Should people stand up for what is right ... even if it is unpopular?

Yes, I think that they should. It is only right and you should do it even if it is just for yourself. You deserve to speak your mind and how you feel if you hold it all in then you will be the one that is losing.

I do think it is important to stand up for what you believe in regardless of the consequences - within reason. You have to choose your battles, it's not a good idea to go crazy over everything that annoys you, but there are some things that if you feel strongly about you should be willing to go down in a flaming blaze of glory over it. I have stood up for things, and suffered a variety of consequences for it that I would gladly suffer again. As a child I had gotten detention for standing up to a bully and then had the teacher wrongly accuse me of something and give me MORE detention because I would not back down from my stance when I KNEW I was right (she later apologized). As a teen I got thrown out of school altogether for refusing to back down from something I felt strongly about. A lie would have spared me, but I would not say I was sorry for something I wasn't sorry about. I've lost jobs for the same reason, but then figured if they want a liar or a sycophant as an employee it wasn't the right place for me anyway. I used to get thrown out of bars many years ago when I used to go to those places for refusing to back down from what I believed was the right thing to do. I have held my head high in the knowledge that I would not change my morals to suit somebody else's agenda as I have walked out or been dragged out of places. LOL I've been thrown out of places on the web (cough cough) and here at mylot seen my stupid star go all kinds of colors. I'll never back down from what I believe is right, but if I see that I may have been in error I apologize to the people I may have wronged. I will fight to my last breath the things I feel are worth fighting for, but as I said, I choose my battles - I am not going to crash and burn over things I only feel lukewarm about, ya know? You'd think I'd constantly be in battle because I am willing to go all out for what I think is right, but it is not the case because there is an overwhelming amount of things in this life that I just don't give a crap about one way or another. If I care about something I care a LOT, so my default self preservation mechanism is that there is not a whole lot of things I actually care about. Some things are worth dying for, some things are worth fighting for, some things are worth a protest, some things are worth a few comments, some things ain't worth a damn to me. The degree of my fierceness is directly related to the level of importance something has to me.

In any large group of people, the average IQ approaches the statistical average of 100 and the standard deviation is 15. When an individual within the group 2 standard deviations above the mean or even higher expresses an opinion contrary to the consensus majority opinion, the majority will conclude the high IQ person is stupid! It happens all the time. Now, here's the answer to your question. Yes, people should stand up for what is right, even if it unpopular, but they should be prepared to personally deal with the phenomona mentioned previously.

I am pretty sure I know what gave you the inspiration to start this discussion. To answer your question yes I do but it depends on how important or passionate I am about the topic to what length I will go in my stance.

4 years ago I have a job to lead usage fund to a public project, its about aqueduct development at gangway. But my neighbours prefer to use that fund for ossification of that street. Though they know that this area often floods, even I fail in intake of voice. Then I retiring from that job, because I know that they violated on usage of fund. Very sad but I proud about my decission. Nowadays has proven that I am right. That street has been destroyed so hard cause hit floods

Yes we should. If only our members of congress believed we should stand up for what's right even if it's unpopular.

Quite often, it depends on how it's done. It seems that throughout history, it has been done, & even sparked wars & costed lives. Some of those wars include 1860's The Civil War in the United States. Lives lost include Abraham Lincoln, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Egypt's Anwar Sadat, an Israeli prime minister that if it had not happened, would have brought peace between Israel & the Palestinians ... the list goes on & on. If I knew all of the situations, occurrences, & people who stood up for what is right, Mr W would probably have to grab all of that cash that went to simulus stipends by the Obamunists (Hey - I am the original one who came up with that name.) to purchase additional hard drive space for the MyLot servers. Keep in mind that just because it might be unpopular, there are many others who feel the same way. Quite often, it's best to seek those people out, & let the "numbers" go in full force instead of going at it alone.

Standing up for my convictions has cost me a lot of everything, there is a financial burden, the burden on time as a parent as well as with your spouse, standing up for my convictions has cost me a very important piece of my life that I once believed was true and that was the word as taught by the church. I now know better and have fixed the error of the ways that I was taught. I lost my ability to be a person and a parent, I would say that I was once a partner to a wife but that would not be true as history will reveal. I still sleep well at night with the hope of a new tomorrow and a new beginning that I will be restored and respected for the good person that I really am. I learned not to be so trusting of those people in their positions of authority to be accountable to the truth as they do not have a belief in anything that is true to begin with. They bought the lies and in the lies they think they have found the path to a god, in the end they will find the truth and that is they have believed in nothing. The reason they believe in nothing is because they can't find either their god of evil or their god of good when they follow the path that is wide and full of lies that they teach to themselves and others. The truth is not complicated and always moves forward. When you are stuck in a rut and the lies foul all the good you have done making life the subject of false information to make you into something that you are not then that is the time that you have to take a stand for something or everything will be lost and you'll end up with nothing. The first question to ask is do you believe in Satan or the Devil? The second question applies personal accountability to letting the truth be known. True followers know the truth is the key to being free. Yet that path is quite narrow where no lie can exist the line in the sand is cut by a lie if you tell the truth you will find the narrow path to life eternal. The final question is would you cast the first stone?

I believe you should always stand up for your beliefs, no matter the cost. Shortly that will be even more important than it ever has been before. If Congress gets it's way, many will be penalized for their beliefs, but I for one am going to stand firm.

Yes, I believe it's good to stand up for what you believe in even if it is unpopular. BUT, you have to weigh the pros and the cons of doing it. For example, will it bring harm to your children? Will the stress of being an outcast affect your physical and mental health. Will supporting this cause bring you physical harm by extremists? Is the cause worthy off all these risks? It's good to stand up for whats right. I admire people who can. But we need to weigh the benefits against the risks sometimes.

