Where do your opinions come from?

Ever sat down for a minute or longer and thought, "where is all this stuff I've been saying, coming from?

Really think about this. Since birth, people have been telling us things to believe in and stand for. Parents, teachers, bosses, friends, experts, celebrities, all telling you what you should subscribe to as truth. We hear it and either say "yeah that sounds right", or we disagree because something we have heard in the past from someone we trust contradicts it.

Do we really truly believe and understand our opinions, or are we just repeating things we have heard? Pick an issue. Think about where your stance comes from. You a republican? Was it bcause you had a loving supporting family that was also republican? Or are you a democrat because your republican family ousted you and you wanted to be different?

So many of our beliefs are just accepted words and ideas from others and we really don't even know it. Take one of your beliefs or stances that you like to argue with other people about. Now trace the belief or opinion back to its roots and really question yourself.

If you are always trying to prove a point or defend a position, you should be able to see some originalit in your arguement, otherwise you are just repeating someone elses idea.

Just food for thought

“Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than not having any opinions at all.” — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

reply to post by bringthelight


If your opinions are copied they sound unconvincing when repeated...you feel odd stating them...

[edit on 14-6-2010 by nine-eyed-eel]

I've always heard that opinions are like a-holes..

Everyone has one and most of them stink....

reply to post by baddmove


If you have two, does each stink half as much?
ex-food for thought...

As I get older this is definitely something that I think about more and more.

I was so opinionated in my early twenties, but 99% of what I 'know' has been told to me by somebody else.

Just take history as a topic, everybody knows the victors of a war write history to suit themselves and their own purposes for future generations to glorify them.

I don't know anything yet, I am full of other peoples opinions and repeat their version of events.

The only reality is what you make for yourself, unfortunately for everybody this is influenced by everybody elses representations of what they 'know'.

reply to post by bringthelight


S&F for you friend. It takes a wise man to realize we have been spoon fed every belief we have. Needless to say not all beliefs are bad, but we should always question the source and ask ourselves if that is what we really want or believe in.

Originally posted by bringthelight

Really think about this. Since birth, people have been telling us things to believe in and stand for. Parents, teachers, bosses, friends, experts, celebrities, all telling you what you should subscribe to as truth. We hear it and either say "yeah that sounds right", or we disagree because something we have heard in the past from someone we trust contradicts it.

While all you have listed, might be what helps people formulate opinions, I think that people also get them by way of experience.

This might sound funny to you, but, I worked at a market research company for 7 years, and thier motto still is, "Your Opinion Counts."

We did taste tests on food products, and people, by way of tasting 2 different kinds of cereal, will formulate an opinion, of which one tastes best. Nurses, who test different types of IV equipment, will formulate an opinion of which one is easiest to use, and most efficient.

I know I like chunky peanut butter than smooth, for myself, because I've tried them both, not because somebody told me to prefer one over the other!

Einstein said "Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"

It's the truth. Music, philosophical theories, religions, are all just based on the very first set of beliefs established by men.

Our opinions are based evenly on what we have been taught, what we believe, and what we want to believe. And you can only convince yourself fully of something when they meet all of those criteria. Like I can say, "I believe the human race was an alien experiment". But say I'm also a full-devout Christian and believe and Heaven and Hell, then I will never be able to accept and grow on that theory unless I can find a similarity between the two beliefs.

I can say "I don't believe life has any purpose". But my very basic instinct for survival tells me otherwise. So that's just a case of me not wanting to believe in that theory, even if science tells me otherwise.

You just have to do a little soul searching and find what your purpose for living really is. And start growing on a new set of values from there. Do you think serial killers were taught by their elders that murder brings satisfaction? Of course not, but somewhere down the line they formed their own opinion that killing would fufill their egos.

Disclaimer: I do not encourage you to go out and murder anybody

I'm a "Natural Born Faither"... I had it very young and way beyond everybody else at home. And yet, just prior to my Faith confirmation, I was told that if I didn't do it, I would be prevented by the church to marry, do this and that...

I answered; With all the faith in me, I am receiving menaces to do what I desire to? I see no reason on that account to testify before these men of my faith in God. He knows, and that is enough. And I never went into a church after that. I was 7. It only served to strengthen my faith in God. That was me, my own opinion.
But, when 10, we had a priest at school one day, and towards the end of the class, he asked for those who wanted to have their sins forgiven to stand up, and come see him. NO OBLIGATIONS!, he said...

