Personal Opinions

WARNING: Hypocrisy ahead!

Before I get into this I want to state that: yes, I am aware that I am about to perform an act of hypocrisy. However, I am not writing this in the attempt of saying what should be but merely trying to grasp a hold of this concept for all it is worth.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion."

I have been reading that a lot lately on here. Of course, that is nothing new and it certainly is not new to any aspect of communication. Everyone is, in fact, entitled to their opinion, right? I mean, we have free-will and a thought process, so it is only natural that people have opinions.

However, does an opinion hold much water? There is a vast difference between an opinion and a fact. If you want to get into the textbook definition of such things then we could say that a fact is "something that is deemed 'true' by means of substantial evidence" where as an opinion is "something that somebody believes, regardless of evidence".

Of course, one could take a Cartesian approach to this argument and claim that "the only thing that can actually be proven to be in existence is one's own mind." That being offered, there may not be any such thing as "facts". For the mean time, however, I think it would be O.K. to just deal with what is deemed factual by a ration sense, regardless of it being an ad populum.

So, back to my main question, is there any logical reason to state an opinion? I am not saying they are useless to others in forms of learning but to state something that is merely a truth for solely you, seems a bit pointless. To get even further relevant to the thread, most of the time opinions seem to be nothing more than a fire-starter for a debate (usually irrational debates filled with ad hominems)

Opinions are unique. Although they may be strikingly similar, two people would have to have the exact same mind to have the exact same opinion. Therefore, an opinion is only relevant (in a factual sense) to you.

I'm trying to look at this from a logical sense. An opinion contains no facts, and even if it were to contain facts relevant to it, it would still not be relevant to someone else as they have their opinion which would need its own unique facts that are subject strictly to the individual. So, to post an opinion about a subject would seem to be illogical and, at the utmost, deceptive/misleading.


Here is a few good things about opinions:
-They create debates that vary in intensity and create, perhaps, some form of enjoyment for someone.
-They allow you to express yourself uniquely.
-They create much conversation between users and I am sure the site administrators love them as they generate more content for their site.
-They offer a(n) unique outlook on things and give somebody a chance to create their own opinions.

Let's look at that last one, shall we? "They offer a(n) unique outlook on things and give somebody a chance to create their own opinions."

However, this just reinforces the whole concept of opinions!


The opinions within the threads really seem quite pointless from a logical standpoint, and while I know that no one said this has to be a place of strict logic, I feel it should be thought about everyone and awhile. Especially when the opinions seem to create such negativity and unfriendliness amongst people.

Wouldn't it make sense to only post response that can be proven based off of relevant facts (substantial ones)? This would allow for statements to be proven and disproven and it would also condense the threads into information rich sources instead of pages of personal banter.

Any opinions on this one? Ha!

Originally posted by ErroneousDylan
Any opinions on this one? Ha!

If I want your opinion, I will give it to you

Wouldn't it make sense to only post response that can be proven based off of relevant facts (substantial ones)? This would allow for statements to be proven and disproven and it would also condense the threads into information rich sources instead of pages of personal banter.

Honestly, if opinions were not allowed on this site it would be a very empty forum.

If you don't like somebody's opinion, talk it over with them and correct the erroneous parts with provable facts.

reply to post by Kryties


Well, I'd go as far as to say that liking or not liking someone's post would just be another opinion! Haha. I think what I probably could have conveyed a little better would just be that: there seems to be a much heavier opinion weight in the opinion:fact ratio.

EDIT: Also, I would never say "do not allow opinions". That would be wrong on so many levels. I'm just holding this topic up for debate.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


a famousquote, comparing opninions to a gastro-intestinal annatomic structure springs to mind

reply to post by ignorant_ape


Or,

"My opinions may have changed, but never the fact that I was right."

Good post, OP. I do sometimes enjoy reading people's opinions on ATS, but it has become an annoyance to have to wade through about 20 posts of opinions before you get to a post with any substance.

reply to post by METACOMET


I agree. As I stated earlier, opinions are a great way of looking at things from another angle. However, when all a thread is is people's opinions, it doesn't leave much room for validity.

Also, thank you moderators for moving this to the correct forum.