Calvin+T’s+2015+OpEd+Article


 * Thinking For Yourself **

Having an opinion when you are uneducated in a debate. This phenomenon has started to become all to common recently and it is really starting to irk me. People form their opinions nowadays much too quickly and from extremely biased and untrustworthy sources. For instance, people will assimilate themselves as a liberal or conservative and then believe everything that party stands for without even looking into both sides of the argument. These people form their opinions from the false propaganda that their desired party spits out at them through the media on a daily basis.

A prime example is liberal leaning people who label fracking immediately as a bad thing because it has to do with oil. Issues like these are very complicated and require a lot of knowledge and research to even have a vague understanding. I don’t think you are entitled to your opinion that fracking is bad if all you’ve done to study the subject is watch Gasland and read that fracking fluid has hundreds of chemicals and carcinogens in it. When you label a complicated issue, like fracking, as good or bad without being educated in the subject you lose individuality.You did not draw this opinion from research and evidence; you made it from conforming and believing something that a biased source told you. That’s why I don’t think you are entitled to your opinions that are formed of the basis of being liberal or conservative.

Another example where clouded judgment in assimilating oneself with a certain political stance is conservatives not vaccinating their kids because they think it causes autism. Just because you saw one report where a lady claimed that her kid became autistic because of vaccines doesn’t mean that its true. People who don’t get their kids vaccinated are being extremely selfish and ignorant making their decisions off very questionable and incorrect data.

One major source of brainwashing and loss of individuality is your parents. And whether you like it or not your parents have a very big impact on your beliefs and views on certain topics. Take religion for example, if both your parents believe in God and Christianity, then you will grow up in an environment that fosters these ideas and will probably grow up to be Christian. The same goes for other religions like Islam, Judaism, etc. When we are young little kids we don’t have the ability to think for ourselves, so for the most part we believe what our parents teach us. While I am not trying to bash parents teaching their kids things, I am just trying to say that what they teach us can be biased and forged from false information.

So what I am trying to convey out of all of this is to be yourself and think like an individual. Make your decisions not based upon what political party you stand by, but what you truly believe. Don’t just accept ideas because your parents have told you them; question these ideas so you can postulate an opinion that is truly your own. Being individual in your thought process is the most important part in defining your character and who you truly are as a human being. 