What is it that makes another person's opinion seem important? Why do some people base descisions on other peoples thoughts? There are some decisions that are black and white with shades of gray. These situations usually involve some sort of specialist like a doctor or a lawyer. But what about the other kinds. The kinds that take into account what kind of interests a person has.
Recently I asked a coworker what he thought about the movie Watchmen. This coworker happens to be a nerd, I say this in the nicest way being as I am a nerd myself, and he is more into comic books than I am. He also usually catches the matinee shows of all the big movies that come out on opening day. So I approached him and asked him for his opinion. He told me he didn't like it for whatever reason, and I took what he thought and went ahead and didn't see the movie. Over the weekend I didn't really have much to do so I thought why not go see it. When I left the theater I said to myself, "What the hell is wrong with this guy?". The movie was pretty damn good in my opinion. And then I asked myself why did I let someone make a decision for me that I could have made for myself. I like superhero movies. I should have just seen it.
Now I am not bashing anyone that writes about thier opinions. I am obviously putting my own out there. It is always entertaining to read someone elses ideas about certain things. Da Musical Menace for example writes gold when he writes about things. If you fall into this category I am not hating. Keep it up actually. That is pretty much what most writing is anyway. What I am concerned with is those people that take other peoples thoughts and ideas and make them thier own without doing any research on the topic themselves.
Lets think about the news for example. There are things happening all over world that we wouldn't know about unless someone reports on it. There is a big responsibility that goes along with this for the journalist and the newscasters. They have to be honest and report accurately and that is what we all assume they do. But what if they didn't. What if things are worse than what they really are and we are just recieving a small portion of the truth. We wouldn't be getting what we deserve. It is like ordering a meal and only getting the beverage. I want my chicken too.
That was an extreme scenario though. Lets calm it down a little bit. What if Burgerking went somewhere and said "We make the best burgers. You are wasting your time and money if you try and eat a burger anywhere else." This is coming from a specialist in a sense. This is how they make money right? They're the king of burgers for crying out loud. But I am going to be honest. I love Whoppers. I think they are great. But sometimes I need a Big Mac, or a Big Buford, or a Classic Double, or a Five Guys burger. I really do. If I took Burgerkings word for it, I would miss out on all the other delicious, greasy, gifts from heaven that are there at my disposal. And that would be a shame.
There are some descions that an individual can make for themselves. A lot of times people fall into the herd mentality and give up on things they enjoy because other people think its not as impressive.
And it works both ways. Some things aren't for everybody. Someone could come and say to me, "Hey man lets go spend the night in a haunted house". Some people might get their kicks like that and they could say I am bashing it without trying it. But I have seen enough scary movies and heard enough ghost stories to say I don't want to have anything to do with ghosts. I think they exists and I want to leave them alone. My decision is made.
Individuality is hurt when these decisions are looked over and allowed to be made by others. Do things or don't do things. Just make sure you are the one making the decision.
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I agree with everything you said. To add though, I hate it when people do something because some one else said they should. Then they complain to that person if it didn't work out how they expected. If you for advice then take it for what it is. Advice is an opinion not fact. :)I wonder when people are gonna act their age sometimes.
ReplyDeleteOhhh btw did u get your blog name from a Samurai movie??
ReplyDeleteI like to do my own research when it comes to making an opinion, and I'm ussually not the type to follow a trend. I'll give others my opinion, but I'll let them know why, and leave it open for them to decide how much my opinion is worth. As far as trends go, I have certain tastes and style, and I most definitely won't follow a trend just because everyone is doing it. For instance, I never liked 24" wheels. Nor, chrome for that matter. And, back in the day (5th grade), I never got into Pokemon cards. Sure, I played the game, but who didn't? The cards... didn't see the point. In my high school junior/senior year, the whole country thing started to become big. From blasting country music, to buying big trucks and tires, I never got into it. For one, I'm not country, and two, I don't care. Individuality can be scarce to some people, and relished by others. In the end, it all comes down to how true to one's self a person is.
ReplyDeleteWhat you say is so true, and I have many times fallen victim to other peoples opinions as well. However sometimes I'm glad for other people's opinions, like when they tell me that the water is too rough at the beach, or to wait to take a shower because the water isn't hot enough. Haha. Anyway, I think that it's too easy to be influenced by other people. When you talked about your initial decision to forfeit the Watchmen because someone who you trusted to like the same kinds of movies as you thought it wasn't worth it, it brought memories to me about movies that I have trusted my friends on too. A lot of times we are the same but sometimes they just don't see the humor in something or they process the information differently. I can understand the use of it in advertising but, as much as I would not like to bring it up, Andrew Keen makes this point too. Advertisements lie because that's what they need to get business. People who report the news though, sometimes even when they are reporting their information as accurately as possible, as still skewed by opinion. Like during the Vietnam war, people were totally shocked when they saw the horrors on TV because reporters had a moral conscious and just could not say certain things to the American people. Oh well, I babbled for a long time, but it was actually a topic that was interesting to me!
ReplyDeleteWhen someone asks me for my opinion on something I always say as a disclaimer that if it is a movie or food don't let my opinion ruin the experience for you go try it for yourself. I don't ever want someone to be able to miss out on something they could potentially enjoy because they asked me for my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThere is usually so much bias in people's opinions that is based on their past experiences. Knowing that, I always try to keep an open mind about everything. Even in the media, although it is a reporter's job to be objective, there still tends to be a bit of subjectivity every now and then. If I hear something in the news or someone's opinion on something that interests me I try and gather information from multiple sources to see if there is any variation. I too went to see Watchmen but before I did I asked for people's opinions on the movie and also read some online reviews. I found all sorts of different opinions on it being great or horrible or so-so but I did not truly know until I went to the theater and gave it my own personal opinion.
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