Righteous Indignation

Righteous indignation and anger, those are two feelings that I feel the most. Though I am very vocal on this blog and in my life, I cannot help but realize that my opinions and actions also affect those that are closest to me, so I filter my thoughts and my understanding of life so as to protect my friends and family. I am luckier than most like-minded people in the sense that my family does not judge me because of my lack of beliefs. Though I can't help but think that if left unfiltered, my thoughts and opinions would more than raise an eyebrow.  I also know that some people would look down upon those I care about because of those opinions and I care enough to not state some things publically. I can take the social suicide caused by the expression of my ideas, but I cannot sit around and see the injustice of others being judged because of something I did or said. Keeping some of my ideas hidden, while hurtful to me, does not hold a candle to seeing someone else being ostracized or criticized merely because they associate with the like of me, and even agree.

I am extremely vocal, if people want to know what I think, I will typically give them a straight answer. I will not however answer publically for something that might affect those I care about. I read a lot of stories about those who fought for what they believed and I aspire to be one of those people; I aspire to be the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Christopher Hitchens, and Mahatma Gandhi. I see bloggers and youtubers who kept their identities and personal information secret because of the impact their thoughts could have on their loved ones. I have witnessed those people’s personal information released to the public in order to threaten the social and public life of those around them. Friends, there are many more controversial ideas brewing in my mind, but until those who are closest to me are safe from social harm because of their association with me, I cannot state them.

This brings me to righteous indignation and anger; why is it that they would be judged because of something I believe? Why is it that people feel a need to judge others based on their relationship with someone? It is not as though people I associate with agree with me 100% of the time, and I would argue that it would make for a boring life if it were true. I have friends with differing points of views on most of what I think and I still speak my mind to them, albeit in verbal form so as not to be misconstrued. Our society needs to change drastically for true freedom of expression, and I do not mean in the legal sense. I mean that if I were to say something controversial on a certain subject, and share from my own life, my family would be judged, not because they necessarily agree with me, but simply because they are close in relation to me. This angers me to my core and sometimes I wish that this part of our society would just disappear.