Hypocritical Me

We live in a world where we are constantly told what to think, say and do. Social media feeds us opinions that creates a world where we don't have to make up our minds or even be able to explain why we have our certain opinions. I can't seem to go one single day without seeing a post on Facebook or Twitter about moral issues such as vegetarianism, religion, feminism, peace in the middle east or gay rights. It's turned into a machine that thinks for me and tries to push these ideologies on to me without me even realising that what I'm doing is being a sheep, following the herd. This has created a problem, we all have opinions about everything but they are not our own opinions.
As a woman who believe in equal rights but isn't one of those women that keep a poster of Rosie the Riveter in my room, I often get the need to say that I am not a feminist. But then again, I believe in equal rights which pretty much makes me a feminist so why don't I speak up? Why don't I stand on the town square with signs demanding equal rights? There is one simple answer to this, laziness. I simply have no power to express my belief in equal rights because I know someone else will do that for me and when they do, I will stand there and think that these women are being extremists and are taking it too far, although they are fighting for me. This is not because I don't appreciate their strength or admire their willpower, it is because I am a victim of the world today. A victim of social media telling me to think this way without understanding why I actually have these opinions.

If you know me the previous statement about myself might surprise you since I am always the one saying that you should stand up for your opinions because here I am, telling you all how much of a hypocrite I am just following the flock. I choose not to take a moral stand even though I know they're actually right. Instead of forming my own opinions about the subject I just assume that what I see on Facebook is the truth and there is no point actually looking in to it. It doesn't matter to how many charities I donate to or how often I swear at the TV when I see something I don't agree with because it won't change a thing. It only means something if I actually take a stand and form my own opinion. But I don't, I just sit there and yell at the news reporter instead. Even though it makes me a hypocrite I'm not ashamed because lets face it, you're probably a hypocrite too. We all are. 

So what should we do then when we are facing these moral dilemmas in our lives and we don't stand a chance to form our own opinions? Well, let me tell you this, your opinion will never be original. There will always be someone else thinking exactly the same thing as you but that doesn't mean you can't form that opinion by yourself and if you know what your opinion is it becomes much easier for you to do something about it. I might be young but I've learnt one thing in life, you can't change everything but there is always something that you can affect and have power over. It might not be groundbreaking but it's a start. So why overthink every single decision you make, if you believe in it it's the right thing to do. (To some extent obviously) But there is one thing you shouldn't do, sit back and watch, because a person that doesn't do anything about his opinions is just a hypocrite and we already have too many of those in the world.