No Way I Have to Respect Your Choice

The drastically overused concept of “Political Correctness”, as an empowering and self-enabling justification for truly bad choices, is a moral cop-out. It has become the “soupe de jour” for uneducated individuals who believe that any of their selfish, effortless personal choices and resultant actions are always defensible, simply because they are humans and they have the “right to choose”. Some small-minded types may imagine, in their wildest fantasies, that all of mankind is required to accept and / or respect any choice made by them, no matter how ludicrous and harmful the results may be. They feel that the political correctness we so boldly brandish in today’s civilized world, offers suitable protection from ridicule and evaluation of the ignorant and hurtful things they do and say. One drawback is that these same self-righteous souls are seldom on board with accepting the consequences of their choices. For example, If I am expected to accept and respect a person’s right to choose NOT to be vaccinated against the Covid virus, and any of its variants, that person must also accept and respect my decision NOT to allow him into my place of business or my home. Sometimes, I think it would be easier if I just refused to accept / respect that person’s choice in the first place, then there would be no nasty surprises for anyone regarding the acts that follow.

On July 6, 1945, the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman and his band of merry men, chose to drop two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. I accept the fact that he had a choice to make, and I accept his right (and obligation in this case), to make a choice (i.e. to drop the bombs, or not to drop the bombs). I do not, however, accept or respect the choice that he eventually made. If I were to respect his choice, I would be respecting his action of killing over 120 thousand Japanese citizens instantly in the two bombings. I cannot respect the murder of thousands of men, women and children, simply and innocently on their way to work and school.

I think that the problem begins with the fact that many in our world today, have obvious difficulty understanding the definitions of, and making distinctions in their use of, the words - opinion, belief, decision, choice, action, accept and respect. The words opinion and belief carry with them implications of non-behavior. Non-behavior on its own cannot hurt anyone. A belief cannot hurt me or my neighbour. An opinion does not drop a bomb or refuse to wear a mask on its own. For example, I may be of the opinion that driving while impaired is NOT dangerous (which is not harmful in and of itself), but then, I can still go on to choose or not choose to drive while impaired (which could end up being very harmful). Opinions and beliefs are not a problem until they cross over the boundary into choice, decision and ultimately action. Everyone has beliefs and opinions. We can't help that we have them - it is part of being human to have them. So, we all just have to accept that those around us will have beliefs and opinions and be kind enough to respect the people that have them. Decision and choice, are words which represent the first step in actually doing something. Choice is the simpler of the two because it refers to the minimal mental strength required to pick from two or more possible actions, already outlined. Decision, on the other hand, implies independent and critical thinking, and requires the creativity and originality necessary to design and develop one's own course of action. For example, those people who end up being vaccinated for Covid, make the decision to get the jab, while anti-vaxxers, on the other hand, choose much more simply it seems, not to be vaccinated. By definition, way more thought goes into a decision than into a choice.

To continue, action not only implies behavior, but it is behavioral by definition and it encompasses affect and effect. If the act is non-harmful then it can be accepted and even respected. If the act is beneficial, it will no doubt be accepted and respected. An action that is harmful to anyone need not be accepted and certainly won’t be respected. It is important for all of us to respect other human beings and to accept that they will have beliefs and opinions. But, we must always separate the person from what he actually does and what he actually believes and therefore chooses to do. We must always separate the inevitability of believing and of having an opinion, from the manifestations of them. If we do that, it becomes much simpler to see that we need not accept or respect the content of choices, decisions or actions in and of themselves.

But, who gets to say what is accepted and respected? A different line needs to be drawn in the sand, each time a new situation arises. Some actions are accepted and/or respected by some people but not others. Our world has come to the point where many people believe every action and therefore every choice leading to that action needs to be accepted and/or respected by every other person on the planet. Blanket acceptance or respect for decisions, choices and actions has become the demand of everyone who makes or performs them. It seems that we have all somehow earned the right to do whatever it is we want (harmful or not), and be accepted and respected for doing it.

