinions, this may also ring true. If you want to hate on someone because of their opinion and you never stop arguing because of that, then you're a bit of a dick. A lot of us can agree that people like that don't understand some basic fundamentals.

However, this quote of trying to be positive backfires when people consider all negatives to be bad. For instance, a person can make a post about a ship they despise. Perhaps it's also a very popular ship with a ive fan base. People will disagree with their statement and while that's fine, some of those people will tell the that they shouldn't talk about it. Well, I don't think this happens with posts as much as it does with comments. A will state their point in the comments of a post about why they like a certain ship. Then, another person may look at that and wonder why they're talking about it. They believe it's not necessary for people to talk about why they hate it when the post is about why they love it.

Simply stating that you disagree with something isn't hate, and there's no reason that a person shouldn't be allowed to do so. You can be as negative as you want as long as you aren't saying anything towards the actual person. There will be people who agree, there will be people who disagree. Both opinions add to the discussion, and discussion is how we all come together with these opinions. If you don't want a discussion, then just ignore it and move on.

I feel like some people just don't understand that something negative isn't always bad. Yes, the word "negative" has, well, a negative connotation, but that doesn't mean someone shouldn't say it. If you have a favorite of something, then you have to have something that you like less than that favorite. Whatever you like the least out of those somethings is your least favorite. Thus, positivity sort of creates negativity. People all think differently so of course one's favorite will be someone else's least favorite. You just can't really have something positive without someone wanting to talk about the negative.

Criticism

Personally, criticism is something I hold close to my heart. Of course I don't like hearing the negatives about my content. However, I know that it will help me improve in the future and I won't regret listening to it. There's a whole debate over taking criticism, sugar coating, adapting to people who can't take criticism and what not.

Regardless of your opinions on that, criticism is still an opinion and thus it should be treated like any other. It's very take it or leave it, but you need to respect it. If it's negative criticism, then that's still not hate, it's something that someone is trying to give you to improve. Yes, perhaps some people criticize harshly and maybe someone just really dislikes that you're doing, but it's still criticism. It's also still an opinion, and again, it needs to be treated like one.

Like an opinion, criticism does not mean hate. If you don't like the criticism and you don't want to discuss it, you leave it. Especially if you asked for said criticism (and I unfortunately see this way too often). Nothing ensures that someone will say something positive about your work. It's your content, you do what you want with it, but some people need to understand that certain aspects may need to be improved upon. Nothing is perfect, nothing is exempt from criticism.

Debating

The world of sharing opinions in an elaborated manner known as debating. I love debating, and that's probably why I'm so keen on opinions. I like to hear the opposite opinion, I like to see how people deliver their arguments, I just tend to like opinions.

Debating leaks into my previous two points. A person like myself who likes to share our opinions wants to take certain opportunities to present them. If you don't want to make a full-fledged blog on them, then you'd rather share it in the comments. Either that or you briefly share it in a post and wait for others to respond. There's no harm in doing this at all, really. The harm comes as a result of making your comment on the subject.

Other people who are one-sided, too positive and such will then flock to this whole opinion and the whole thing turns into a mess. Somebody just wanted to have a discussion, and then it suddenly turns into a shit show. Of course the person wanting to start the debate has to know that this backlash is a possibility, but in the end, it's mainly the fault of those who go out of their way to call them out for something.

The main point here is that those who don't want discussion then engage in discussion. This obviously creates some issues and the person who engages this doesn't understand said issue. People don't really know when they should start and stop, or they don't know if they should even start in the first place. If you want to discuss something, do it, if they posted their opinion for the sake of debating, then they won't mind it. If this person is personally throwing insults at somebody and they elaborate on their opinion, then that's not debating, that's where hate is. People need to take it upon their selves to analyze the situation and respond accordingly. A lot of the time that response will probably be to not do anything, and that's okay.

Conclusion

I wanted to write this because I've been a little peeved at the handling of opinions over the past week or so. Some incidents I was thinking about while making this may have happened a few days ago while others may have been a month ago. Like all rants, I just wanted to get this off my chest.

This is an opinion about opinions and I'm not trying to say that my opinion is the right one. My thoughts here come from what I think is best for everyone, and I wanted to try to elaborate on that so I can express my feelings towards this subject.

Also Maki was extremely aesthetically pleasing to edit.

So, what do you guys think about this topic? I suppose I am technically saying "respect others opinions," but again, I wanted to elaborate on it.

I believe that is all, have a nice day.