Strong Minds And Weak Minds

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Socrates once stated “Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people”. According to this quote individuals with closed minds and biased thoughts have the propensity1 to develop gossip about what people are supposed to be doing, what they might be doing or what others said they are doing. Strong minds usually don’t care too much what others think, therefore when it comes to building up an opinion they are not malleable2 thus they don’t let what others think shape what they think. These individuals make their own decisions not letting others judgments and experiences hamper them from doing what they want to do and they do not second guess themselves. Weak minds, on the other hand, lack strength so they are easily influence by what others think instead of building their own opinion. Instead of thinking for themselves they just follow the crow because it is easier for them. These individuals often avoid making important decisions because they are afraid of any type of change or mistakes as well as the consequences, and let the experiences and judgments form others engender3 their own opinion. Gossip are equivocal4 statements that travel through a lot of people and each individual that hears or reads a gossip can interpret it in their own way causing the gossip to become distorted5 as it goes from one person to the other. The strong minds form their own opinion while the weak minds just copycat what everyone thinks. This idea can be seen through an analysis of various literary terms in Leonardo Sciascia’s novel entitled To Each His Own as the gossip that is formed, subsequently to the death of the pharmacist, is passed through many individuals, each interpreting the gossip according to what they be...

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...yville, a small town in Missouri, a man was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolmate when he was 17, the 14 year old girl Daisy Coleman decided to speak up and go to the police (NY Daily News). After the news about the rape went public, Daisy face virulent comments on many of her social media and, she and her family were persecuted by most of citizens in the small town which cause them to move away. Because of many of the caustic comments, Daisy attempted suicide 3 times. Furthermore, we can see how gossip can lead people to take drastic measures in order to end their persecution and just because people were misinform and did not take the chance to ask directly to the victim. Next time you hear a gossip about others do not be so quick to judge, there is always more to the story which got lost when people were too busy telling others about the gossip.

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