For example, anyone is dead wrong if they think I have to respect or even accept their choice NOT to wear a mask in a public venue during a viral pandemic. I accept that they are entitled to have a belief and/or an opinion about a problem with masks. However, I will neither accept nor respect the content of their beliefs and opinions about not wearing masks, because I have not seen any reliable evidence supporting that point of view in the matter. Why should I respect their opinion unless they have some pretty solid evidence to back that opinion up? Continuing, when it comes to the actions manifested by choosing not to wear a mask in public, I will certainly not respect that choice, although, I will likely have to accept that they have made a bad choice.

I have grown to accept that all people have beliefs and that those beliefs may differ from mine. Beliefs are different from opinions though. Beliefs come from faith in something. Opinions must be born from a knowledge base - if they are not, then they are really just unsubstantiated beliefs. If the knowledge base is strong and proven or verified in a traditional scientific sense, then the opinion is acceptable and most often respectable. If the opinion comes as a result of non-verifiable knowledge, myth, folklore or rumor, then the content of the opinion must necessarily be up for some degree of debate.

For example, my neighbour is of the opinion that a vaccination against the Covid Virus is the government’s way of controlling the citizens of the country and, Big Pharma's method of manipulating the roll-outs of vaccine and ultimately the global economy. I accept the fact that my neighbour has an opinion, but I neither accept nor respect the content of that opinion, because it is not based on anything verifiable or capable of being proven scientifically. His opinion rather, is based on hearsay and rumor and certainly spread via channels of social media. His opinion is merely a carbon copy of someone else's opinion. It gains acceptance and a following only through a lack of information. It is further enhanced because it validates what is already believed by him and by others like him who need the same sort of ego-stroking that he seeks. As the number of followers for his opinion grows, his opinion is further validated, and that is the ONLY way in which the opinion can possibly be (falsely) 'proven'. He lives in a "Game of Thrones" world, where the prophets and philosophers with the loudest voices and the biggest armies, are the only ones speaking the 'real truth'.

I also have a second neighbor who is of the opinion that being vaccinated is effective in controlling the spread of the Covid virus and in possibly eliminating it altogether. The strength of his opinion is not based on the number of people that share his opinion, but rather on his own personal research into the volume of scientific and medical evidence derived from the observance of the effects of vaccines used in the past to eradicate diseases like smallpox and polio. This neighbour's opinion is held independent of any other person's opinion and not held simply because of that other person's opinion. His opinion is gleaned from information found in any number of the thousands of respected medical journals, and which is available to anyone who has the wherewithal to read them. I agree that it takes substantially more time and energy to read the results of a truly scientific finding than it does to ponder the fabricated post of some schmuck on Facebook simply spouting his ill-informed opinion, but the former does at least allow for independent thinking and the opportunity to use the vast body of critical thinking skills we all claim to possess.

And, of course, if I do not accept the opinion of the first neighbour, I certainly will not respect it either. If I do not respect his opinion regarding the wearing of masks or getting vaccinated, I will most definitely not respect his choice / action of non-compliance. Ultimately, his non-compliance is potentially dangerous to my health and safety and, that of other people, so I can consider him to be a threat. In short, I don’t respect threats, nor am I obligated to do so. However, it is important to remember, that I still respect my neighbour as a human being and accept the fact that he has beliefs and opinions from time to time.

I cringe every time I hear a person state, “Well, it’s his choice not to get vaccinated, so you have to respect his choice.”

No I don’t!!!!! His choice is a stupid one, and I am not obligated in any way, shape or form to accept, or respect, stupidity. Secondly, I don’t respect anyone’s insistence on the fact that I have to respect that guy’s stupidity.

And this is where our society has gone - way beyond the realm of correctness. It has become “in vogue” for all the weak and lazy thinkers out there to play the “political correctness” card every time something gets discussed and they are in fear of losing the argument. I agree, it is politically correct to respect someone’s right to a belief (common or not), but it’s not a display of political correctness to respect someone’s choice, if in fact, it is a bad choice – that’s just plain stupid. I refuse to enable stupidity and dangerous actions in the name of someone’s concocted notion of what political correctness actually is.

Anyway, I believe in brevity and I am of the opinion that more is not necessarily better, so ultimately, I will have to make a choice between proceeding onward from this point or indeed, ending my essay here and now. Further examination of the issue has allowed me to make an informed decision regarding any form of continuation. That body of additional knowledge and research has led me to at last make my choice. I have decided to behave in favor of ending my essay at this point, and so therefore choose to act accordingly.

In other words - THE END.