From Russia with Facts

I’m a big fan of James Bond - in all its forms.

Now, please don’t judge me. I appreciate it’s not the best special interest to have, but it’s childhood nostalgia, a set of films that were a large part of my life. Not an appreciation of a womanising, racist character.

My partner likes to buy me treats, and surprised me by buying me a book recently. That book was: Nobody Does it Better: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond. This is a 700-page book devoted to discussing the films in all their glory. The book doesn’t hold back; it celebrates the series, but it also offers heaps of criticisms for the franchise.

This criticism wasn’t just limited to films I like less it was also levelled at films I consider favourites. Reading opinions and critics tearing into vast swathes of the media that formed most of the films I consumed in my formative years was hard.

Yet it’s a poignant reminder about people’s opinions. That is, opinions without facts are nothing but opinions. It is up to us whether we consider them useful or not.

One universal fact is that everyone has opinions. It’s one of the defining principles of being human. When it comes to opinions, that’s all they are, opinions. There is a critical difference here, that opinions are not facts. Opinions of others that don’t align with how we think and feel don’t have to affect us at all.

This reminds me of how transphobia, to a certain point, can be easily disregarded, and that is because it is just opinions.

Trans people have always existed - fact.

Trans people are a trend or fad - (incorrect) opinion.

Trans people pose no threat - fact.

Trans people are brainwashing children - (incorrect) opinion.

Whilst having to hear other people’s opinions of trans people can be incredibly distressing, it doesn’t change anything about who we are. That some people choose to hate us doesn’t mean our lives are not filled with love. That some people would regard us as a trend doesn’t mean that we haven’t been here for as long as humans have been on earth.

Just in the same ways that critics pan A View to a Kill as one of the worst and most absurd entries in the Bond canon, it doesn’t stop me from loving that film. Just because someone chooses to hate me because I’m trans doesn’t mean I am not loved.

So when it comes to opinions, only you get to choose what they mean to you.