Are your opinions your own?

lahalane · 08-11-2013 03:30PM #1

Too often I have tackled someone on their view about something to find that they actually dont really know what theyre talking about. Examples being Oasis lyrics are rubbish, Clint Eastwood is a **** actor and Pele was better than Maradona or vice versa.

I accept that people have differing opinions than my own but surely they need to have a valid reason for it instead of blindly giving one just for the sake of having an opinion. You dont need to have an opinion on everything. Id feel stupid discussing something if I didnt know anything about it.

Does anyone else encounter these people who have an opinion on something that they recited from someone else and actually know nothing about? What are some of the lazy opinions that you hear offered frequently that you know would crumble to nothing if you attempted to debate it.

Ive often heard people say that Brian Cowen ruined the country and when I, genuinely, question them as to why, so I can at least know what he did, I am never given a proper answer. Just mumblings about the recession, being drunk on radio, being from Offaly and looking like a dope. Im no wiser to the whole thing at all.

RayM · 08-11-2013 03:32PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcAqR-Hs9II

MadsL · 08-11-2013 03:33PM

lahalane wrote: »

You dont need to have an opinion on everything.

I beg to differ...

Maximus Alexander · 08-11-2013 03:33PM

lahalane wrote: »

Does anyone else encounter these people who have an opinion on something that they recited from someone else and actually know nothing about?

This is the internet, it's pretty much all we encounter here.

mathie · 08-11-2013 03:34PM

No opinion is your own.

jimgoose · 08-11-2013 03:34PM

Opinions expressed here and elsewhere by me are my own, no-one else's. I made them, I can destroy them. They do what I tell them, they're usually armed and always dangerous. Feel quite free to disagree with them - in fact, I'll fight any man who says you can't disagree with me or anyone else. But my opinions are mine, God-dammit! :cool:

mutley18 · 08-11-2013 03:35PM

Everyone jumps on the Ryanair are cúnts bandwagon, (in fairness they are from experience) but people who have never flown with them will still hop on the bandwagon.

Savoir.Faire · 08-11-2013 03:35PM

Much of the modern European liberal tradition is taken blindly by its minor disciples and spouted on the Internet. Sites like here and politics.ie are a toxic waste ground for proper debate. Much of the serious analysis and debate taking place is still happening by thought-leaders involved in academia.

lahalane · 08-11-2013 03:37PM

mathie wrote: »

No opinion is your own.

Thats just your opinion...

ScumLord · 08-11-2013 03:38PM

A lot of human society is based on trust. Money has no value we just trust that it will to other people. Most of us specialise our skill set and interests too, so we don't have time to figure out plumbing or rocket science.

We hand over trust very easily and unless we're given good reason to doubt someone we accept everything they say.

Maximus Alexander · 08-11-2013 03:38PM

Savoir.Faire wrote: »

Much of the modern European liberal tradition is taken blindly by its minor disciples and spouted on the Internet. Sites like here and politics.ie are a toxic waste ground for proper debate. Much of the serious analysis and debate taking place is still happening by thought-leaders involved in academia.

Where did you hear that?

Starscream25 · 08-11-2013 03:41PM

There's only so many opinions to round on any one topic, may aswell pick one of them

jester77 · 08-11-2013 03:43PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVCtkzIXYzQ

Corkfeen · 08-11-2013 03:44PM

They're my own however they developed around stuff I have read or watched. An opinion is far more worthwhile if it's based on something more than it being simply your opinion.

mathie · 08-11-2013 03:45PM

lahalane wrote: »

Thats just your opinion...

I got it from someone else.

EuropeanSon · 08-11-2013 03:45PM

I think Pele is better than Maradona, but have very limited basis for the opinion, having seen probably less than two hours in total of either player (and read quite a bit, which is slightly less valid). It doesn't make the opinion not my own, however.

Edit: I've liked Clint Eastwood movies I've seen, though he always seemed very similar, and have no opinion on Oasis.

sbsquarepants · 08-11-2013 04:12PM

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately, on close examination I came to realise that I held a lot of opinions for no real or valid reason, i'd say everybody does. We "feel" a certain way about something but don't always do the homework required to know if we're right to feel that way. We reckon it feels right, therefore it must be right - but that's just not the case.
I've actually signed up for an online course in rational thinking to help remedy the situation!

Oink · 08-11-2013 04:24PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately, on close examination I came to realise that I held a lot of opinions for no real or valid reason, i'd say everybody does. We "feel" a certain way about something but don't always homework required to know if we're right to feel that way. We reckon it feels right, therefore it must be right - but that's just not the case.
I've actually signed up for an online course in rational thinking to help remedy the situation!

I wish I could thank that post twice. You actually asked yourself honestly " Am I talking ****e", you had the guts to answer yes, and then you did something about it.

I did the same thing, but instead of the online course I took the lazy route: I decided to shut up when I don't know what I'm talking about.

salacious crumb · 08-11-2013 04:39PM

lahalane wrote: »

Clint Eastwood is a **** actor

Who the f*ck said Clint Eastwood's a sh*t actor??!! :pac:

sbsquarepants · 08-11-2013 04:46PM

Oink wrote: »

I wish I could thank that post twice. You actually asked yourself honestly "Am I talking ****e", you had the guts to answer yes, and then you did something about it.

