Judicial and Political Correctness
In a recent discussion with a friend of mine, I found myself explaining my lack of opinions on political matters and the lack of interest in judicial ones as well. The former has been (and probably will be) criticised as ignorant behaviour and irresponsible . With the general populace yearning to discuss political matters, my disinterest stems from a number of reasons, which I shall mention here.
Any opinion, be it political, personal or moral, is believed to be the absolute truth by the individual. You have opinions because it is your belief that they reflect the objective reality around you. That is the sole reason you even have them: having a mental map (however approximate) helps us navigate through the world and "make sense" of it . But it's almost always the case that our opinions do not reflect the objective reality, in some cases, not at all. Our opinions are the amalgamation of our cultural thinking , personal opinions of people we grew up with and our own personality traits . None of these factors force our opinions to reflect the objective reality, hell, none of these factors even force us to rationally analysis the facts and come to a logical conclusion.
A personality trait of mine is I like objectivity (you could guess where I am going with this). Opinions on any matter aren't mostly objective at all, hence I find no meaning in having them. Whenever we believe in something with all of our heart (and rational brains), we should also have the courage to call them facts. If you are hesitant in calling a certain thing as a fact and more comfortable with the term "opinion", you know somewhere you aren't exactly right . The problem this creates, is that our opinions drive reality: in Judicial matters. Judicial laws are largely made on opinions of the time it was written in, which makes them highly susceptible to change and ridicule by future generations. I would refrain from talking further as this could spiral into a long essay.
Social responsibility isn't having political opinions. It's not that I don't care what's happening in the world by not bothering to read on it, it's that no matter how much I read, I'll never have a grasp on the actual objective reality of the situation and would thus always carry a bias with me. The bias would depend on where I grew up, who I talk to and what my own personality is. And as long as the reality is unknown to me, my opinion will always be wrong (that's a personal belief).
So what should we do ? Not learn anything of the outside world ? Live in our own little bubble ? I think we should acknowledge the facts, agree that no one individual can grasp the entire situation and take action towards betterment of everyone around us.