Wednesday, August 15, 2007

You are not entitled to your opinion.

Introductory Philosophy 1) I believe in essentially a discrete, rather than analog universe.

Everything can be summarized as right and wrong, black and white, once the complexities have been dealt with individually. I don't believe you can justify anything by saying "That's my opinion".
Saying "I don't think _____ hurts anyone" for example, is never an opinion. It either hurts people, or it doesn't. Just because we don't know the answer doesn't stop the thought being either true, or false.

I'm not saying people shouldn't have freedom of speech. I'm not suggesting we are capable of discerning the truth out of every situation. I'm saying that the only "valid" opinions are those that have no bearing on a truth value.

Deciding what food is the tastiest, what color is nicer, those are opinions.
Taking complex issues, fudging them, then answering them half-ass and defending that with "Well it's just my opinion", is the equivalent of guessing maths answers because the sums are too hard to actually do.

That's fine for personal use. Maybe I don't care how close I get to the real answer so my guess will do. Forcing my guess on other people on the other hand.....

In short, you are not entitled to your opinion. Go away, and come back when it's not an opinion anymore.

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