One of the most annoying forms of stupidity

[Godslayer Jillian]

The politically correct "That's your opinion" idiocy.
Fucking yes! Every time someone says something it is their opinion; that's why it came out of their fucking mouths!
But who in the name of everything that's sacred started believing if something is an opinion must ipso facto be wrong?
I demand to know that.
"I'm pretty sure the earth revolves around the sun" That's a fucking opinion, because I subjectively said it based on the amount of evidence I have gathered through my life. Does that mean the statement is wrong?
For the people that evaluate my opinion in its own merits against their own knowledge: no, it's not wrong. I got it right. My opinion is well founded.
For the people that can't think past the fact that anything said is an opinion: yes, it is wrong. Because there might be people that believe the sun revolves around the earth, or that the sun is just a fucking balloon lamp set in the sky by New Zealand. I hope now people can start understanding just how absurd that is.
I don't know what will make me sadder, the guys with a mentality of the second example that will try to tell me "you're wrong" with an absolutist voice yet wanting to convince me that "it's different" as if different circumstances under the same logic demand different conclusion (based on fucking what?), or the guys with that same mentality that will fucking say I am right in my example and I am indeed wrong about the sun.
I have mentioned Ray Bradbury before, but people like this just shout out Fahrenheit! Fahrenheit! Fahrenheit!
This bullshit spineless liberal rhetoric pisses me off. Liberals are just as retrograde as conservatives, only they can't shut the fuck up about how progressive they are.

[Stormtrooper of Death]

People can be ver stupid Jillian. That's what sucks about humanity.

[JCC]

I hate it too. It's like "Do I have to preface every statement that I will ever make in my entire life with 'This is just my opinion, by the by'?"

[Breathless Horror]

Totally fucking agreed.

[Delicate_Torture]

-Just sits back and applauds-

[JCC]

Oh, there's this bitch at my school who always tries to play the mistress of morality and calls me out on everything that I ever say (even stuff that isn't sardonic, which is, granted, not often) and tells me how evil it is. Annoys the fuck out of me, she thinks she knows everything about ethics and how to deal with people.

[Underwater Ophelia]

I know folk who just spew random crap and say "it's an opinion" as if that makes what they say correct or untouchable.

There are opinions that are WRONG.

[HumanePain]

There are opinions that should be condemned. But there is a threshold where above, other's should respect another's opinion, and below, where it should be pointed out and attempts should be made to persuade the opinion holder to change his mind. This is not spineless liberalism (a rather grossly unearned credit) but rather simple respect expressed in civilized discourse.

The threshold is the problem: where that line should be is what causes a lot of communication problems between people.

Example: Zavulon believes that Christians have spread an insipid religion throughout the world. Fine. Although I disagree with that opinion, I respect it.
But now he crosses the "threshold" proclaiming that Christians should be fed to lions. This opinion is wrong, if only for humanitarian reasons. I would not expect anyone of any reasonable and average or better level of intelligence and education to agree with this opinion being right, even if it is framed as a priori untouchable because it is his opinion.

[AngelikDemonik]

What's that one saying about buttholes and opinions?

[Breathless Horror]

Everyone has them?

[Lolly PopMuzik]

The perfect response to that: "No shit, Sherlock! Who else's would it be?!"

[Corpsey]

Originally Posted by HumanePain

There are opinions that should be condemned. But there is a threshold where above, other's should respect another's opinion, and below, where it should be pointed out and attempts should be made to persuade the opinion holder to change his mind. This is not spineless liberalism (a rather grossly unearned credit) but rather simple respect expressed in civilized discourse.

Yes, but where does the fine line between being respectable to someone's opinion and their opinion becoming absurd. That's the question for me.

Jill, I enjoyed the mention about New Zealanders making a solar lamp. We wouldn't do that though, we would probably capture the sun using a net and bash it up a little to make it travel across the sky at a slower pace.

[Renatus]

Originally Posted by Delicate_Torture

-Just sits back and applauds-

Agreed and welcome back Delicate Torture, I wondered what happened to you.

[Godslayer Jillian]

A=A
Try to argue with that, fuckers.

[Corpsey]

Does the Pope wear a funny hat?

[Drake Dun]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse....=boiling_blood

[Cyberbat]

LMAO. Yeah you hit that one on the head, but sometimes, sometimes, it is okay to say the "IMO" phrase. Usually associated with things that haven't been proven. I know I have said it on other forums, but thats because I had to EXPLAIN that it was my opinion, not a fact that I was stating.

[Lapin]

For the record, I'd never throw you to the lions HP.

There are some people I'd be tempted to bestow such a fate upon, but they aren't necessarily Christians. Of course, I'd never do it. There are more humane ways to poison the lions.

