The problem with today’s world.
As I start writing this story, not sure what I am going to write, let me address first and foremost what I want to get at: Why is everything around us falling apart? The world seems chaotic, not sure what it represents. I like to go through this train of thought, we are in today’s world so divided. Why are we missing empathy in today’s world so much that it is rare to see a good deed indeed. But, let us not open that can of worms. Let me start with something that is more tangible, and something that could probably help you and me and everyone around us get at least 1% happier than we are now.
Forming an opinion of something. Opinions are strong, they are the reason, you probably had a lot of conflicts at work, at home, at a bar anywhere. But when was the last time, you feel you had enough knowledge to form an opinion. What is enough knowledge anyway, right?
I was always of the opinion that Apple devices are not innovative enough. But the fact was I never used them, never had them, and never experienced them. Yet, I was on Facebook mocking Apple for being Unoriginal. It took me two Steve Jobs biographical films, one Mac-book, and asking friends for countless pictures they clicked of me from their iPhone to change my ‘Strong’ opinion that Apple is Unoriginal.
I learned something much simpler from this. Don’t make opinions if you haven’t experienced something. Don’t hate someone when you haven’t talked to someone. Don’t believe something until you experience it.
Pretty straightforward! But there’s something terribly wrong in the above paragraph.
Opinions would take a lifetime to be formed. It took me almost 10 years to finally afford friends those owned iPhones. While it didn’t harm for me to hate Apple, I or you will never have the luxury to spend so much time to form an opinion.
Environmental Degradation, Polarizing Politics, Dubious Science & Tech, and many other such questions are not waiting for us to get to an opinion. We need to act.
But, how? How can I form an opinion about how Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) will impact agriculture when I barely comprehend what it takes to make agriculture a successful business or what science goes into creating a GMO to fully understand if it is harmful or safe. As much as I would want to spend my time and effort to form an opinion, there are too many opinions to be formed and too little time to learn.
The biggest enemy of all is Propaganda. I can’t emphasize more on how Propaganda is affecting us in our every single thought. ‘Expert Opinion’ is what I would go to, to understand something. But what if, the ‘Expert’ in the ‘Expert Opinion’ profits when he convinces me of a certain ‘Opinion’.
How do I form an opinion then? Short answer, Don’t. Long Answer, Know everything before you make one. Since, it seems highly unlikely that we do that, let us all vouch to become a credible ‘Expert’ of at least something so that we all can lead this falling world around us. Let us not form an opinion but construct a fact so strong that opinions are not needed.
