In modern culture, it seems as though it is frowned upon for someone to have an opinion outside of the norm - the norm being what is deemed as "socially acceptable".
When you have an opinion outside of the norm, it is often seen as being controversial by nature.
Many people may even see you having a difference of opinion as being offensive in some way.
The reason for this is simple - we all want to be right!
Every single one of us wants to be right about something.
In the midst of a debate, you will see people going back and forth weighing on their opinions to further prove to the opposer that they are in fact correct.
One thing that is interesting about a debate is watching how two people can stand toe-to-toe to defend their own opinions and truth.
The important thing to take away from this is the uncanny ability to defend your own opinion because if you are going to have one, you must be willing to defend it.
Sometimes defending an opinion or self-belief results in a heated encounter with someone else who doesn't see eye-to-eye with you.
This does not go without mentioning that others can also get rather emotional in the heat of a debate - reacting to the counter argument, name calling, refusing to listen to what the other person has to say etc.
In these types of situations, it is important to understand the power of being calm.
If you are confident that your opinion holds weight, then what is the need for calling someone names and getting emotional when someone else doesn't see the picture in which you are presenting them with?
When we get emotional in these types of situations, it is natural to completely overlook the counter argument because we are solely focused on proving our own point.
By remaining calm, we can start to see and understand more of where the other person is coming from.
Maybe someone with an opposing view has an interesting point that requires further reflection.
Whatever the case is, it is important to try and understand where the other person is coming from.
Many people in modern society have opinions on things and they don't even know why.
With social media, many peoples opinions are piggy backed off of other peoples opinions because of our natural urge to consume.
We are constantly exposed to other peoples thoughts and worldviews based off of the content we consume and many of our own thoughts and beliefs will mirror that of which we consume.
When it comes to having an opposing belief or opinion, it is important to understand that it requires inner reflection with the self.
You must be able to learn to think for yourself before you are going to defend your own opinion.
Once we have become confident in defending our own opinions, it displays that we do in fact have the ability to think for ourselves, especially if it seen as being socially controversial.
I would even argue that having controversial opinions is good for society as a whole because it inspires one to think outside of the norm.
However, when we become too emotionally attached to our beliefs and opinions, we will continue to turn ourselves away from those who do not agree.
Having strong opinions outside of what is socially acceptable has to ability to be a positive influence on our character.
It forces us to think deeper as to why we believe certain things.
Before I go any further, I do not want people to think that I am promoting radicalism in any way, because having radical negative opinions can do more harm than good.
But what I am saying is that the more we develop our ability to think for ourselves and make genuine efforts to try and understand people better, we can harness the ability to open up our minds to new unconquered levels.