Your opinion is wrong.

Discussion in 'Debate Corner' started by Boy Wonder, Nov 4, 2009.

?

Is there such a thing as a wrong opinion?

  1. No, everyone's entitled to what they want to believe.

    12 vote(s)
    46.2%
  2. Yes, facts can make your opinion invalid.

    14 vote(s)
    53.8%
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  1. Boy Wonder Dark Phoenix in Training

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    So reading through a couple of old debates, I noticed something. Some people stick to their opinions even when there is a fact that contradicts their opinion.
    Example.
    "I think we humans can breathe underwater."
    No, we can't. Do it and drown.
    If your opinion can be proven wrong, are you still entitled to it?
     
  2. ♥AL90♥ Hollow Bastion Committee

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    That's not an opinion, that's just pure ignorance. They're entitled to ignorance but it definitely won't help them any in life
     
  3. Always Dance Chaser

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    I usually withdraw my opinion when there's facts that disprove it, but I know people who don't. The thing is, if there's even the slightest chance that your opinion might be true, lots of people will cling to it like no tomorrow.
    And sadly, yes they are "entitled" to their opinion. Doesn't change the fact that they're wrong.
     
  4. Hayabusa Venomous

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    You can be right, or you can be in denial that you're wrong.

    However, what is fact but what the general mass believe to be true? Gravity, time, and the like are all things we believe to be facts, yet we can only rely on theories to say so.
     
  5. EvilMan_89 Code Master

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    those people who don't withdraw their opinion are usually just being stubborn, but most of the time i get the feeling they're just embarassed to because the other person who proved them wrong did so in a condescending manner.

    anyways, to answer the question, i think that if something can be proved as a fact, it's not really a matter of opinion. for example, red is a better color than blue, nothing to prove that it is, someone is entitled to think that. but if someone said something like the whole people breathing underwater thing, than they are still entitled to their opinion, but their opinion has no validity or weight.
     
  6. Zeonark Kingdom Keeper

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    ^This.

    Opinions are a matter of belief and common sense. Like Evilman stated, If someone believes one color is better than another, you're perfectly entitled to your opinion. Color opinions include common sense. About the underwater thing, it may be a opinion, but people are allowed to say that it's a idiotic theory and lacks common sense.

    If common sense doesn't exist in opinions, most people begin the fire by stating such.
     
  7. childofturin Why?

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    Facts can indeed prove an opinion wrong, and if humanity is to move forward, people need to learn to let disproved opinions go. Look at fundamentalists - many of them stick to the 6000 year old earth, yet we have fossils dating to 2.something billion years, rocks dated to 3.something billion years, and evidence of a 12-14 billion year old universe. Or the (thankfully few) people who continue to believe that the earth is flat when we can see the bloody orb from space. (p.s., not trying to offend anyone if you actually DO have those opinions, but I sincerely hope no one here does.)

    So, in my opinion, once an opinion is proven to be based on irrelevant or disproven facts, that opinion becomes irrelevant and should not be held any longer.
     
  8. Boy Wonder Dark Phoenix in Training

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    I find it funny that this is your view. I was reviewing the whole marijuana legalization thread for a school paper, and your posts, along with a few others, plus something Styx said were what inspired me to make this thread.

    Some people, when faced with facts that debunk their opinion rather than support it, still hold that opinion stubbornly.






    Another question would be, is any opinion valid in the first place?
     
  9. Peace and War Bianca, you minx!

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    This is one of the times I go '.....meh....' and continue on with my life.

    Someone's opinion is something no one can change, except for themselves. I don't think facts have ever stopped humanity for being stubborn in their way of thinking. No one likes their opinion to be proven wrong, it shatters the security we have on our life.
    I bet if Science was 'proven' to be nothing more than a load of crazy men telling tales, alot of people would be in constant denial and confusion about the situation.
    Look, the truth is people are able to have opinions and belief. That's what seperates relegion to pure logic. One has facts the other has hope. Nothing wrong with either.
    Whatever existence we have is the only thing that is truly valid to us all.
     
  10. Styx That's me inside your head.

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    I assume you mean this?

    And I still stick to this. Like childofturin and I already said, disproven opinions may have consequences for people other than yourself, especially when you're trying to convince others.
    Besides, why should they be "entitled" to every opinion? Freedom of speech? I think not; it's a fortress that's too oft withdrawn too but not entirely unassailable. Falsely accusing someone of a crime is a crime in itself, so "freedom of speech" is not as all-powerful as is often believed. So why should other denial of facts and/or spreading of false ones be any different? Because it doesn't harm anyone? I beg to differ. It's a hindrance to society as a whole, a minor one but still.

    Though I admit that it's a dangerous thing to tamper with. The line between what's already fact and what's still theory is at times a thin one indeed.
     
  11. water mage Kingdom Keeper

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    I chose facts over opinion because it's a matter of black or white. If something supports a truth with evidence after trial and error and onto to completion with success, then it has to be valid no matter what anyone thinks.
     
