Opinions are subjective, personal, and everyone has a right to form their own and speak them freely. It’s healthy. I have no right to tell you what you can or cannot say. Nobody does.

But, with all due respect, opinions are not perfect. Hitler had lots of them, mostly about Jews. I think we can all agree that he was wrong.

That is not to say that I have the right to declare that you are wrong, but that there are circumstances where questioning someone’s opinion is not “attacking” that someone’s beliefs, it is exercising the right to disagree.

Freedom of opinion flows both ways—you can’t say what you think and then cry “wolf” when someone else exercises that very same right in forming their own thoughts about what you’ve just said. You don’t have to agree, but you have to let them say it.
This is why shouting “IT’S JUST AN OPINION, OKAY?” in order to negate those who disagree with you is a problem, not a solution.

Not only this, but we often forget that an opinion, once published or posted in an online public sphere, invites commentary, complaints, questions, debate, and more. It becomes an argument.

No, I don’t mean “a fight.” An argument, in this context, means that your opinion takes a stand on a topic. That is an exceptionally vague explanation, so I’ll cite an example of this:


This is, of course, an overly simplistic example. This is not how most people phrase their opinions. Most often don’t even realize that they are saying “blue is better” because it’s just a given to them, like breathing. Most will present their arguable opinion as something more like this:



Sound familiar?

Well, you’ve probably never heard someone above the age of six make an argument about the magical properties of the colour blue, but I think you get the point.

The point is simple.

Opinions are not always clear, they’re often unconscious, and they’re most definitely as subjective as they are common. They can be about anything, which is their beauty and their fault.

I mean, the colour blue? Really? Does that really need defending? It’s not like nobody has heard of it, or it’s in danger of dying out.

In short, it’s as healthy to question an opinion as it is to have one.