Several sources say, “Don’t care what people think” but that can be easier said than done. This can be especially difficult when the opinion comes from someone with authority or someone who has attributes that you or society deems “successful,” like money, status, looks, etc. At Clarity we call these idealized people or groups. Some people in these groups believe that their views and thoughts on certain things are truth/correct or should be listened to because they have a lot of money, certifications, degrees, etc. Some people never question these idealized indiviuals and accept whatever they say.
Why should the opinions or views of someone be accepted as right/truth because of resources they have or their physical characteristics?
Is there a rule book somewhere that defines the world should work this way? There are however texts written by humans that claim or suggest they contain truths everyone should follow.
This is not to say that idealized people don’t have valuable perspectives that, if followed, would produce benefits for others. It’s just unlikely that every opinion they have will be correct because they aren’t perfect human beings. Because of this, we encourage all humans to interrogate/question the views and opinions they hear regardless of the source. Some of the people you question will take your critical thinking as “disrespectful” and view your willingness to test or question what they’re saying as the wrong thing to do. If you were to ask why they dislike your desire to fully analyze their views, they may be unable to provide an answer beyond “because what I say is right.” They are likely overlooking the fact that they aren’t perfect human beings. Even one of the most influential texts in human history, the Bill of Rights, has had to be updated several times, but its creators are often highly celebrated. This shows us that even the people who laid the foundation for the United States to become the economic and political power it is today were imperfect. Most major religious texts also tell readers that man is imperfect and needs the support of god for that reason.
Do you want the opinion of someone else to determine whether you’re at internal peace or not?
When you realize all we’ve covered so far, you sometimes reach the point of having to make a choice. If deep down you don’t see something wrong with what you think/feel/do or want to do but think or know others will pass an opinion that you’d like to avoid, you have to decide if you’re going to allow their opinion to make you feel bad or not. In other cases, you may have to decide if you’re going to allow outside opinions to determine what decisions and actions you take in a certain situation. Sometimes these opinions can be helpful and be supportive of your long-term goals, but if they aren’t or hurt the achievement of your goals and you decide to give in to them, you may unknowingly be saying to yourself — through your actions — that their opinion is more important than your own. We would ask, if they are human just like you, why do you think their opinion should be more important than yours?
Think about it
To take this further, how many revolutionary inventions and businesses required the founders and leaders to value their opinion over the opinion of everyone else’s? To see historical examples we encourage you to watch a few episodes from The Men Who Built America, The Cars That Build the World, or The Food That Built America created by the History channel.
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