One tendency I’ve noticed, and that I may have been guilty of (hopefully only) in the past, is that some guys, almost invariably white guys my age or older, are so used to being able to spout their opinions with a minimum of criticism or blowback, however idiotic those opinions might be, that they react very poorly to being called out, particularly by a woman. I don’t think most of them are even aware of what they are actually doing, which almost makes it worse than if they would just admit that they don’t like being corrected in public by a girl.
People in general, but especially conservatives, have gotten very postmodern about their “opinions.” Any refusal to hear what someone else has to say is viewed as intolerance or closed-mindedness – an accusation that the speaker almost never levels at him- or herself, by the way. It never crosses their mind that you might not want to consider Fox News’ opinions because they have nothing to say that you haven’t heard, considered, and dismissed thousands of times before.
A vehemently “pro-life” Facebook friend (who unfriended me immediately after the exchange I’m about to describe) was explaining to me in very pedantic language how no one has an inherent right to health care, because that sort of right requires infringements on the rights of others through taxation, and also because the types of procedures sought might conflict with others’ religious views blah blah blah. I pointed out that her stridently pro-life views were in direct conflict with this opinion, as she could hardly claim to be a supporter of “life” in general if she wasn’t willing to step up to protect life at an actual cost to herself. I think the exact way I put it was to state that she is only “pro-life” when it costs her nothing personally. Maybe I was rude, but the conversation stopped there. Rather than respond to my point, she instead (and I roughly quote) said “I have always tried to respect your opinions. It’s a shame that you can’t respect mine.”
That response struck me as so mind-numbingly stupid and irrelevant, not to mention false, that all I could manage to say in response was that she should try to have some opinions that don’t result in the deaths of so many children past the age of birth. She unfriended me almost immediately afterwards. In reality, she had no respect for my opinions and I had no respect for hers. She wasn’t prepared to defend the substance of her opinions because, I suspect, people decided somewhere along the way that “opinions” are no longer subject to criticism. It is both pathetic and terrifying.
