I want to be a good person. So, I walk my dogs after school and try to show up to my shift on time. Good people talk to their friends when they’re upset and go to local non-commercial coffee shops, so I do too. Good people advocate for their beliefs, so I post on my Instagram story about the newest political update.
At the end of the day, though, I can’t help but think, does it really matter? Do my actions and beliefs really separate me as a good person from someone who is my complete opposite?
It’s no secret that right now, it seems as though every person in every generation is divided, whether it be political beliefs or everyday opinions. It’s almost impossible to get through your day without someone trying to debate you, especially on social media.
The more you feed into these debates, the more it seems like there is actually a right answer, when the truth is, there isn’t. The most important thing that I have taken away from my philosophy class this year is that there is rarely a right or wrong answer to anything.
It’s true that some things may be more moral or sensible. But this does not make it a solid truth. There is no right or wrong answer, no matter how solid and defensible your beliefs are. I understand that in our present time, younger generations feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. And that feeling is probably because it is. We are who drives the future and so our beliefs are what is going to manifest into our adulthood. This creates a pressure to be right all the time and believe that everyone who disagrees is wrong.
With the rise of social media, there seemed to be a rise of hate and anger with this pressure, too. We see trends rise and fall, and along with that, we see people do the same. Everyone who decides to have a social media presence also agrees to being analyzed on their every single move.
Before, anyone could get on Ellen just from having a unique hobby. But now people are criticized for that same hobby. Let’s take a look at Minecraft YouTuber Dream. Alright, hear me out: he probably is not the best person in the world, and has had some harsh allegations thrown at him. But, instead of looking into these allegations or even holding him accountable for them, people comment on his looks instead. Really guys? That’s low. Now we are just hating someone for being “ugly.”
Social media has watched hundreds and thousands of influencers come and go. As consumers, we pick and choose what people we agree with and disagree with, and when someone we disagree with a little too much says or does one thing, we erase them. We turn people into gods, or we turn them into villains into evil, non-human monsters.
The more you start to do this, the more it manifests in your real life, too. We start to do it to the people and groups around us. We villainize people with different beliefs from ours and take humanity out of our situation.
I had written this before everything went down with Charlie Kirk. But now it feels like my words hold even more truth and weight. Kirk is probably the best example of people disagreeing with each other and taking it way too far. Both sides (Kirk and anyone willing to debate him) have strong beliefs, and both sides never back down or change their view on these beliefs. They have dehumanized each other, and now, a death has occurred because of it.
I personally did not agree with Kirk’s views, but I would never want him, or anyone else, dead. Seeing people on social media celebrating his death just further proves a narrative that people with opposite beliefs can never come together in any form.
We fail to realize the similarities that we share with each other and choose to surround ourselves with people of similar mindsets and beliefs. Challenging ourselves feels uncomfortable, and seeing faults within ourselves and systems is a thing that we have to train ourselves to accept.
But we have to stop creating a divide within everything. It’s not my goal to make people change their beliefs or try to see the good in every single thing, because that’s not true, and there are some truly immoral beliefs.
What I want is for people to understand that it’s normal to disagree, and most importantly, it’s okay to be “wrong” or question your beliefs. We should not let our judgment dictate how we interact with the people around us. It can be scary being a generation that decides the future of not only our country, but our world, too. But if we continue to argue about everything, there will be no future at all for us.
It may sound cheesy, but in the end, we are all we have for the future.
