It’s time to finalize your college decision. “Where should I go? Princeton or Yale?”, the question constantly being asked. The best way to make the decision is by researching important factors that influence the decision including location, majors, finance, or life after graduation. You list out each factor and make a comparison, thinking that the decision is solely based on the facts that you list out rather than being influenced by emotion. In reality, the entire process is completely opinionated. What makes each individual unique is their perspective on various aspects of society from general ideas such as politics to smaller-scaled ideas such as music and art. Yet, society places such a strong difference between the idea of objectivity and subjectivity, calling out the idea that these dictate the rightfulness of one’s individual actions. Realistically, these fundamental ideas truly have a strong nexus between them as having absolute objectivity is simply impossible to attain due to the complexity and affluence of diverse societal perspectives. Through embracing subjectivity rather than faking objectivity, society can strive to enhance the diverse perspectives of each unique individual.

Objectivity is defined as a lack of influence by emotion or personal bias. Many scientists believe that subjectivity has no influence on their field of study as science is based solely on facts. Yet, how does one view those facts and take it into perspective? It is a completely subjective process, backed up by the findings through quantum mechanics. Researchers of quantum mechanics explained that reality differs based on the observer and how they take reality into their own perspective, proving the idea that nothing is objective. However, much of society fails to take this idea into account and ignores the possibility of subjectivity for the sake of maintaining personal peace of mind and bias. When scientists conduct research,. they perform rigorous experiments, test various factors, and repeat the experiments several times. Despite these precautions, subjectivity still has a role in scientific processes. Choosing what to research, what factors to test in an experiment are important, and how to interpret an experiment is a completely biased process that varies from scientist to scientist, thus succumbing to the reality of how objectivity can never be fully achieved. 

Society often neglects the truth that objectivity is impossible, creating a toxic atmosphere for people. For example, humans must consume fruits and vegetables, as they provide the healthy vitamins and nutrients needed to survive. Yet, there are still sources that negate this known fact such as the Food Network’s article “Why Are People Saying Fruit is Unhealthy?” Articles such as this one not only enforce a false belief system in their readers, but it leads to the spreading of misinformation amongst innocent individuals of society and enforces an incorrect thought process. This allows such sources to manipulate members of society and gain control over these individuals to manipulate them into accepting this belief system, creating a toxic society. This goes to show that nothing in society can be objective because it is all based on what an individual believes and what information they choose to deem correct.

Now can subjectivity be damaging to society? The fact that most perspectives are subjective is not necessarily a negative thing. Embracing subjectivity can open the door to a more diverse and inclusive world where people can have more nuanced perspectives. In fact, subjectivity shows how there are constant limitations to everything in society, meaning that nothing can be completely objective, and while that may not be a bad thing, it should not be negated. Additionally, subjectivity reveals the truth of society, something that cannot be achieved through complete objectivity. It values critical opinions and does not negate the multifaceted and complex honesty of society, something that is so undermined.

Overall, it is clear that nothing in the world has total objectivity. Instead of trying to force society to believe in something that is false, it is important to embrace the reality: subjectivity is a beneficial part of society.