The Misconception Surrounding ‘Respect People’s Opinions’ | Not Every Opinion Ought to Be Respected…

Some say opinions are like noses, everyone has one—and that is a fact. However, the assumption that each and every opinion ought to be respected is not true and my many years of writing for Ghanaians has taught me that this is the sort of misconception a huge number of Ghanaians have bought into…

Being entitled to an opinion is far different from having your opinion respected. It’s only those with no sense of reason who would assert that every opinion expressed ought to be respected and I will indicate why I am saying this in the following paragraphs.

The truth is, certain opinions ought to be TRASHED—be thrown into the trash can because that is where they belong. Yet, I keep bumping into several Ghanaians arguing that; respect every opinion—irrespective of the details and no matter how absurd these opinions are…

To these Ghanaians (and you can find some of these arguments under this article), even if a person is of the opinion that women are lesser human beings who deserve to be chained or abused by men, we have to respect such an opinion.

The above stated opinion should not be tolerated, in fact, a conscious effort must be made to displace it and push the one holding on this to understand that, such opinions have no place in today’s world.

Perhaps, when we hear of ‘respect the opinion of others’; we forget to reason along the lines that, this phrase does not protect racist opinions/comments, homophobic opinions/comments or any opinion which does not sit well with reason.

If your opinion is that “The ‘Ewes Have Bad Body Odour’, the ‘Ashantis Are Thieves’ the ‘Akwapims Are Fools’ & the ‘Fantis Are Lazy’,” we do not have to respect it…

The fact that you have a right to an opinion does not mean you have to form and express opinions grounded on total absurdity. We can all hold different opinions and express them, but whatever the opinion is, it must sit well with reason and must be respectable of others. Any opinion which has no basis in reason and seek to perpetuate discrimination, violence or any ‘disposed of Palaeolithic era nonsense’ ought not to be respected.

If your opinion is that homosexuals are animals or abomination and as such they should not be equally treated or they should be lynched, do not expect any reasonable person to respect this opinion. In civilized societies, you can even lose your job for such baloney called opinion. In 2013, Former NFL running back-Craig James lost his job for making an anti-gay comment. In the same year, UK’s High Court upheld a classroom ban on a Christian school teacher who condemned the “homosexual lifestyle” in front of pupils. The teacher-Mr Robert Haye told a Year 11 class of students aged 15-16 that the way homosexual people lived was “disgusting” and a sin, according to the Bible.

You are free to hold an opinion and express it but for such an opinion to be respected, it must be deemed as one worth being respected. This may be a little complicated for some of you but the truth is, your right to express opinions is not absolute—you must do so within certain borders.

Indeed, you can actually get into trouble with the law for expression certain opinions. You can hold whatever opinion you want (because no one will know about it) but the moment you decide to express that opinion, you must ensure it falls within certain scope—else you would have to face the consequence which sometimes could be more than not having that opinion respected.

You are free to hold whatever opinion you want but you are not free to express whatever opinion you hold and you shouldn’t expect every opinion to be respected.