This 'I'm entitled to my opinion' rubbish has to stop.

[Chaosblade02]

There is a difference between fact and opinion and some people have a hard time distinguishing the two apart sometimes. And if you consider your opinion to be a matter of fact, then you are ignorant. People debating political issues often tend to cross these bounds. Just keep in mind that what works great for some people doesn't work great for everyone.

[hoshi23]

On a forum can be especially hard to sense sometimes.

[Maxwell the Fool]

There is a difference between fact and opinion and some people have a hard time distinguishing the two apart sometimes

 

I don't know about you, but I've been required to know the difference by second grade. And ever since No Child Left Behind (aka No Standard Left Unlowered), children in the US have been tested on that very thing since fifth grade.

 

Which means that you're suggesting either that most of the forum's users haven't passed the second grade, or else have not passed a fifth grade standardized test......

 

Wow.

[Fifoo]

That's true Chaosblade02. If I have understood your quotes, public opinion could be easily manipulated by unscrupulous medias and poll institutes... just for giving a few examples.

 

Take a look at this article from the well-known* newspaper Le Monde - Suspicions of collusion with the power method challenged, biased questions...**, sorry but in French.

 

Thus, it is sometimes very easy to make people believe a lot of things, manipulate, distort, and corrupt opinions with facts truncated, censored, or not proven valid and real, as long as people are gullible and in this case fall into the trap.

 

But we don't need to be at a Second Graduate Level nor being in Hight School to have a good understanding and tell apart opinions and facts. It is well acknowledged that it depends on your own level of education and intelligence - some people already have it at a young age in comparison with others.***

 

 

*False: well known in France but not necessarily all over the world.

 

**False: the real title is: Opinion Way, the pollster inconvenient. - as translated from French: Opinion Way, le sondeur qui dérange. The real title is neutral, but the words I used for my half-title comes from the article itself and are more specific about content of the text which deals with possible corruption of the polling institute named above, which I stated, is currently under investigation by the Court of Accounts, French institution for verification. If you stick to these words without checking the contents of the article, you might be led to believe that corruption exists if you do not notice the meaning of those words.

 

***False: see how easy it is to deceive people. Rhetorics and Semantics. This is not an absolute truth because it depends on many factors and specific conditions relating to education and the environment in which we are all evolving from a young age, in a word: our experience of life...

 

When you haven't verified the sources your opinions could easily be manipulated, because you believed they are based upon facts. Even sources could be biased. And you must have some ability to analyze data in order to notice if it does.

 

Just my two cents. :whistling:

[LSF894]

In my opinion, (:P) everyone is entitled to there pinion and every voice should be heard, but when people start to force their opinion onto others that's when the problem arises. People just need to learn to be more accepting of others.

[Pushkatu]

Everyone should have the right to an opinion, but by this it doesn't mean that everyone else should consider that opinion as a truth. In our days you have to backup what you say or no one will ever believe you. I can easily say that I'll fly to the Moon next year, but with no evidence to back that up, no one will ever believe me. Same with opinions. If you want other people to believe you, you must prove them that you are right with examples if necesary, real ones of course.

[Vindekarr]

I think everyone is entitle to their opinion, but before they voice it they should make sure they put it forward lucidly, and are willing to accept reasonable counter arguments.

 

I would also say I partialy disagree with the beligerant response I see to "foolish" or "ignorant" opinions on this and other forums. This is a dificult issue to straighten out, and Im not nearly subtle enough to even bother trying, but a degree of balance is important. We always need to judge and moderate ourselves as much as we judge others. Because sometimes a lot of people here will rail against and unite against a "stupid" or "ignorant" opinion in a matter that is just as disagreeable and unhelpful as the troll who started it all. Certainly, if someone does make a truly foolish opinion heard, dont just flame and rage like Ive seen people doing lately. Because yelling at someone or screaming that they are an ignorant and childish fool for diagreeing, even in a "foolish" way makes you just as bad as they are. That is what I think needs to stop here more than anything else.

 

Its extremely arrogant to think that you are in a position of sufficient moral highground to give someone a public dressing down for a post YOU deem to be ignorant. We are all but mortal humans, a lot of people seem to forget that.

[myrmaad]

I'm sorry, I skipped some of the posts because I think the topic misses the most important point.

 

What is the point of having an opinion? Unless it's shared between people, it's a completely private matter.

 

So the point is what happens when an opinion is shared.

 

The fact of this matter is this;

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and everyone is humanly fallible. Researched or not, since we are not omniscient beings, the fact is no one can ever be quite sure of most or their own conclusions against someone else's conclusions. We can only know what we ourselves have experienced, trapped inside the box of the corporeal world.

 

Thus, the respectful thing to do is to remember this:

 

Each of us have the same right to our own opinions. It is disrespectful to do more than state them, i.e. "to convince" is the highest form of disrespect. State your opinion respectfully. Listen to another's opinion respectfully, remembering that you don't have the right to invalidate their process.. we can assume that given time and experience their opinions may or may not change.

 

"What I learned over my summer vacation: everyone is entitled to their own (stupid) opinons." -actual real life myrmaad quote.

 

Believe me, following this rule in your life and relationships will result in much happiness. It frees you from the responsibility of trying to "straighten people out". Just let it go, free as a bird.

[Lisnpuppy]

Or to sum up....as my dear, departed Mother would often say...

 

"Everyone has the right to be wrong, but that doesn't give you the right to rub their noses in it."

 

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[bben46]

@Lisnpuppy: In my opinion, your mother gave excellent advice. :thumbsup: