How did you overcome worrying about what others think of your opinions, even

[Mike 03]

though they might be unpopular?

Another way of putting this is: Courage. There's plenty of it here. How do you acquire it, inherit it or build it?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. Through practice. nt

[phantom power]

2. I think courage is like a muscle. Gets better with practice.

[glowing]

3. I think I was taught it. My parents always taught me to fight and stand for what is good for me.

somewhere I figured what's good for me is something that should be good for all; not just me. Fight on.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Well, first I think about how stupid the average American is.

And then I remember that half of all Americans are even stupider than that.

[Mike 03]

6. LOL. NT

[bertman]

7. LOL. Bornaginhooligan, so you're saying you gain courage from the stupidity of Americans?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. I'm saying if someone has a poor opinion of me, they're probably one of the morons.

This is an internet message board, for fuck's sake. It's one step up from grafitti in the stalls of interstate rest stops. If you get upset over something somebody said on the internet then you're doing it wrong.

[bertman]

24. "if someone has a poor opinion of me, they're probably one of the morons."

:rofl:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

10. Stupidity.

The great uninhibitor (yes, my made-up word).

Bwahahahahaha... :rofl:

[eShirl]

5. the older you get, the less you care what others think

it takes too much energy

[rubberducky]

9. How true!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

20. Yeah, getting old helps. At 58, I no longer feel the need to

impress chicks or anyone else for that matter. Actually, I would like to be able to still impress chicks but at 58, it no longer works so why bother. It's just not important that people like me anymore. I am, at this stage, pretty much who I am going to be and you either like it or you don't and I don't feel any need to try to be who I'm not just so folks like me. You can disagree. I'll listen to your argument and consider it. If your argument has merit, I am willing to change my position but I am no longer willing to go along to get along because my remaining life is too short to really give a fuck about what you think about me.

[Fumesucker]

21. I'm 58 also.. I can think of two chicks I impress regularly...

My two granddaughters love me.. :rofl:

[Individualist]

22. Absolutely

[Philosoraptor]

8. Why, what have you heard? Who said it? I need to know now!

[Cattledog]

12. I'm a Sociopath!

That makes it easy!


:evilgrin:

[EFerrari]

15. . . .

:rofl:

[county worker]

13. You become enlightened

IMMANUEL KANT
An Answer to the Question:
What is Enlightenment? (1784)
Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.

[polichick]

14. imo it has to do with trusting yourself and feeling comfortable in your own skin.

[hunter]

16. Asperger's. I've never worried about what others think of my opinions.

And, damn, have I got the scars to prove it.

:woohoo:

(Did you know that little woohoo smiley is NAKED!)

[mondo joe]

17. For myself, I've just tried to have the most logical stance I could. A find a logical

stance remains logical, even if unpopular.

[Bucky]

18. First off I stay on the internet so that I'm never actually confronted by others

Second off, I carefully close my mind off to all outside available facts or the thoughtful analysis of others.

Finally, on those rare occasions when I cannot simply avoid other peoples' facts, deploy my ready arsenal of conspiracy theories, personal attacks, baseless claims of photoshopping, and spiffy quotes like "That's just what they want you think!"

This is the key to my courage. Also, the Wizard gave me a medal.


 

[fla nocount]

19. Fuck courage, it's about respect for others opinions.

THEY have to earn it from you. Otherwise you're just the merry scamp scurrying about your life and trying to find comfort and well being within yourself and your actions. THEY have to attract your attention with a worthy missile to get you to join the ranks of the subjected. Almost 60 and it ain't happened yet...not likely either.

[Fumesucker]

23. For me it was after I took on Neal Boortz on his own Compuserve forum..

And whipped him like a rented mule.. To the point he wouldn't respond to me any more. :evilgrin:

I joined Compuserve specifically to get on Boortz's forum, I'd listened to him for a long time on the radio and knew exactly where he was full of bullshit since I'd shouted my rebuttal points at the car radio more times than I could possibly count.

After that I realized that there are very few people who have much of a clue what they're talking about.

[kayakjohnny]

25. What the fuck does it matter to you?

See how easy it is?

Cheers!

[w8liftinglady]

26. it was hard at first...my area is 75% red

I just decided to take a stand...it helped that my son was in Iraq,so I was personally invested..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

27. Toning up the shrug muscles helps.

[elleng]

28. Just GOT it.

Inherited?

[LWolf]

29. See the screen name:

I've been the lone wolf all of my life. I suffered from peer pressure in middle school, began to leave it behind in high school, and have been free of it for the 31 years since.

It might have something to do with being an only child raised by a single parent with no extended family at all, who moved every single year of my childhood. I was conditioned from birth to be the outsider without anyone "having my back."

I learned damned early to defend myself from physical and verbal attacks, and to hold my own in any confrontation.