Do You Care What Other People Think Of You?

MetalManCPA

Papa Opeth
May 19, 2001
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Inspired by Misanthropes lowered opinion of me - I was wondering if you care what others think of you.

I don't care what people think of me. It has no bearing on how I face the world. I, like others, have opinions of others. That direction is fine. But if you're bothered by the reception of opinions - to me it can only hinder your existance.
 
Other people's opinions about me don't pay my bills, BUT when they're blatantly wrong I feel I have to defend myself. That's just my personality (check out that quiz thread) :D
 
Someone asked this same question in another forum I visit, so for the sake of simplicity, I'll just cut and paste my words to that question here.

Popularity means very little to me. It never really has. I mean, in high school I never wanted, and never tried to be in the "cool crowd". Mainly because I knew off the bat that they weren't my type.

In my day to day life I'm not concerned what people think of me. I figure, we are all different and we like and dislike different things. We will never meet a person who likes and dislikes everything we do, and in daily life it's unlikely to meet someone who shares more than some of your traits.

Why then, should I concern myself with the opinions of others? People who do not know or understand me, and are thus biased? I can understand if it's my siblings or someone really close to me, but the opinions of people in general hold about as much validity as a Ms. Cleo psychic reading.

If I want to dress in black, I'll do it, if one minute I feel like head-banging to Carcass or Dimmu Borgir, and the next minute feel like dancing to Christopher Lawrence or Madonna I'll do it. If I suddenly feel like changing out of my black clothes and wearing a pair of khakis and a gay pride shirt, I'll do that. If I feel like doing anything, I'll do it if I feel it's appropriate.

My will shouldn't be suppressed because I fear what others might think of me, because unless these people know me very well or are a part of my life I don't give a damn what they think, because their opinions of me are biased and insubstantial. Judgments completely based on the exterior impressions, their particular tastes, and ridiculously antiquated social stereotypes.

I'm not now, and I never want to be Mr. Popular. I just want to be myself. People will hate me for it, some people will like me for it. Hell, some people may even befriend me for it. I'd rather have people love or hate me honestly, for who I am, than for a facade I show them to win their fancy. Life is too short and too full of bull to concern myself with everyone else's opinion of me.
 
Belial's post is right on.

No way - it doesn't matter.
The thing is, as human beings our 'locus of emotions' are messed up. Here's what I mean:
The majority of people in the world, talked bad about, feel like crap afterwards. That's because they need help from the 'outside' to feel good about themselves - they lack the inner strength to say 'well screw you, I don't give a hell what you think about me - I like my decisions and myself so fuck you.'
I used to get fun of ALOT in school. Through the years I realized it does not matter at all what people think of you - what freakin' right do they have to judge anyone, anything? Like they are worthy themselves... sure.
Well, those are my thoughts...
 
I feel that I don't honestly care what others think of me. In my mind, I believe this for the most part. Sure, I don't enjoy negative comments and don't seek others disapproval. Then again, I don't seek their approval and can only live my life for me and be who I am. If I tried to suit everyone's needs, I would go crazy trying to make everyone happy. Therefore, I do what I feel is right for me and do what I feel in my heart. I can only live for myself.
 
Originally posted by Raven777
The majority of people in the world, talked bad about, feel like crap afterwards.

This is why half the posters on this thread are liars...hehehe. I'm waiting for someone to be honest and say, "I feel bad when someone talks bad about me," but that'll never happen :D

Edit: Well, OpethianSoul came REALLY close :lol:
 
It depends.
I won't change myself due to others' opinions but neither do I want to close my mind from all the differing opinions about my internal self. I mean, if someone finds something that I should change in my behaviour or things like that and I, after thinking about it, find his/her words wise, I will maybe try to develope myself.

So what I really mean is, that I won't change my self for the others but for myself by others' advice.

edit: I didn't express myself exactly as I wanted but... fuck it, I don't care what you think about me and my posts :D
 
Originally posted by Jannet


This is why half the posters on this thread are liars...hehehe. I'm waiting for someone to be honest and say, "I feel bad when someone talks bad about me," but that'll never happen :D

Edit: Well, OpethianSoul came REALLY close :lol:

Feeling bad is one thing - caring is another. Sure, you may get that down feeling - because you can only control your emotions so much, but actually caring? Nah.
 
Originally posted by Jannet


This is why half the posters on this thread are liars...hehehe. I'm waiting for someone to be honest and say, "I feel bad when someone talks bad about me," but that'll never happen :D

Edit: Well, OpethianSoul came REALLY close :lol:

I'm not a liar, for I honestly don't care what stangers think (anymore).

...Ok, so I did leave out the part that my siblings have the uncanny ability to make me feel like a subhuman in order to look god, but thats all. :lol:
 
People always say that they stay true to themselves. That they have their own identity. Which is bullshit, of course. The conscious mind does not function well if it feel anomalous. Personality is an empty set of rationalizations for our own homogeneity , and when accused of contributing our genitals to the clusterfuck, we suddenly fear the unspoken hypocrisy of our “logical” mind.

anyone who says that they are totally independent of the world's opinion is filthy liar. which is not to say that there aren't individuals or (rarely) groups that are LESS clusterfucked than others.

(when i say groups, you must understand for that most groups to exist, they share some common thing. punkers have their own little subculture of rebellion in which everybody rebels the same way. that, to me, is a clusterfuck, good intentions or not.)

sure, it's gonna affect me if i walk through school and people start whispering about me wearing all black, but it then end, i can think "fuck them" and go on with my normal life.
 
The more I respect a person the more I care about them liking me, but when it comes down to it, people can dislike me all they want as long as they don't try to screw with my life. Like when people try to poison other people's opinion of you, ruin your relationships, vandalize your car, try to get you fired... That stuff does bother me, and chances are, if people like you they're less likely to try to fuck you over.
 
Not really, but to some extent, yes. I would feel so stupid if I went into school with bedhead, and hair not washed for a week, and smelling bad, I would care that people thought I was a slob.

These dumbasses on the bus harrass me for no reason whatsoever, I think it's because I don't care about sports or popularity etc. They basically just bash the back of my seat and throw paperwads at me, in this case, who gives a shit, wow, they can act like six year olds, congratulations. I usually just turn around, look them in the eye, make a face like "Are you done yet?" And turn back around and talk to my friend or listen to my CD player.

I don't care at all what someone thinks of my hobbies, musical taste, what I wear, etc. If they don't like or agree with that, fuck them, It's what I like, that's not going to change. I normally get along with people pretty well, I know that the majority of people probably think i'm a bit weird, but they don't say anything, I can have a conversation with most anyone, I don't think most people think i'm "cool", but they don't think i'm a complete "loser", just like neutral. I don't care what people think of my social status at all, I have a lot of shallow friends that can play football WHHOPPIEE :rolleyes:

I don't know why.. but I really care what people think of OTHER people. This is a thing about me I can't stand. This kid in my history class is really into anime, japanese stuff, and magic the gathering. I like anime and magic, but It's not like my primary hobby, I never play magic anymore either, all my friends quit. And this kid is overweight too, which never helps. So all these guys behind me constantly make fun of him, it gets on my nerves sooo much, I don't know if he cares or not, but I can't stand it. Whenever he says something that I can tell will get them insulting him I just want to mute everything so I don't have to hear it.