I remained seated. And he was hardly forgiving as he was looking intently at me. Once finished, he called me apart, and asked me why I didn't get up.
I told him that at my age, with the kind of sin I might be committing, God knew that I A) did the sin for lack of knowledge and was not ill-meaning when doing it, and B) frankly, at my age, and with the kind of sin I was committing, God was smart enough to not send me to hell for so less, and He knew I was repentent, and that was enough.

Needless to say the priest was mad as hell.

That was an influence from my father, but I did it only because it fitted in with the way I choose to live and express my faith. Since the church had abandoned me by showing its true colors, that of a fearful, unloving one, I was not to let them tell me how I should be in my relation with God.

But in my opinion, the most dangerous opinions are those born of strong emotions. They are rarely well motivated, and much less well oriented. Because you then say, or do, just too much, too strongly... Being educated or not is the same, an emotional opinion is born of a form of fury and there is little to no place for the intellect to counter-balance anything.

And if you don't stand with me on all of this, I'll go into politics and pass a law for you to comply for your own safety against terrorism! ( Did that last part influence your opinion? )

Originally posted by Blanca Rose
I know I like chunky peanut butter than smooth, for myself, because I've tried them both, not because somebody told me to prefer one over the other!

But were you offered a choice as to the specie of peanut you can chose from? Or that you could alternate for almond or cashew butter?

reply to post by Aresh Troxit


Does it matter? LOL, I love the texture of chunky! It doesn't matter what brand, or type of nut, as long as it's got the little bits in it!

I do love almond butter though, it's always kinda grainy!

reply to post by bringthelight


I don't think it really matters where they come from if it is a person that has influenced your thinking or your own self discovery. If it is something you understand, then heck, roll with it.

I think this gets mixed up when we try to define things. Like when you were talking about people being a certain political party. If you define yourself as something, good or bad, or even when you define someone else the same - I think it is those opinions that are shaped by things other than ourselves mostly.

I can say you are a funny person, or say you are an ugly person, and those are my opinions, but how I describe my definitions is greatly influenced by the collective standards of those definitions, rather than the fact that person may make you laugh or is not attractive to you. Two different things.


[edit on 14-6-2010 by juveous]

My opinion comes from others and experience.

I try and learn from every opinion I hear mix it and form my own. Still works for me.

I wrote this giant thread called The Passing of Information... I don't think anyone bothered to take a read, but then again i don't blame them, im not the best ha! Here is some of it...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by drkid
Let me start off by saying that this thread revolves around something i feel very strongly about. This thread regards to the passing of information. I have become disappointed over the years after gaining insight on how information truly travels. What is information? Information, to my own definition of the word, is new (timeless or breaking) data that stores in your mind for you to judge. How is information developed, through my own process of thinking, is simply an idea from that judgment. In reality... it all goes back to Pi. I was recommended this movie last week by a friend. He said he was certain i would love it because of what it talked about. Turns out he was right. The movie mentioned something i theorized about early this year, and it was about this...

www.youtube.com...

The possibility of infinity. I do not know too much about this stuff so pleas excuse me if i speak without true proper knowledge. This infinite pattern sort of reminds me of the same concept of "who came first? The chicken or the egg?" some suggest that the egg might have come first, but where we there when it initially happened? How about the passing of information?

When something happens, the entire world cannot possibly know about the event at the same time without the aid of broadcast communication. In the event that something were to occur... lets say an ancient pyramid disappears from the face of Egypt. How many days, how many weeks, maybe even years before this event becomes common knowledge. The average person does not know it but we all share common sense. We want to be loved, we want to be treated with respect, we don't want a fake drug war which happens to be the catalyst to our root problem here on earth. We want truth, we want what is right, we want absolute freedom with a truthful government that doesn't kill behind the public's back. When i was in high school i learned that honest information cannot be passed along for the benefit of mankind so easily.

I never really cared about the pop life, and celebrities, and the drama that all the boys and girls in my school were into following. I was always on the creative side of things. I needed to discover new things to feed my brains appetite. Little did i know, i ended up in a journalism program in my senior year of high school. Despite the reasons i wanted to originally join the program, i later became disappointed in journalism for what it truly was becoming or had becoming for the last couple of decades. How does the public receive new information outside their daily boxes? How can new information enter the mind of someone who works a 9 to 5 or a grave shift alone in the dark? Sure you can argue that a student can be in a group of the same folks for months before doing the same in another semester, but does he get the liberty of discussing his ideas to the class for hours on end each day? The answer is No. The teacher, which is the control of the class room and the mother of information is the one who has the right to lecture for hours about the topics he thinks are important, regarding timeless subjects or breaking ones. Most people grow up to have common similarities despite them ever interacting with a mass group of the same faces daily. We breathe, we can think, we can see, have sex and even reproduce.

