Every Opinion Is an Introduction
Every opinion is an introduction.
We just don’t always like what we learn.
Say you don’t like a certain food, a style of clothing, a city, a type of furniture, a landscape.
No one calls you judgmental.
They call it personality. Preference. Self-expression.
But the moment the same mechanism is applied to people, suddenly it becomes a moral crime.
Why?
Because we confuse self-expression with personal attack.
Every opinion we hold is filtered through the same system: our senses, our experiences, our beliefs, our conditioning.
Sight.
Taste.
Sound.
Touch.
Meaning.
Whether you’re talking about food, clothes, art, bodies, or human behaviour — the process is identical.
So when someone says:
“I like athletic bodies.”
“I’m attracted to discipline.”
“I value ambition.”
“I prefer depth over small talk.”
They are not commenting on your worth.
They are introducing themselves.
Every choice we make is an introduction.
The clothes we wear.
The friends we choose.
The books we read.
The environments we thrive in.
Even our opinions.
“Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are” isn’t judgment. It’s observation.
Selection is not rejection.
Preference is not condemnation.
And this is where things get uncomfortable.
Because offence begins when we take someone else’s self-expression and make it about us.
When we hear:
“This isn’t my cup of tea”
…and translate it into:
“I’m not good enough.”
But that translation is ours.
Offence doesn’t come from the other person’s opinion.
It comes from the insecurity that needs their opinion to validate or threaten us.
Nowhere is this more visible than in environments shaped by comparison, evaluation, and power.
People making decisions that affect others.
People waiting for outcomes to define them.
People tying worth to approval, often disguised as safety.
Every decision-maker filters the world through their own lens.
Not because they’re right.
Not because they’re fair.
But because they are human.
Their experience becomes their belief.
Their belief becomes their criteria.
Their criteria becomes their choice.
And sometimes, yes, there are forces at play they claim are “outside their control.”
But even there, something important is revealed.
Every time someone justifies a decision by saying:
“My hands were tied”
“I had no choice”
“That’s just how it works”
They are not explaining the situation.
They are revealing themselves.
They are revealing:
what level of unfairness they tolerate
how much power they believe others have over them
how secure they feel in their own position
what values they are willing to compromise under pressure
Threat doesn’t create character. It exposes it.
And the same is true on the other side.
When we feel judged, rejected, overlooked — the question is not: “Why are they like this?”
But: “What inside me needs their choice to define me?”
Because every opinion expressed is information, not a verdict.
It tells you about them. And your reaction tells you about you.
So the invitation is simple, but not easy:
Stop giving away your power by saying: “I feel this way because of them.”
See opinions for what they are: introductions, not accusations.
And ask yourself, gently, honestly:
When someone speaks, chooses, or decides, do you hear an attack, or an introduction?
Because how you answer that changes everything.
