Are you Einstein or an idiot?

The more I’ve been exposed to college, the more I realize that some people just don’t know when to sit down and shut up.

I was in my literature class half-listening to the discussion around me when I heard the word “opinion.”

We were talking about the sense of power surrounding different forms of media and art, what constitutes good and bad, and what makes some ideas better than others.

“It’s kind of like opinion columns,” a girl chirped.

“The people who write opinion blogs or articles feel a sense of entitlement. They think they’re above everyone else because their opinion is the one getting published, even when they’re just fulfilling a self-centered desire to gain attention.”

This was greeted with a few nods.

I took a few moments to let the offense wash over me before I raised my hand.

“Well,” I said, “as someone who has an opinion column, I guess I have this massive sense of entitlement,” here the class went silent. “I’d have to say that there is a certain degree of aura surrounding what I do, mostly because I took the time to apply for the job.”

The girl looked back at me, her foot so deep into her mouth that she couldn’t really think of anything to say.

Writing an opinion column is not something I associate with any degree of elitism, but
I enjoyed the three seconds of victorious smugness I earned from putting her in her place.

This isn’t a defense of opinion columnists, even though I think they’re pretty spiffy — but then again I’m biased.

The point is that it’s incredibly easy to offend people for things that are more serious than saying “Merry Christmas” to an atheist.

It’s especially easy when it’s a judgment call based solely on something you kind of know about, or an opinion you have based solely on a stereotype or a half-read CNN article.

In nearly all of the discussion classes I’ve ever been in, there’s always that one guy or girl that has to be the final voice, even when it means seriously offending those around him or her.

When you actively try to be contrary, you don’t channel Einstein and you aren’t the next Plato — you’re just an idiot.

You become unaware of your surroundings, and you ultimately lose more respect than you gain.

You could even potentially offend someone who can write about it in, say, an opinion column.

And that’s always a bad idea.

­— ewenning@indiana.edu