Game journalism and other nonsense.

That’s the basis of what some people have told me when I try to give my thoughts or views on a specific topic (gender, race, politics, abuse, etc.) When I try to have a constructive conversation with someone or show them some form of evidence that goes against their own viewpoint, they tell me that I have no right to give them my two cents because I wasn’t “there”.

I find this incredibly frustrating and nonproductive because I’m basically being told that my thoughts aren’t worth shit. Not only is this an enormous logical fallacy, but it is also extremely close-minded. This is the type of mentality that people living in an “echo chamber” have when their ideals are challenged in the slightest increment. They let in only ideas that make them feel comfortable and keep the ones that oppose them out, like some kid’s secret club with a “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” sign nailed on the entrance to their treehouse.

I’m not saying that I don’t empathize with whatever hardships the person I may be talking to has experienced, nor am I saying that experience is not a factor within making certain choices or talking about certain things. For example, if I were a plumber, I wouldn’t try to do work made for an electrician or carpenter.

This is different though, because when people tell me I don’t know what they’ve experienced, it’s usually based on a topic based more around experiences of the emotional and psychological type. For example, I’m told that I can’t give my opinion on gender identity because I’m a cis male who’s never experienced gender dysphoria.

It may be true that I haven’t experienced exactly what said person has had, but I have gone through problems relating to my identity and self-acceptance. We may have our own spins on it, but almost everyone has gone through some form of pain. Suffering is one of the things that makes us human. It knows no boundaries and can take the shape of any type of issue. Telling me that I haven’t felt what you have felt is- well, dead wrong. Because in the end, it has a similar impact on us. Not to mention, having an external viewpoint is crucial to solving various problems and constructing better ideas. If we only talked about things that were based off personal experience, we’d get nowhere and live in our own personal bubbles of reality.