Rollo

Ooh boy here comes another opinion.

So I was talking with a close relative today, she's a hardcore feminist with a mug that says Male Tears. It's good to get the other side of the argument alright? So she was ranting about stuff and eventually we came to the topic of the definition of feminism and why some people don't call themselves feminists even though they believe in equal rights. Pretty surface-level stuff. She said that if you believe in equal rights you are a feminist. Of course, I disagree with that. I mean, "femin" is in the word, it implies the movement to get females to a higher standard of rights, and that's what the word was spawned off of in the first place.

Now, this kind of continues some thoughts from the last opinionated status update I made. No one has the right to tell you what you classify as because of the nature of your opinion. If you believe in equal rights (like me) but don't believe in other aspects of feminism, the sole fact you believe in equal rights should not dictate whether or not you are a feminist unless you say it. Like, if you enjoy baked beans and like chili, no one has the right to tell you that you enjoy burritos because they have beans in them. That might be a confusing analogy but get what I'm saying? Feminism is a broad spectrum, and believing in equal rights is so broad it's not even a spectrum. People with strong opinions on either side have a tendency to associate anyone with a particular opinion with a broader concept that also likes that idea. For example, calling you a homophobe because you don't think pride month is helpful. Just hearing someone say that will trigger in some people's minds that this person hates gay people in general. Why?

I guess it's just easiest for people to argue against the broad stereotype rather than complex individual opinions, but that makes for some misunderstandings in conversations and kind of why we disagree so much. Because a lot of the time, you're not even arguing with each other. You're arguing with the inflated, exaggerated example of whatever challenges your opinion the most. That doesn't feel like how we should be talking about political issues, especially on a larger scale. I'm going to stop calling you a liberal named John, and you'll stop calling me a conservative named Rollo. I'll call you John. Because your opinions are your own, I don't need to associate John with liberalism, because then I'm not talking to John. I'm suddenly talking to John: Liberal Edition. See what I'm getting at there?

I dunno, I took a while to get to the point and it kind of just accentuates what I said in my last one, but hey. Talking about this stuff is fun.

Anyway, I dunno, I think it's interesting. It's fun to get recent thoughts of mine out there, helps me learn a little too.