[LaBelleDameSansMerci]

HAHAHA. Yeah, I could think of far less painful ways of killing lions... I bet hemlock would be easier on them.

Another form of the "that's your opinion" is the "That's what you think."

I also hate it when grown-ups do the "Oh yeah, I liked [insert something here]... when I was your age." My 2nd year print prof said that to me when I said I liked Pre-Raphaelites, like she thought that the Pre-Raphaelites was a phase that I was going though, and that I'd eventually abandon them and move on to the higher and nobler Modern Art. GRRRR I could have smacked her.

[Drake Dun]

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

A=A
Try to argue with that, fuckers.

Don't tempt me.

Seriously, though, there are (1) propositions and then there are (2) other things, like emotes or values or whatever. (1) and (2) correspond to "facts" and "opinions", respectively, the way the terms are usually used. I think confusion comes in at two stages.

First, people often make a category error and treat something from (2) as if it belonged in (1). Example:

"It's wrong to download pirate software."

That's neither true, nor untrue. It's just plain incoherent if taken as a factual proposition, which is how it's probably meant. In this case, the objection "That's just your opinion" can serve, I guess, as a shorthand for pointing out the category error. It's the kind of shorthand that tends to generate confusion rather than clear it up, though.

In this case: express your objection more clearly instead.

Second, sometimes people have got stuff nicely squared away in their own heads, but they make a language choice that gives the listener the impression that they have made a mistake of the above kind. Example:

"Rocky road kicks ass. Vanilla is crap."

Superficially, this looks analagous to the previous example, but when the stakes are markedly lower as in this case, the listener usually reaches across the gap and figures out for himself that the speaker is just expressing an opinion as an opinion. Still, you get your occasional miscommunication, and resulting whinge "That's just your opinion".

In this case: clear up the miscommunication instead.

And then there's the occasional case of a person having had success deflecting emotionally challenging comments by invoking the magical words "just your opinion" in the past, and moving on to apply the principle willy nilly to anything that makes them feel a little uncomfortable.

In this case: grow the fuck up.

So to put it all together, the whine "That's just your opinion!" is not categorically gutless and stupid, but there's always a better way to handle things. As a general rule, when you see this objection come out, it betokens emotional insecurity on the part of the objector rather than any kind of failure on the part of the objectee.

How best to respond to it is, of course, a separate question.

[Zerachiel]

You realize, the whole reason we say "IMO" is because there are people out there who NEED it to be said, otherwise they think you think it's fact or something...I've met some of the dumbest people, and there are some, that even agreeing with them...Well I won't touch that one. *sigh*

[cradle]

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

The politically correct "That's your opinion" idiocy.
Fucking yes! Every time someone says something it is their opinion; that's why it came out of their fucking mouths!
But who in the name of everything that's sacred started believing if something is an opinion must ipso facto be wrong?
I demand to know that.
"I'm pretty sure the earth revolves around the sun" That's a fucking opinion, because I subjectively said it based on the amount of evidence I have gathered through my life. Does that mean the statement is wrong?
For the people that evaluate my opinion in its own merits against their own knowledge: no, it's not wrong. I got it right. My opinion is well founded.
For the people that can't think past the fact that anything said is an opinion: yes, it is wrong. Because there might be people that believe the sun revolves around the earth, or that the sun is just a fucking balloon lamp set in the sky by New Zealand. I hope now people can start understanding just how absurd that is.
I don't know what will make me sadder, the guys with a mentality of the second example that will try to tell me "you're wrong" with an absolutist voice yet wanting to convince me that "it's different" as if different circumstances under the same logic demand different conclusion (based on fucking what?), or the guys with that same mentality that will fucking say I am right in my example and I am indeed wrong about the sun.
I have mentioned Ray Bradbury before, but people like this just shout out Fahrenheit! Fahrenheit! Fahrenheit!
This bullshit spineless liberal rhetoric pisses me off. Liberals are just as retrograde as conservatives, only they can't shut the fuck up about how progressive they are.

Well that's all just your opinion.

But on a more serious note.
Opinion and what is held to be true in most cases(such as the "that's your opinion") revolve and evolve around bias.

[HumanePain]

Originally Posted by Lapin

For the record, I'd never throw you to the lions HP.

I knew it was worthwhile putting your smiling face in my Gothic.net videos on YouTube!

[Tam Li Hua]

Totally with you on this one!

Edit: I think it's a case of our reactions to wrongness on the Internet.

[Tam Li Hua]

Originally Posted by Drake Dun

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse....=boiling_blood

lol

Wow, that guy was pissed! XD

Sounds like something I'd write in my LJ after a bad day..