Coffee Conversations (Part Two): Don't be an opinion reseller

The viewership that I have, surprises me to a certain extent because I know it doesn't appeal to the lowest common denominator. And especially because I'm in I'm in the English language. And and at this point, most of the people who speak English in the West, and a large percentage of my audience is in the West Mhmm. And most of the people in the West have a very crippled thinking ability. And then there's been some misunderstandings over the course of of the channel where people will think that because because the way the the way that westerners are programmed, if they hear a certain buzzword or they hear a certain word that is used by this particular partisan group, if that word comes up in a video, then there's an autocorrect in their mind that says, you know, an autocomplete rather, an autocomplete in their mind that just, now I don't listen to what he says because he said that word and the only people who ever say that word are leftists, are right wing, are communists, are red pill, are feminists, or whatever whatever the case may be, I associate that word with this particular group, and therefore I know all of the arguments that he's ever going to say.

Yeah. And I don't have to listen to the rest. Yeah. And so then then you then I get these these comments from people every once in a while, oh, you're showing your true face. You're showing your true face, your true colors are coming out.

Yeah. Okay. That's because you never understood anything that I'm saying in the first place. You didn't listen, you didn't understand. Because I am completely consistent in everything that I've always said, ever.

You're hearing what you want to hear.

Yeah. But, okay, something to be said also. A lot of content creators are repeating what other people are saying.

Absolutely.

You know, they're regurgitating information.

Yeah. Absolutely.

All sort out Yeah. By themselves, you know. Like, you may feel passionately about something, you may feel the need to, I don't know, convey a message, but then you're not doing you're not adding anything new or valuable.

No. I mean, we're living we're living in the age of prepackaged thought.

Yeah.

And and everyone so many people anyway on social media are what do you call you know like those they used to have with the maybe they still do. The cosmetic sales people like Mary Kay cosmetics or whatever. It's like this now with opinion. With pundits. There there are resellers.

That's what it is. There's just a bunch of opinion resellers that that that that will take a Ben Shapiro's opinion or Jordan Peterson's opinion. Sam what's his name? Harris? No.

Yeah. Well, Sam Harris or the the the the left wing guy, the democrat, Sam Cedar, Sam Cedar, you know, or Chomsky or even a a Norman Finkelstein or whatever. And there's no thought process going on in your own mind. It's just Yeah. It comes in and it comes out.

Yeah. That's it. It comes in your ear and it comes out your mouth and there's no connection to your brain at all.

It goes with reading as well.

And with reading as well. Sure. Some people don't read a lot these days.

Yeah. It's with any kind of consumption of information. There has to be an interaction between yourself and the information that you receive. That way, you will know for yourself anyway what your actual thoughts

are. Mhmm.

You know? And this is critical, you know? Otherwise, you're just an automaton.

And like, you know, like, Alhamdulillah in the in the Telegram group. We just had a a little sort of an exchange, not a not an argument by any stretch, but an exchange about Somalia and Somaliland. And I made clear my position, I'm against the separation of Somalia and Somaliland. Meanwhile, there is a Somali brother who said, basically he's not taking a position, but he understands the logic of a separate Somaliland and he wishes them all the best and he wants it to go well. So he's not pro separation, he's not anti separation.

But when I expressed mine, he was curious as to why. And I'm I'm happy that the way the exchange went because it wasn't a situation where, oh, Shahid says that you have to be against the separation, you have to be only for the unity of Somalia and Somaliland and you're wrong. Young brother, you're wrong. No. Yeah.

I could be wrong. It's unlikely, but I I could be wrong about it. But the point is, the way you're supposed to do and the way young Muslims around the world generally tend to do and should do and everyone should do, young people should do, ask. Get clarification. What's the reason why, brother Sheen, you you think this, you think that?

Well, is what I think, and then I'll respond to what what what he thinks. Mhmm. And this is how you learn. Mhmm. And again, it's not it's not just, well, take what they say, take what I say.

Uh-huh. You know, and and if I if we disagree, then it means you're wrong. I mean, it's probably the case, but, you know, talk it talk it out, you know. You don't have to just like, just the same with what you're talking about, like with you there has to be there has to be an interaction between your own mind and the information that you're receiving, as well as between your own mind and who you're talking to, and what they're what they're telling you, you know? And I'm I'm I'm this is this is, you know, we have we have these discussions in the in the the telegram discussion group and so on.

And we don't all agree.

No.

You know.

No.

Everyone doesn't have to agree with me. If you don't agree with me, I can explain to you why I have the position that I have. If you're not able to explain to me why you have the position that you have, then we know that you have never actually had an interaction with information. You've never processed information yourself. None of this is coming from your own mind.

And so you can't answer my questions or you can't explain because all you did was hear an opinion. Yeah. And you don't know, it's just like someone who cheats on a math test. You can give me the the answer but you can't show me your work. So if you're copying the answer off of someone else, that other someone else might be able to show the work.

But all you did was copy the answer. So now when I ask you to do that problem again in front of me and show me the work, you can't do it.

Yeah. You may you may this is what we have generally. People regurgitating information perfectly well, but we are not able to show for it, you know. It's one thing if you're regurgitating correct information, but more often than not, it's just

In my opinion, it doesn't even matter. If you're I mean, on a on a personal development level, it doesn't matter. If you're regurgitating information that is perfectly 100% true, you still have not benefited in any way from that because you haven't understood it. Yeah. The whole point is if you're if you understand, if you if you have information that's a 100% true, factual, correct, and so forth, and you have that in your mind, and you understand it, then you can build on that.

Yeah.

And you'll and you'll be able to use what you have learned of that information rather than just memorize what you've learned in your own mind and then you can apply that to new circumstances and new information. You'll know how to interpret it through the information that you already have. But if you've never understood it, then it's useless to you.

Then another assessment for your own personal benefit is when you find yourself unable to or disinclined to interact with information you receive, then know that that about yourself. It's crucial that you know that about yourself.

Yeah.

And don't find yourself compelled to opine about matters that which you have no trust Right. On. This is also an elderly person giving sincere advice.

I mean, this is this is where you have to for for Muslims, this is a big difference that Muslims shouldn't allow themselves to forget. Just because we read it in the Quran and we know it, but you have to remember it and apply it in real life. When Allah says, I did not create the heavens and the earth for play. I didn't create this for no reason. Means this is serious and you have to be a serious person.

And even if being a serious person means admitting I'm not a person who really cares about information. Okay. That's a fact about you. So now you stay out of the realm of people who are serious about information. You stay out of that realm.

That's you being serious. That's you being respectful, you know. But if you're if you're if you're if you're if you're a person who's not serious about information, you're not serious about knowledge or what have you, and then you intrude into those circles where people are serious about information, are serious about knowledge, then you are disruptive. And you are not taking life itself seriously. Your own life and the lives of others.

This ayah, and it's more than one, when Allah says this about the the the basically existence, he didn't bring existence about for the sake of play and amusement, you have to apply that in everything about your life and understand that this is a serious experience that you're going through in this world, in this dunya. This is serious. It's created for you to be serious about it. And and, you know, part of that is treating treating knowledge seriously, treating information seriously, and treating other people seriously who have knowledge. You know?

And taking a serious attitude towards that.