Does our opinion really matter?

I was reading a collection of short stories by Tadeusz Borowski, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, which were inspired by the author’s Auschwitz concentration camp experience.

I wonder if we really can stop genocide in the so-called civilized world, or are we doomed to repeat it? I don’t need to tell you the trends are worrying. There are people who, if given a chance, would gladly repeat the systematic murder of the past. Ignorance is a virtue. Psychopathy is put on a pedestal to be worshipped. Then, there are the atrocious appeasers who think empires can bully smaller nations around for fear of nuclear escalation. Sure, the world has many beautiful qualities, but we can’t ignore the dystopia unfolding around us that makes 1984 look like a romantic comedy.

We share our opinions on how to make the world a better place. A noble goal. This is a marketplace of ideas, after all, and there are as many motivations to write as there are authors. Some people just write to calm their racing mind, others write because they want to show off, then there are those who write to reach that one person who needs to hear a particular message for whatever reason.

Does our writing matter? Some say you never know who reads your writing. The majority of people who read your opinion pieces will never contact you but it doesn’t mean your ideas have no impact.

Or, maybe, that’s exactly what it means? Maybe our writing is just pretending that we’re having any kind of impact because the world around us has its own plan anyway? That’s a pessimistic view, though many would call it brutal realism. Being just a passive observer in a world out of control sounds terrible to me.

The other extreme is believing that every opinion matters, that every opinion can change the world. That’s absurd. I know it’s not readily apparent to some, but an opinion of a billionaire means much more than an opinion of a random blogger on the web.

Most influencers and other wannabe celebrities are going to be famous for fifteen minutes, only to be forgotten, swept away by another tide of pathological narcissists obsessed with going viral. The ones who are remembered for more than fifteen minutes eventually turn into household names. But, in this day and age, not even being a household name guarantees your opinion will be respected.

Thank you, God, for not making me a woman.

As a Pole, I was surprised there’s a Jewish prayer like that. It sure is an original one, although I don’t suppose it’s a popular prayer in liberal circles. I can only imagine how it would sound in a Church…

Well, imagine you have made God mad and God has not only made you a woman, but He has sent you off to some other reality with a different U.S. Constitution. In that other world, you’re a thirty-year old female POTUS. The first, and the youngest, female POTUS in U.S. history.

You’re extremely smart, your education is so impressive people need to sit down in disbelief when they hear about your achievements. But it doesn’t matter, because you’re forced into a role of a beautiful little fool. No one is really interested in what you have to say; rather, all they do on TV and social media is commenting on how clumsily you walk in stilettos. No matter what you say, no matter what you do, you just can’t break trough the ceiling of absurd expectations. Your anger is casually dismissed as a girl throwing tantrums.

In spite of being POTUS who can, theoretically, order a nuclear strike, your opinion is largely irrelevant. A macho dictator has even catcalled you. When angrily asking God about your terribly annoying fate, He replies, That’s just the way it is. That’s just the way it is. A thought-terminating cliche.

Thought-terminating cliches such as: that’s just the way it is, just because, everyone knows that, and the list goes on ad infinitum – are one of the main reasons why the world is so messed up. We just don’t examine our beliefs. We take the world, and others, for granted.

Societies that blindly follow a set of beliefs without challenging where these beliefs come from are on a path to another genocide. All it takes is a charismatic leader who weaponizes the language, brainwashes millions, and unleashes hell on Earth.