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Subjective vs Objective Standards
Why that distinction matters more than you think
You are 100% entitled to your opinion. You are allowed to be disturbed, offended, disappointed, or disinterested. No one is asking you to feel otherwise.
But…
If you want your opinion to carry weight beyond your own life — if you want to convince others, change minds, or demand cultural or moral accountability — then you need more than feelings. In those cases…
You need a standard. A foundation. A grounding that holds up to scrutiny.
This is where so many people confuse subjective discomfort with objective morality.
“I don’t like it” is not the same as “It’s wrong.”
Let’s say you read a difficult passage in the Bible — or the Quran, or the U.S. Constitution, or the latest workplace policy memo — and you walk away saying: “I don’t like this. It makes me uncomfortable.”
Okay. That’s fair.
We all have emotional and intellectual reactions to what we read.
But if you then say, “This is immoral” or “This is evil”… now you’re not just expressing personal discomfort. You’re making a moral claim. And moral claims require moral reasoning.
