Difference between being proved wrong and being proved wrong

Just how long does it take for people to form opinions on people and other things they’ve met and experienced? I speak for myself when I say, not very long at all. I tend to be a lot more forgiving and patient when it comes to passing judgment on inanimate objects than I am on people; but overall I hardly need to look at something before I’ve made up some sort of opinion on what I’m seeing or experiencing. Once first impressions have been made, the stance one might have on the object in question could easily become set in stone. “That sucks,” “He’s an ass,” “God that was awesome,” “I love this.” Whatever it is that the person thinks of this new thing they’ve just experienced, in the case of most individuals, that opinion is considered as truth.

Now, there are people who will stick adamantly to their opinions and others who will try to keep an open mind and listen to what others might say – but in either case there will probably come a time when the opinion they held to be true will be contested somehow. While most of the debate will be provided by other people who think differently, the kind of contention I’m speaking of is when the individual experiences something first hand that goes against what he believed was true. This is the most powerful form of ‘argument’ that exists, and sometimes leads to the person finding out that he was actually wrong from the very beginning. Now think about it; which is worse of the two – Being proved wrong about something you thought of positively, or negatively?

If something you believed wasn’t even worth thinking about turns out to be pretty good, the most that you could lose is some of your own dignity; perhaps thanks to how much time you spent arduously putting it down in front of so many people, only to find that every word you said got completely debunked when the thing you were blackballing came out on top. But what about when you praise something? Naturally, if you think highly of something or somebody, you hold them dear to yourself, possibly eager for the day you finally get to experience them again somehow. When you’re proved wrong about it, you not only lose credibility but you also gain a heaped helping of disillusionment. Whatever it was you were looking forward to – you can essentially forget about it entirely as you’re not going to get it. If you are, then most likely the negative aspects will make it hard or downright impossible to enjoy the positive ones.

The reason why I bring up this point is because it’s happened to a person I know and held very dear to myself, before spending some more time around them and finding out about their habits and mannerisms. After giving it some thought I felt it related much to the plight of the many fanboys (myself included) out there having to stomach so many hyped titles only to have them fall squarely on their faces right on the release date. It’s taught me to keep a slightly more sceptical attitude towards first impressions, both good and bad – hence my extreme cynicism towards most, if not all forms of hype.