  12. Mvalentine King's Apprentice

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    Everyone's entitled to their own opinions...But if you are gonna come up with something like humans being able to breath under water then at least give something to back why you feel this is possible not just "Humans can breathe under water, end of story"
     
  13. Ah eff. Traverse Town Homebody

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    People have the right to their own opinions, but when they ignore facts is when it becomes dangerous to themselves. Stubbornness can become a barrier between reality and ignorance. I am a person that tends to make my opinions based on facts. I will gladly withdraw if their is evidence to prove otherwise. However, everyone is definitely entitled to their own beliefs. Depending on the argument, I would never have the time or patience to convince an ignorant person of the truth.
     
  14. P Banned

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    An interesting question and one that often arises when discussing religion.

    However It's getting late and I can't be bothered typing out a fully fledged reply, so I'll leave with this:

    I've always wanted to go into a maths class and tell the teacher that it is my belief that two plus two is equal to 5 and to tell me otherwise or to give me a lower score because of my beliefs is an impingement on my rights.
     
  15. P Banned

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    Can you please explain the underlined part? If the existence of a deity is disproved, it seems very reasonable to ask people to stop worshiping something that doesn't exist, yet you seem to take it for granted that faith is supreme, even in the face of evidence. This isn't a shared belief; it is a rather controversial thought, thus you cannot you it as the basis of your argument.
     
  16. Repliku Chaser

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    Opinions are usually formed off something people believe to be a fact. It may be that the opinion simply is formed off other opinions that people try to pass off as facts, old outdated opinions that were once 'facts' because we were unknowing and humans filled in gaps with ideas that became 'facts', or off of half-facts, taking in basically what someone wants to without reading into the whole ideal, and lastly off of observation, such as noting what a select group of people do so all who are associated with that group in some way also must be that way too. Opinions make things subjective and seldom is an opinion going to not be skewed in some manner or another.

    People who basically can -change- their opinions due to having open minds and study the world around them earnestly are usually easier for me to understand and converse with. However, even saying that, no one seems to be devoid of unwavering opinions, including myself, and I often try to ensure I have thought of the facts and where my actual source material comes from for such a core belief. It's always good to me to check yourself and that you do not just feel the way you do because of a bias.

    i.e. the old example of: The Holocaust never happened.
    There are people out there that believe millions of people did not die in pograms, town and city massacres and in concentration camps. The problem was not 'so bad' despite the fact we have pictures galore of burial sites, the actual acts of the Einsatzgruppen SS in locations, doing 'sardine' sorts of packing of bodies, concentration camp photos, records that are very detailed indicating why someone was killed, records of why people were evicted from homes, records of people hiding in terror or others covering and trying to aid people to leave an area. The physical evidence seems rather overwhelming to me and yet I've had this debate with a few people and it has simply astounded me that they, with no real tangible credibility on their side, can say 'it simply didn't transpire no matter what you say'.

    Opinions are important in one sense, that they are clues about a person's thought processes occasionally. People are entitled to their opinions, despite how much it may make others frustrated when having to deal with those opinions that are sorely outdated or just outright wrong. Yes, opinions -can- be wrong. An opinion is a thought. I.e. someone can be prejudiced against a race, gender, sexual preference, etc, and say so. What makes the opinion not worthy is when someone chooses to be a ****** and act on it, or they are argumentative with no supporting real proof, to the point of near hostility. This is what separates a fundamentalist, a zealot, an activist, etc from others that just feel a certain way. Do I wish that people would stop having outdated or harmful opinions? Sure. But I'm not the thought police and no one really should be unless you do have to do something like 'denazification' to a mass group because they are harmful to humanity. In the end, to be prejudiced means you are making a full choice opinion based on little if any fact. Everyone in some manner has a prejudice. ..

    Which brings me to the conclusion that opinions are also not as important as some people like to think they are. Some people grip onto opinions because they believe these things make a person who he or she is or they would be ostracized from a social group or feel empty without them. They become identifiers to the person in such a way that you can dislike someone for them and lose interest in delving deeper to comprehending what the person truly is like in other facets. I think it is always a good idea to check yourself so you don't become too arrogant and 'opinionated'. Being as open-minded as one can be and learning, continuing to read and write, developing and keeping the mind honed...these are important to me. So is having the grace to admit you are mistaken when confronted with enough evidence. As we are sentient, we do not have a time in our lives when we -need- to stop learning. So opinions aren't bad, but they aren't also the greatest things out there to be considered sacred. I think people should be able to talk and debate over various topics to expand our minds and nothing should be considered too taboo to do so. It is only with testing opinions that a person realizes whether they are good to keep around or not. Some people may take stances on issues I will not like, but in the end, it does not mean that I should not like the person because guaranteed a majority of the time, I will find other issues we do agree on. Lastly, a person does -not- have to respect an opinion in order to respect a person. That's my two cents anyway.
     
  17. childofturin Why?

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    It seems pretty obvious to me that if something is proven not to exist, then we should not continue to believe in it's existence despite said proof. For instance, the existence of a universal "ether" that holds the planets in place like a viscous liquid (at least, as I understand the theory) was disproved long ago, and because of the overwhelming evidence against it, no one believes that space is a liquid anymore.

    Now, it would, naturally, be incredibly hard to disprove the existence of a supreme being, due to the loopholes he (or she) can exploit (because said being has the cheat codes to the universe) - creating the universe 6000 years ago, but making it look much older, for instance, or manipulating nature as we know it and erasing our memory of the previous reality, etc etc. It may not even be possible.
     
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