Thread by @AliothFox

On the topic of "opinions," let's talk about opinions for a moment, because that word gets tossed around on Twitter a lot. It's late, I'm struggling to sleep, and I have a lot to say, so buckle up and bear with me for a bit. This will be a long thread.

First, there are two critical things that I think people really ought to bear in mind about Opinions on Twitter.
1) You don't have to have one.
2) Even if you do have one, you don't have to say it.

This isn't "shut up and be quiet" - more "you have the right to remain silent"

Freedom of speech is also the freedom NOT to speak when you have nothing to contribute. You don't have to weigh in on everything, and many times, YOUR life will be less stressful if you don't. It's often much harder to disengage than it is to simply not engage in the first place.

If you don't know/care about a particular piece of discourse that's floating around, you don't have to have an opinion about it - but you're hurting yourself by calling attention to that. You don't have to say "I don't know/care." Just... don't say anything.

When you obviously care enough to comment on the subject, you can expect to get drawn into those conversations. Yes, you can disengage at any time, but you'll almost certainly lose more face by disengaging than by simply not jumping into it in the first place.

This is EVEN MORE true when you DO have an opinion that you KNOW will not be well-received. If you know your opinion is deeply unpopular, ask yourself what you gain by proclaiming it for all to see.

If you're really honest, there's only two real reasons for sharing those opinions you know are unpopular: one, you need attention in the form of martyrdom; two, you just enjoy stirring up shit. (And those two reasons are by no means mutually exclusive.)

Oh, you can say you're "breaking up the groupthink" or whatever noble justification you've come up with, but let's be real: you're not fooling anyone. You know what you're doing. I've done it plenty of times - sometimes I've regretted it, other times not.

Shit-stirring doesn't always make you a horrible person; sometimes it's fun and more or less harmless (when I mention how bad Majora's Mask is in the Zelda canon, even though I believe it, I know exactly what I'm doing when I say it aloud; there's no need to pretend otherwise).

Good old-fashioned trash-talking is just part of the social games that most of us play, and occasionally, stans DO need to be taken down a couple of pegs. But you HAVE to recognize that not all topics are harmless when it comes to trash-talk.

I won't get into what the "safe targets" are; that's something that requires you to READ THE ROOM. If you fuck up, own your fuckups. I've had to eat my fair share of crow over the years due to ignorance, getting caught in the moment, and just plain sticking my foot in my mouth.

But anyway, back to opinions: you don't have to have them, and even if you do have them, you don't have to share them. It's just fine to mentally check out and say "I'm not getting into this." This idea that you are *expected* to have an opinion about *everything* is bunk.

No one is going to force you to have an opinion (unless *you're* the center of the discourse yourself and are expected to respond to it, but that's for another thread), but once you've *declared* "I don't care," it's gone from "I don't have an opinion" to "I can't be bothered."

At that point, whether you realize it or not, you HAVE stated an opinion, and that opinion is "This issue is not important enough for me to learn about so I can form an opinion." For some things, that's fine. (You don't need to say it, but you probably won't hurt anything.)

But at other times, the people who are affected by those issues read that as "I do not care enough about you to educate myself on these things that are affecting your life." And you have that right, but don't be surprised when those people don't want to associate with you.

Furthermore, don't be surprised when those people choose not to take your other opinions seriously. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few years, you've seen, at some point, that ever-green XKCD comic about what freedom of speech does/doesn't mean.

When you say "I have a right to my opinion," or "I'm entitled to your opinion," that's a silly statement because of course no one can prevent you from having an opinion. If you want to believe the moon is made of cheese, no one can just go in and magically purge that opinion.

But that isn't what you're talking about, and we all know it. When you say "I'm entitled to my opinion," what you really mean is "I'm entitled to a platform to share my opinion and an audience that will treat it with respect," and... no, sorry, but you are not entitled to that.

If your opinion is wrong, people are just as free to disagree with it (as rudely as they wish within the platform's rules) or cut your opinion off from their news feed altogether as you are to share it. Under no circumstances are you ever entitled to a polite, captive audience.

If your opinion is not only wrong but also absurd and/or dangerous, then you can and should expect for it to be shouted down, especially by the people it targets. No one owes you debate - as I said in the beginning, freedom of speech is also freedom NOT to engage.

You are responsible for your own words, and for the consequences you face for sharing them. Those consequences will not always seem fair. They won't always BE fair. But ultimately, YOU are the one in control of the things you say.

Don't blame your bad opinions on some mental illness or disability. That doesn't excuse you from controlling what you say, and using it as an excuse makes life that much harder for OTHER people with those conditions.

Don't write it off as "I'm just an asshole" and then turn around and wonder why you're so lonely and no one wants to be around you. Don't take pride in being an asshole.

And don't - DO NOT - use self-deprecating statements to guilt-trip people into feeling sorry for you ("You're right, I'm horrible, etc.") so they'll just move on and turn to sympathy. There's a difference between a meaningful apology and manipulative groveling/wallowing.

TLDR: (And to be clear, none of this is subtweeting) You don't have to have/state an opinion. Take responsibility for the opinions you have. Own your fuckups. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

*"I'm entitled to my opinion" (Damn it Twitter, edit button plz)