I mainly joined the journalism program because i was promised a photographer class duty. I was not there to write stories and write thing's that the entire school would be exposed too. I was there to follow that guy around and take his picture along with the pictures of stories happening in our school. Unfortunately the teacher who had offered me the position ended his roll in the class and was replaced. In the news paper world you have the following...

*Current Events
*Opinions
*Statistics
*Advertisements...

Along with some other things that can contribute to your judgment process, if interest sparks from the knowledge you already collected over that subject. What do you know? I found myself wanting to participate in the writing process after all. During the course of me being in that class, i was on the verge of being kicked out twice, i was accused to stealing, and jeopardized my friends changes of passing the class. As a true journalist, i tried to cover the most hardcore stories, the stories that were controversial and that i knew were protected under the schools journalism regulations. Breaking news is happening all around us... weather its inside our cube, weather its outside in the open were the locals can see it. It never stops happening because we don't stop moving. This news that occurs everywhere is protected by those in control of the system. In my case, since i was in high school, it was the administration. The replacement teacher was great, she was a true bad ass at teaching that class, and i feel was also a victim of high rank pressure's. I found myself in the middle of stories that were really interesting yet restricted by administration or whatever reason that couldn't come up with themselves. Let me tell this to you, the few who will read this thread. Information can be controlled, like electricity can be controlled. If you understand this concept that its easy to understand life for what it truly is from here on out. Control is heavy factor for the reasons you know what you know.

[Continued Below]

I was raised in a Republican household, and voted twice for Bush. I listened to Rush and Hannity almost everyday. I was a die-hard Republican, but that all changed.
At the end of Bush's last term, he approved the first TARP bailout despite everyone telling his administration not to do it. I questioned myself on how a man, who was voted in by-and-for the people, can do something so unpopular and counter productive to the vast amount of debt he already cost us. I then started looking into something I vowed I would never look into.... Conspiracy websites. I started learning about the complete corruption in politics (back room deals, secret illegal wars, global regulations that corroded our sovereignty) that has been taking place for several decades. My eyes were open to the obvious two-party scam.
I have to admit... Even though I voted libertarian this past election, I was kinda excited about Obama being voted in, but slowly realized that he was just like the rest (if not worse). This past election only proved my point on the two-party scam.
My family remains a strong right-wing family, and thinks I've gone crazy despite educating them on the facts behind my claims.

As simple and almost silly as it sounds, my beliefs come from a feeling that I dont want to suffer at all in this life or at least keep it to a minimum. I also dont want other people to suffer ie; illness, under despotic regimes, abuse etc. I wish people could think about the consequences of things they say and do no matter how small.

As lucky as I am to live in relative freedom in a western nation, I am aware of the hardships of others around the world (though I try not to think too hard about these things as its quite painful). I cant shake the feeling that my next life could well be one of those living in a war-torn nation or in extreme poverty and hardship. We who live a good life owe it to others to enjoy the freedoms we have but also realise that we could very well end up on the other end of the spectrum at any moment.

Sounds quite selfish really doesnt it, but nevertheless thats at the root of my beliefs.

For the most part we are emotion driven/motivated animals.

We have some emotional &/or psychological feeling or instinct, & then we try to craft an intellectual rationale to defend & support it.

If there are better or worse opinions it may [or may not] show up in how easily we find material to support our positions, but that can still be highly variable.

There are a lot of things that can be MADE to work,
but things that best co-opt preexisting conditions are more efficient [aka 'organic'] They have lower overhead to support.

We may want to believe some things & arguably we may actually need to believe some things.
Look at how even some of the worst behaviors of the high & mighty are rationalized by them.
Like the CEO of Goldman Sachs saying he was doing "God's work" while his company was lying to & unloading worthless securities on unsuspecting investors, while shorting them [betting they would crash] by buying CDSs.

I don't think most people want to imagine they are doing bad things, or maybe they rationalize doing bad things now for some 'good', lofty, noble purpose.

We tend to script internal narratives [memory stories] that tend to put us in the best light in our perceptions & memories.

To imagine that ANYONE actually looks at the panorama about them & makes a cool, discrete, clinical calculated determination just flies in the face of all the facts.
The fact is our minds are swirls of color & emotion, & perhaps in a mechanical, biologically healthy sense they have to work that way.
Blood is & should be juicy.

But as for machine, metric balancing pure intellectual determinations?

Not a snowballs chance in hades.

(Btw, i always pull my opinions out of my backside, just like everyone else.)