The making of opinions

Most people are reactive creatures who don't take enough time to think for themselves. They tend to gravitate towards opinions that speak to their fears, their concerns, their worries, their cultures and their familiar habits. Yet, if we were to ask them to define themselves in relation to some ideology (political or other), they would have a very hard time defining it and defending it.

The simple answer for that apparent paradox is that we hardly take any time to catalog what we truly, deeply stand for. Contrary to popular belief, this should be a statement that knows no right and no wrong. It should simply be made up of what we truly think and of the values (or deviations) we believe in or can live with.

This is of course where things get dicey as we all want to exhibit some token of decency, morality and political correctness like the classic expression “you know, I'm not racist, but...” Simply posing a question like that one opens up a lot of disquieting notes. Will it show our true monstrosity, our petty biases, or our questionable dark sides? I invite you and myself to conducting this exercise and writing down, for once perhaps, our own mission statement. Chances are we'll all be in for a pretty big surprise!