How to not Have an Opinion

So, today, I decided to poke fun at a friend about the new Avatar movie. Not the one with the tall blue people, but the one with really cool air/fire/element bending techniques. The Last Airbender. Yeah, that's it.
For the past few months, or ever since M. Night Shyamalan's name has been attached to it, I've been fairly convinced that it was going to turn into a terrible movie, not to mention the fact that Jackson Rathbone is one of the stars (Sokka) of the movie. Yeah, that's the guy who plays Jasper in the Twilight series. Yes, that's the one who has absolutely no lines in said Twilight series.
So, between friends, we constantly poked fun with each other. He thought it was going to be amazing, I thought it was going to be complete crap.

Guess who was right.

So, today, on Facebook, because Facebook is serious business, I posted a status: "For those who were sorely disappointed by Avatar: The Last Airbender...*cough*...I TOLD YOU SO! >.> Anything Shyamalan's name is tacked on now turns into complete crap. Sorry guys."

Not the most pretty status in the world, but, hey. It's an opinion.

Fairly quickly, I received responses agreeing with the statement and I didn't think anything more about it. That is, until I refreshed my profile and had 6 comments on it all attacking each other and me.
"If you liked the series, it's not Shyamalan's fault that you didn't like the movie", "He was picked because he helped create the series" (For the record, Shyamalan is listed on no credits I can find of the series itself, I could be wrong, but I don't think he helped create it). 
I blew it off and just kind of responded explaining why I was upset with the movie. I mean, it does leave out a lot of important key events and character development.


Within minutes I was told I was too bent out of shape about the movie not being exactly like the series and that I needed to get over it because Facebook criticism is stupid because no one of any importance is going to see it and change it to fit my desires. The same person then proceeded to tell me that neither me, nor my opinion of the movie, mattered one bit and that I should just shut up and get over it because life is better without critics. When I then told her that I was entitled to my opinion and never once got over zealous in defending it, I was told that she was "not trying to make [me] mad" but was tired of it clogging her newsfeed.
I promptly told her that I wasn't mad, just frustrated that my opinion had been torn apart and blown off as a part of nothing.

I figured things were over and done with until a post between her and another friend showed up in my newsfeed: "You know, people like Haley shouldn't have a facebook. All she does is start arguments about shit that doesn't matter. It's not like anyone really cares what she has to say. It's not like anyone notices her thoughts anyways".

At that point, I was mad. But, it also made me think.


Since when did people decide that no one is allowed to have an opinion?
It's an issue that's been growing for years. The minute someone states his or her opinion or belief, they're attacked by someone who disagrees and made to feel like what they're saying doesn't really matter.
It's not even just among peers anymore. It happens in the news all the time. When you have anchors like Bill O'Reilly who can't seem to understand that not everyone agrees with them, how are you supposed to feel like you have the freedom to believe in anything?
Just the other day, I saw a recording of one of O'Reilly's newscasts in which he compared homosexuals to Al Qaeda, during a LIVE BROADCAST. 
Don't believe me? See for yourself.

In a full version of the video, you see him explaining to the woman that she's wrong and ignores it when she calls him out on other hateful comments and politely disagrees with him.

Actions like this seem to be fairly common in today's world.
It's sad that we can't seem to have our own opinions, and if we do, we risk being attacked or killed. Take the boy who was murdered on a bus years ago for saying that Megadeth was better than Metallica. He was KILLED for disagreeing with his peers over something so small.
People are being physically attacked for not liking Twilight as well. Go to the forums at twilightsucks.com and you'll see personal stories from girls and women who were beaten because they weren't fans of the franchise.


It seems we really are turning into a nation that no longer supports Freedom of Speech. Is this really what we want. Is this really how we want to live?


It's beginning to get scary.