I did the same thing, but instead of the online course I took the lazy route: I decided to shut up when I don't know what I'm talking about.

Ah here, don't go putting words in my mouth, I was far more diplomatic with myself!

Also i'm too argumentative to just shut up!:D

SEPT 23 1989 · 08-11-2013 04:53PM

Maradona's lyrics are rubbish, Pele is a **** actor and Clint Eastwood was better than Oasis or vice versa.

uch · 08-11-2013 04:55PM

Ice Pops taste better when they're free. Just my own opinion

Tiddlypeeps · 08-11-2013 05:08PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately, on close examination I came to realise that I held a lot of opinions for no real or valid reason, i'd say everybody does. We "feel" a certain way about something but don't always do the homework required to know if we're right to feel that way. We reckon it feels right, therefore it must be right - but that's just not the case.!

This is pretty much it. I don't believe, at least most of the time, that people are trying to knowingly convince people they know more than they do. It's likely down to a thing called source amnesia. It's basically where somebody learns something from a source they trust but then later forgets where they learned it altogether. They will repeat the thing they learned as fact even tho they have no idea where it came from. I think pretty much all humans are guilty of this to some degree.

I'd consider myself to be a pretty rational thinker and I've caught myself doing it. I got into a debate recently on why communism doesn't work and I said something along the lines of "because people don't innovate when there is no reward to be gained from it". That's something that for some reason my brain just feels to be right. Somebody challenged me and asked for a source and it wasn't till that point that I realised I have no idea where that information came from or why I believe it to be true and I could find no studies on the internet that back it up. It may still be true but I have no business spouting it as fact.

Maximus Alexander · 08-11-2013 05:36PM

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I'd consider myself to be a pretty rational thinker and I've caught myself doing it. I got into a debate recently on why communism doesn't work and I said something along the lines of "because people don't innovate when there is no reward to be gained from it". That's something that for some reason my brain just feels to be right. Somebody challenged me and asked for a source and it wasn't till that point that I realised I have no idea where that information came from or why I believe it to be true and I could find no studies on the internet that back it up. It may still be true but I have no business spouting it as fact.

Same as yourself. I consider myself a rational person, take pride in it in fact. I prefer to get to the truth of a matter rather than just back up what I already believe. But I've found myself well into an argument on occasion, before realizing that I couldn't remember how I knew what I 'knew', and if that's the case you don't know it at all.

ScumLord · 08-11-2013 05:53PM

I always try to remind myself that I'm probably wrong, or at the very least not 100% right.

wretcheddomain · 08-11-2013 05:53PM

lahalane wrote: »

Too often I have tackled someone on their view about something to find that they actually dont really know what theyre talking about. Examples being Oasis lyrics are rubbish, Clint Eastwood is a **** actor and Pele was better than Maradona or vice versa.

That's the religious for you right there.

But seriously, I bought my opinions on Ebay.

Nah...I'll be serious this time.

Many people appear to have difficulty in separating the concepts of being entitled to an opinion and being entitled to facts. You're not entitled to your opinion if it's based on factually incorrect premises. Too often, I hear people defend nonsense by claiming their opinion is equally valid to mine as we're all entitled to one. Usually this happens when said individual's facts are being challenged and they get pretty uncomfortable and resort to detestable defences such as that outlined above.

sbsquarepants · 08-11-2013 05:57PM

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I prefer to get to the truth of a matter rather than just back up what I already believe. .

I think this is where most people go wrong, myself included. We put the cart before the horse a lot of the time, start with our "opinion" and then find or even invent reasons to justify it. I don't think it's a conscious thing most of the time, seems to be just the way we work.

wretcheddomain · 08-11-2013 05:58PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I think this is where most people go wrong, myself included. We put the cart before the horse a lot of the time, start with our "opinion" and then find or even invent reasons to justify it. I don't think it's a conscious thing most of the time, seems to be just the way we work.

Very true - we have to try hard to persist in studied from as much a neutral and objective perspective as possible or else you end up deluding yourself by reinforcing your own biases.

Maximus Alexander · 08-11-2013 05:59PM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I think this is where most people go wrong, myself included. We put the cart before the horse a lot of the time, start with our "opinion" and then find or even invent reasons to justify it. I don't think it's a conscious thing most of the time, seems to be just the way we work.

I'm not saying that I don't do that, just that I prefer not to. I try not to. I think everyone does the same, at least part of the time. Once you're at least aware that you're doing it it becomes easier to stop yourself before getting into a heated debate and say "Hey, is what I'm about to argue actually true?"

Karl Stein · 08-11-2013 06:20PM

lahalane wrote: »

Examples being Oasis lyrics are rubbish, Clint Eastwood is a **** actor and Pele was better than Maradona or vice versa.

How can taking a stance on these issues be anything but a dearly held opinion?

pharmaton · 08-11-2013 06:29PM

no I just go with the popular opinion that way I get to be more accepted by society as a whole

Are your opinions your own?

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