In a world where ranting is one of the most common phenomena and acceptable things to do comes a world that hampers proactivity.
There are just myriad things that are imperfect in this world that everyone can talk about and backlash on. From the recent unfashionable student in class, to the traditional-conservative professor you have or that monstrous teacher that gives a pile of homework every single time.
On a grander scale, we have the whole frenzy in politics to talk about, the recent Mocha Uson statement, the knee-jerker rape joke that Politician D talked about or the statements that Feminist M released.
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use,” states existentialist SØren Kierkegaard.
To make things clear, freedom of speech is necessary for awareness and exposition of one’s views, although a fine line should be drawn between healthy exposition and plain old mud-slinging.
The issue of saturated freedom of speech lies in the thought process behind it. Some of the following dilemmas are setting up stereotypes, opting for easy routes and ending up in a stagnant society.
Setting up stereotypes is the most common prey to unthought of statements. People just see the side of the reporter and not the entirety of the picture. Take for example how traffic policies are set up on jaywalking while a nonchalant jaywalker rants about the matter on social media that exposes only his/her selective experience to prove that she is right. This leaves both the policies and the enforcers in a state of defenselessness.
With the same example, the jaywalker just opts for an easier way out to feel better about himself. It is a violation left with no reflections and whatsoever. His hassle experience of traffic violation gives him enough spite and just go complain about it all day long.
Now, where does this truly leave us?
This whole cycle of repetitive complaining leaves us in a blackhole of stagnancy. We are swayed to focus on things that are merely temporal. But in the longer picture, everyone rides into the endemic of an ‘unfulfilled dream’.
If only we are able to explore the limits of our cognitive ability and put things into perspective, we are able to stir up initiatives and self-reflections beneficial in a longer run.
Our ideas, as a result thereof, become driving factors for us to better people and law abiding citizens or better yet, people who can step up and make a change in a faulty system that we deem to have.
Story by Patrick Lo
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