I am a great believer in standing up for what is right, yet at the same time the years have taught me to choose my battles. One CAN fight "City Hall" but maybe only in one city at a time, if you know what I mean. Yes, one always pays a penalty for standing firm in one's convictions, and one must realize that BEFORE one enters the fray, and prepare for it. But in the end it is almost always worth it, because anything less constitutes a life of shame and demeaned slavery. Many of the ills of society would not even exist if even a handful of people had the moral fortitude to stand up for just 1/10th of what they know is right just part of the time, I think. However, one needs to consider the little matter of ownership. Some things do not belong to everyone, so sometimes there is a fine line between meddling and being righteous. I guess when we cross that line it is called being self-righteous. Everyone, I think, should have a little zealot inside, but not to carry it to excess, perhaps. Or if the situation warrants excess, one must learn from Machiavelli, and shoot all of the little duckies at once, so as not to leave any disgruntleds behind to plot revenge.

Hello Lady, It is very important to stand up for what you believe in even if it is very unpopular. I have done this many times in the past and have sometimes paid a heavy penalty for it. I have and will continue to stand firm as I have already told you just recently. Do I think it was worth it? My personal ethics will allow me to do nothing else. Yes it is worth it. Shalom~Adoniah

If we don't stand up for what we believe, we are living a lie and betraying ourselves and our principles. I may not agree with a tree-hugger saying that farming should shut down because a certain kind of mosquito will be killed but if that's what they believe they should fight for it whatever the odds. I have stood up for my beliefs, I started at a very young age. In 7th grade I won the right to study in the library rather than go to "pep rallies". In high school I refused to withdraw my home economics project that depicted the plans for a round house with a central courtyard--the teacher ridiculed it and said nobody would live in a place like that. I accepted the D rather than cave to her narrow thinking. If you don't stand up for your beliefs you lose your dignity and integrity. And that is just about the only things that nobody can rob you of.

yes people should stand up for the right but before they do, they should first investigate and make a very good guess.

I take pride in teaching my children to always stand up for what is right rather than popular. In fact I even lost a job about a year ago because I stood up for what I believe is right and the new boss we were just 'blessed with' didn't like it. From day one the lady didn't like me because I told her I wouldn't do things they way she was asking because they weren't right in my eyes. She didn't say that was why I was fired and never gave me a real reason for my termination. However I'm not the only person in town that felt that was why i was let go.

Personally, I feel there is no need to go into such extreme. Standing up is just to make your voice heard. However, to pay a penalty for it, it would mean to me it is something that is above law. Standing up for such is akin to being stubborn in one's thoughts. What matters is being happy. Unless one is happy to pay penalty after having said one's piece. No, I do not think it is important in this respect.

Here I come, to the dance, late! Sorry LadyLuna as you know my time online here has been limited, but I wanted to share a thought or two, ok maybe three. 1. Of course we would all agree that we should stand up for our convictions even if they are unpopular or have uncomfortable consequences. How many of us would say, "No, even though I think that it is wrong I'm willing to let it go."? Not many of us would admit that. But the truth is is that we all do that everyday. How many of us see people mistreating their kids in the store but don't say anything? How many of us see people walk out of a store with unpaid item under their cart? How many of us "fudge" on our tax returns? How many of us overhear someone straight out lying to a sales clerk to get something they don't deserve or return something that has been used etc.? Do we know anyone who is scamming the unemployment system? Welfare system? Insurance companies? Cheating on their time cards? Time at work? Cheating on their spouse? How many of those things do WE do? The list goes on and on. The problem is that we have this notion of picking our battles which sounds logical but in reality we pick very few of them. There was a time when honor and integrity mattered. If as many of us that say we would stand up for our convictions actually would, this would be a different country. 2. The problem also is that we no longer share a common understanding of what is right and what is wrong anymore. We have drifted into a kind of selfish reality. If things don't impact us directly, we are happy to sit on the sidelines and observe or worse yet, hide our heads in the sand. 3. Yes there have been several times where I stood up for my convictions. One time when I was just out of college and selling copiers, my sales manager shared my first name. It turns out that a client I was about to close, an attorneys office, thought that I was my manager. When I told my manager, he told me to keep quiet until the deal was closed. I was not much of a salesman at the time and I really REALLY needed the sale. But when I got to the closing table and they were about to sign, I pulled the papers back to told them that I couldn't let them sign until I cleared something up. There was silence at the table as these two attorneys were told that they were misled this whole time. They looked at each other, and then at me and smiled. They appreciated my honesty and signed even more eagerly. Unfortunately my manager did not see things the same way and I got a solid chewing out for that. But I slept well that night. There was another time when I was working the night shift at a gas station earning extra money for our upcoming wedding. One of the staff was stealing from the store side of the station and the manager was subjecting all of us to a lie detector test even though he had a pretty good idea who was stealing. I felt insulted. He confided in me who he thought it was and I agreed, but rather than confront this person, he decided on the tests. I felt that his actions undermined his authority and respect for me and the rest of the staff. If he trusted me enough to confide in me, then I shouldn't have to take the test. I took the test, was cleared, then quit. I could go on but that sums it up I guess.

If you really want to do something to help someone then it doesn't matter that it is popular issue or unpopular issue. But you have to take care that you never hurt someone else while helping someone. You also have to take care that you are doing the right thing by helping him. These things really matters rather than being popular or unpopular.

I definitely think it is important to stand up for what you believe in and make your voice be heard. I have done just that recently and I don't regret my decision to go against the grain. There are people who will try to beat you down over your opinion, but there is a point where you just have to stay true to yourself.

I think it is important to stand up for what you believe in, but ultimately you need to look at how it will affect you in the long run, and be sure not to confuse pride with right and wrong.