Objectivity and Subjectivity

So many people will assert a behavior as being immoral or disgusting because of their own personal feelings about it.  I felt compelled to write this post after reading the comments for a while on an Entertainment Weekly story about two couples on Glee that are going to be intimate for the first time.

"Gleeks you MUST tune in for next week’s episode of Glee, called “The First Time.” It’s without a doubt one of Glee's best installments ever and features two popular couples on the show having sex for the first time."

I found the story through the popular, conservative Drudge Report, so I knew the comments would be entertaining but incredibly frustrating.  What I noticed in many of the commenters is something I've often noticed is something about myself.  Too often I act as if my own personal feelings are an actual objective description of the world rather than my own subjective interpretation of it.  Observing how I feel about an issue tells me nothing more than how I'm reacting to it.  Unfortunately, most people seem to think their personal feelings are an objective description of reality.  Some examples from the comment section to demonstrate this:

DISGUSTING!  As if it's not disgusting enough to show teens who have no business having sex, have sex, now we have to see unnatural things taking place before our eyes."

 "This is disgusting. Homosexualists make a choice to do the vile things they do. Did you know evolution dosen't support the gay gene theory? Did you know gays are promised a special place in hell according to the bible? These perverts and thier unnatural acts only shame themselves and their worthless families that raised them. And only perverts will tune into watch kids sodomize themselves!"

"This is sick.  It's bad enough we have to sexualize our teenagers at such an early age.  Now, we have to intoduce them to gay sexuality.  What is next, beastiality?  Why not show teenagers saying no to sex, resisting temptation, showing virtuous behavior, or showing them being good citizens.  Now, I know some of you will say that the show is just displaying the reality of teen life.  My response would be there are still teenages with good moral values."

It's unfortunate that most people will never experience the freedom that comes from being able to discern their own subjective experience from objective reality.  From personal experience, it seems the ability to understand the difference is far from most people.  Most people either do not understand the distinction or refuse to make it after being told about it.

There is a fantastic book on happiness from a Buddhist perspective I would highly recommend to everyone:  Happiness:  A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill.  It was from this book I learned that my own interpretation of the world had no relation to how the world actually is.  For example, if I find someone attractive or ugly, it's not an objective description of them.  It's how I feel about them.  I still get stuck in the trap of thinking my feelings are more than they are but it's helped me immensely.