Sunday, June 9, 2019

My Opinion on Sharing Opinions

It has been said that opinions are like buttholes. Everybody has one, and they all stink. However, they are also like buttholes for another reason: it's a bad idea to share one with another person unless you're sure they're okay with it.

Of course, exposing one's actual butthole to someone who doesn't want to see it is much, much worse than sharing your opinion with someone who doesn't want to hear it. It's not exactly inappropriate to share an unsolicited opinion, and it certainly isn't criminal, like an indecent exposure is, but it's still not a good way to get someone to consider your opinion. Just as a person isn't going to want to think about a butt they didn't want to see, they're not likely to want to consider an opinion they didn't want to hear. Consent matters. If a person doesn't ask for your opinion, it's smart to ask them if they want to hear it before you share it with them.

I'm not saying that it's never appropriate to share your opinion with someone. Heck, I'm sharing my opinion with you right now. I'm just saying that, if you want people to actually consider your opinion, you should first establish that they're willing to listen to it. Otherwise, you can fairly safely assume that they don't want to hear it and that they won't react well to you sharing yours with them anyway.

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