Why are people who express opinion other than the popular on castigated as wrong?

GT_TDI_150

It winds me up no end when listening to interviews or reading social media that people are considered 'wrong' for not holding the 'correct' (popular) view on a topic...

Is it wrong for me to hate the color green? For no reason other than my personal opinion?
Is it wrong that i didnt / dont believe in God, Jesus etc? Again, no reason, just dont?
Is it wrong to be against SSM or pro abortion or hate GAA or hate U2 or enjoy watching England play football, ...

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

The Moldy Gowl

When anyone asks my opinion on a hot topic like those, I just walk away.

AnonoBoy

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

Well a colour preference and an opinion on abortion are totally comparable for a start. Definitely.

The Backwards Man

Opinions are like assholes.

Smelly as fcuk if they aren't reassessed daily

qt3.14

Because most people are insecure. When you say you disagree with them you're challenging their beliefs and they can't handle it.

The_Valeyard

Suppose people like to feel that they are right no matter what.

Although you can see pack mentality on forums sites from time to time, where if someone expresses a different opinion they get absolutely destroyed.

Lyaiera

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

Of course someone can do that. I think they'd be a bit simple though. Not knowing why they're doing anything.

deise08

Do you want to hug it out?

--o--

AnonoBoy

qt3.14 wrote: »

Because most people are insecure. When you say you disagree with them you're challenging their beliefs and they can't handle it.

True.

If someone says their favourite colour is green I'm all like "What the f*ck have you got against mauve you pr*ck?"

shruikan2553

If it is something like tayto vs walkers then you dont need to explain it. If it is something like FF should be in government then you'll probably have some reasoning behind it. It depends on whether or not the opinion affects them.

People probably wont care if you hate U2 but might if you are trying to get them banned, or even putting it on everyone's itunes account :pac:

mikom

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Well a colour preference and an opinion on abortion are totally comparable for a start. Definitely.

"Must resisttttttttttt bannable joke............."

thelad95

I think it's a phenomenon known as groupthink.

Also, Irish people are sheep.

Karl Stein

Green is a lovely colour. What do you have against green? Is it because the colour green is associated with Ireland? Hate the Irish do ya?

RACIST! :mad:

delthedriver

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Suppose people like to feel that they are right no matter what.

Although you can see pack mentality on forums sites from time to time, where if someone expresses a different opinion they get absolutely destroyed.

Herd mentality ! See it on Boards regularly, though it would be also reflected in daily life, work, sport etc.

It is sad when someone is asked for an opinion that they end up being castigated , belittled , or isolated by the majority because they wish to remain popular with the boss, the mod, the teacher ETC.

Sadly this is 2015 and the way people behave.

However do not let anyone stop you from airing your opinion, you are not alone, there are like minded people out there( even though they may be slow to come forward. ) Be brave it may encourage others to air their true thoughts also.!

Most important of all, be your own person !!! Happy New Year:)

Bootros Bootros

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

It winds me up no end when listening to interviews or reading social media that people are considered 'wrong' for not holding the 'correct' (popular) view on a topic...

Is it wrong for me to hate the color green? For no reason other than my personal opinion?
Is it wrong that i didnt / dont believe in God, Jesus etc? Again, no reason, just dont?
Is it wrong to be against SSM or pro abortion or hate GAA or hate U2 or enjoy watching England play football, ...

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

Pretty much all those opinions are popular with anybody under 30. ( SSM opposition excepted).


I'm surprised you didn't add you hated Mrs Browns Boys.

Bootros Bootros

However on the general theme this reminds me of a common conversation I have with a prickly relative.

Prickly Relative I believe blah blah blah.
me that's wrong because .... reasonable comment.
PR Can I not have my opinion?
me Sure but I disagree and I have mine.
PR Why do you always disagree?
me You're generally wrong.
PR You're being mean! Why can't I opine?
me Be as opinionated as you want but people will have different ideas to you. That's life

So it goes. Very little in the Ops list is new or original in any case.

Venus In Furs

If you say e.g. "I hate people from Fairview", people aren't unreasonable to assume you're a bit thick until you have an actual explanation.
Reason being, people are too nuanced and are more than their location.

GT_TDI_150

Bootros Bootros wrote: »

Pretty much all those opinions are popular with anybody under 30. ( SSM opposition excepted).


I'm surprised you didn't add you hated Mrs Browns Boys.

