Opinions are beautiful. I think of myself as a very opinionated person, but I tend to keep mine to myself. But recently, I have noticed a large influx of “sheep.” Sheep have little to no free will; they live to follow a shepherd. And “sheep” is the term anointed to people who are hesitant to form their own opinion and instead base their opinions off of others.
Fear controls people. Many people find themselves scared to voice their true opinions because they know that others will judge them. Our school more than exemplifies this concept. Our school has a strong mob mentality. Mob mentality is when people see one side, have an opinion and fall in line with that opinion because they do not want to be different. Nearly everyone here is either strongly Democratic and progressive or they feel forced to be so that they do not get shamed. There is little to no room to have differing opinions, and it was something that struck me when I was really starting to form my own opinions during middle school.
Our school prioritizes making everyone feel comfortable and stopping discrimination, and I feel like this is correct, especially compared to the relatively provincial environment I came from before. With that being said, I feel like there is a lot of fear mongering associated with people sharing their own opinions, especially when it comes to race and politics. I do not have strong political opinions because it is not a place of interest for me, but it really struck me when, in seventh grade, it was a topic of discussion that one of my classmates could have potentially been racist because that student’s parents were Republican.
Politics is probably the biggest divider of people that exists in this country, so it makes sense that this is an issue in our school, where most everyone is so vehemently Democratic or afraid of saying that they are not. But in this country, freedom of political and religious ideologies are two of the things that we are supposed to allow people to have without judging their character.
Currently our society is largely influenced by the internet. The internet allows for an endless stream of information and opinions at each person’s fingertips. Anyone is allowed to upload their opinions, and because of that, some people build a fanbase that idolizes them. Because of how much the internet controls our society, the people who have the most power on the internet control opinions. We idolize celebrities, which has always been a (potentially problematic) part of our society, but because of how powerful the internet is it feels like it has become worse. Now, because of apps like YouTube, Twitter and Twitch, people with large followings are allowed to say whatever they like. And I have noticed that instead of criticizing what influential people say, many people start to share that opinion because they are a fan of the person delivering the message and because they refuse to think for themselves. I feel like it is people wanting to feel close to celebrities. It is easier for people to just latch onto people of influence because they are afraid to be deemed wrong or judged for their views.
