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I love sharing my opinion.
I love it so much that I chose to write an opinion column every week.
However, I have come to realize that sharing your opinion can be intimidating. Your audience is not always as receptive as you would hope. Some people are more interested in trying to silence you because they don’t like what you have to say instead of just listening.
Sharing your opinion is scarier than ever, but that doesn’t mean your voice has any less value. In fact, it has more.
Across the world somewhere, there is someone who would be punished for speaking their opinion. A woman, just like me, who would be sentenced to death for simply speaking outside of her home.
I have the opportunity to share my opinion, and so do you — take advantage of that.
In 2013, Angelina Jolie received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her extensive work and advocacy with refugees.
In her speech, she talked about the privilege she has and how sheltered she was to not see that this is not a commonality. Jolie said, “I have never understood why people are lucky enough to be born with the chances I had and why across the world there is a woman just like me with the same abilities, same desires, same work ethic and love for her family who would most likely make better films and better speeches, only she sits in a refugee camp, and she has no voice.”
As the United States of America was being constructed as a nation, the authors of the Constitution ensured that speech would be protected in this country. It is under the First Amendment that citizens of the United States have the freedom to express their opinion and not fear persecution.
We take this right for granted.
I think about the woman that Jolie refers to, women who are just worried about survival, who could probably write a better article than I can. But she doesn’t have the opportunity to advocate for herself, for the people around her who deserve better.
In America, we do have the opportunity.
Increasing political polarization, specifically affective polarization, is further hindering us from expressing our right to voice our opinions. Affective polarization means that people will feel positive towards individuals of the same political party and negatively towards those of an opposing party. Due to affective polarization, individuals selectively accept information that aligns with their political identity while criticizing and dismissing information that contradicts it.
This polarization is affecting the way that we view one another. Majorities of both Republicans and Democrats attribute negative stereotypes to members of the opposing party. This division creates an unfavorable view of individuals who do not share the same political beliefs as you do.
A poll conducted by the CATO Institute in 2020 found a percentage increase in people feeling the need to self-censor their opinions out of fear of offending other people.
These fears cross partisan lines. Majorities of Democrats (52%), independents (59%) and Republicans (77%) all agree they have political opinions they are afraid to share.
With social media and your feed consisting of content that fits your preferences, we are faced with constant confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs. This makes it increasingly difficult to be accepting of different perspectives.
Close-minded individuals do not realize that being receptive to new perspectives is proven to lead to higher intellect. A study by Psychology Today showed that intellectual people do not just know how to be right — they also know how to be wrong. They are receptive to new ideas and have frequent mind-changing that signals deeper thinking.
Being open to new ideas does not need to be scary because changing your opinion is not equivalent to accepting defeat. In fact, allowing yourself to be open to new ideas that may challenge pre-conceived notions will actually make you a smarter individual.
I can not imagine having the same ideas that I had coming into college to this day.
The reason I have learned about new ideas is through listening to others with an open mind. I have been exposed to people who have different ideas, and I welcome them, sit with them and compare them to what I had originally thought.
In a world where so many people are silenced, speak up. Having the privilege of voicing your opinion is something you should not take for granted — take advantage of it.
Avangeline Greco is a junior at UT this year studying economics. She can be reached at [email protected].
Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