Tbf, cant stand him/her either

delthedriver

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Tbf, cant stand him/her either

Me too ! Can't watch such a vile programe

Sure it is popular with the masses, fine if that is what they like:)

Sound of Silence

Well, to put it to the point, no one likes a contrarian. You see, there's always that one person who vehemently disagrees with popular opinion, solely out of a fear of being considered boring or mundane! They must always cast themselves as an outsider with weird and unique thoughts, all of which reek of insincerity. I know this because I was teenager once, too.

Case in point: The fact that sheep have already been mentioned unironically in this thread!

harney

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

It winds me up no end when listening to interviews or reading social media that people are considered 'wrong' for not holding the 'correct' (popular) view on a topic...

Is it wrong for me to hate the color green? For no reason other than my personal opinion?
Is it wrong that i didnt / dont believe in God, Jesus etc? Again, no reason, just dont?
Is it wrong to be against SSM or pro abortion or hate GAA or hate U2 or enjoy watching England play football, ...

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

Nearly 5 years in the site and you can't work out that it is uber popular to hate U2. You are part of the herd OP, deal with it and like Bono, get over yourself.

Bootros Bootros

delthedriver wrote: »

Me too ! Can't watch such a vile programe

Sure it is popular with the masses, fine if that is what they like:)

It's actually unpopular with the masses. the most common thing on here is for groupthinkers to castigate it. Rather than not watch it. Like most of us.

Bootros Bootros

Sound of Silence wrote: »

Well, to put it to the point, no one likes a contrarian. You see, there's always that one person who vehemently disagrees with popular opinion, solely out of a fear of being considered boring or mundane! They must always cast themselves as an outsider with weird and unique thoughts, all of which reek of insincerity. I know this because I was teenager once, too.

Case in point: The fact that sheep have already been mentioned unironically in this thread!

It's not that. There was nothing contrarian in his post. Standard stuff for boards. its that he expects to have no disagreement.

catallus

Sound of Silence wrote: »

Case in point: The fact that sheep have already been mentioned unironically in this thread!

I'm intrigued.

How would one mention a sheep ironically?

conorh91

Because boards.ie is a glorified version of the journal.ie

Try this.

Make three or four absolutely outrageously false—but provocative—statements.

If you are just provocative enough, you will get more thanks than you will corrections.

In fact, you may get no corrections at all.

It really makes you wonder about the world when you can deliberately state malicious, pernicious, misleading falsehoods, only for you to be retweeted on twitter, or thanked on boards.ie, and never once corrected. It sounds like trolling, but it isn't. It;s a great education in how misled and how misinformed most users of the web actually are.

Pardon the pessimistic outlook but, most people on the internet seem to be complete idiots who will thank anything at all, so long as it strikes a chord on its first reading.

bjork

I agree with what they ^^said

Sound of Silence

catallus wrote: »

I'm intrigued.

How would one mention a sheep ironically?

In that using the term "Sheeple" is in itself ridiculous.

People often use the term as a joke, either to deride edgy teenagers or wacky conspiracy theorists. But in this case, it was used sincerely.

catallus

Sound of Silence wrote: »

In that using the term "Sheeple" is in itself ridiculous.

Like a vegetarian eating a lamb-chop? Oooookaaaayyy :rolleyes:

Anyway, I'm sure sheep don't understand irony as a concept. So it's not a valid point, really.

foxy farmer

Its the right to free speech at work. In some places on this planet expressing an opposing view to that what people are forced to accept by authorities can land you in jail or worse.
To qoute someone "While i reject your opinion out of hand i will defend to the death your right to express it" or words to that effect.
I like to sit on the fence and see both sides argue their points.

Robsweezie

Sound of Silence wrote:

Well, to put it to the point, no one likes a contrarian. You see, there's always that one person who vehemently disagrees with popular opinion, solely out of a fear of being considered boring or mundane! They must always cast themselves as an outsider with weird and unique thoughts, all of which reek of insincerity. I know this because I was teenager once, too.

katie Hopkins in a nutshell

ardle1

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

It winds me up no end when listening to interviews or reading social media that people are considered 'wrong' for not holding the 'correct' (popular) view on a topic...

Is it wrong for me to hate the color green? For no reason other than my personal opinion?
Is it wrong that i didnt / dont believe in God, Jesus etc? Again, no reason, just dont?
Is it wrong to be against SSM or pro abortion or hate GAA or hate U2 or enjoy watching England play football, ...

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

Eh in all fairness, there has to be a reason you don't believe in God!?

Venus In Furs

conorh91 wrote: »

Because boards.ie is a glorified version of the journal.ie

I genuinely think it's streets ahead. Sure there are people who blindly post and thank drivel, but for each one of them, there is a thoughtful, highly intelligent person. And there are mods.

ardle1 wrote: »

Eh in all fairness, there has to be a reason you don't believe in God!?

IMO that's something that actually doesn't require quantification, because it's a belief, nothing more.

AlanS181824

yoo soundd upsett hun

U ok?

Chat me xox

RDM_83 again

Its definitely sometimes better to be coming out with the right line on here, for some stuff its nebulous and can't really be defined but there's times somethings factually incorrect and it gets loads of thanks because it fits the narrative.
Can think of two examples quickly that involve my posting (sure there's millions more).

Native Americans had the practice of scalping introduced by European colonists, demonstrably false.
In that thread about the birth-cert changes for the trans-woman recently, posters kept saying its great she can now get a passport with the right gender even though that had been the case for a couple of years AFAIK, and people that must have known thats the case were thanking it

If a viewpoint is valid* it doesn't need things made up to support it, it will stand its case on the reality rather than the tilting at windmills that goes on here a lot.

* And most of these view points that are popular are valid, but its easy thanks and kudos if you repeat points over and over or massively exaggerate the negatives of the opposing side. There's posters here who are way younger than me that seem to have teleported out of 1950's Ireland the way they have a chip on their shoulder about stuff rather than being probably 18 in 2010 :rolleyes:

strobe

It'd be a pretty dull and pointless website if the threads ran along the lines of

"I don't like gay marriage"

"Well that's your opinion I guess"

Too many very very short threads, yeah pointless really. Why even express an opinion based on nothing with no reason behind it?
(besides, there probably is a reason you don't like cheese, or Islam or hop-skotch. Just because you haven't taken the time, or don't care to try, to identify the reason you dislike something, doesn't mean there is no reason.)

RobYourBuilder

I was set to abstain or vote no. I don't believe in marriage. But I'm a yes now voter purely from reading and learning.

This is a decent little forum.

Oh, and I'm considered a nazi even though I make sure I add a few links to back up my points.

harney

RobYourBuilder wrote: »

Oh, and I'm considered a nazi even though I make sure I add a few links to back up my points.

Neo or old skool?

Dirty Steve

Would have thought hating U2 was the norm in this country.

They've been so smug in recent years I'm surprised they don't get egged in the street.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

It winds me up no end when listening to interviews or reading social media that people are considered 'wrong' for not holding the 'correct' (popular) view on a topic...

Is it wrong for me to hate the color green? For no reason other than my personal opinion?
Is it wrong that i didnt / dont believe in God, Jesus etc? Again, no reason, just dont?
Is it wrong to be against SSM or pro abortion or hate GAA or hate U2 or enjoy watching England play football, ...

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

No, but it is wrong to berate people who like the colour green with all sorts of personal abuse, label them "liberals" or "nazis" and then completly fail to provide any form of backup as to why green is an immoral colour, and then play the victim card pretending that you were criticised for merely stating an unusual opinion.

Having unusual opinoin =/= not being required to explain your opinion

Lingua Franca

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

It winds me up no end when listening to interviews or reading social media that people are considered 'wrong' for not holding the 'correct' (popular) view on a topic...

I'm seeing people whinging and moaning about this a lot these days. Basically, people disagree with you. And me. And everyone else. About anything and everything. This is the way the world is, and it's all the better for it. But some people cannot handle dissent and think they are somehow being oppressed or even more insanley, their their freedom of speech is being denied when other people disagree with the things they say in public. That's usually when they go off topic and start crying about the "looney left" oppressing them. Freedom of thought/speech/opinion goes for everyone. That means you can assert and people can dissent.

As for "wrong" and "popular"... that's just the zeitgeist and it seems to me to be mostly moving forward in a way that is positive for humanity and we're better for it. Remember, it's not that long ago that it was acceptable to be vocally and unabashedly racist. It was so recent in time that some older people think it still is acceptable. It's not, and society hasn't collapsed since we stopped treating black people as 3/5's of a man. We even allow whites and blacks to marry now and society still hasn't collapsed.

I personally view the current crowd of people against equal rights for LGBTs in exactly the same way I view those people who argued against civil rights for blacks in the US in the 1950s and those against civil rights for Catholics in the north in the 1960s. I also respond to them accordingly, and then they cry about oppression and their rights and freedom of speech and not being allowed to speak and and and :rolleyes:

Why do people look for you to have a reason behind an opinion? Can it not just be 'because i do/dont'?

If someone cannot back their opinions up and is going to get butthurt when asked to justify and explain them then they absolutely shouldn't be airing their opinions in public.