I’ve been thinking...

In the spirit of April Fool's, let's talk about fools.

You know what really puts my hammer in a hammock? Abuse of the phrases, “to each their own” and “it’s a matter of opinion”.

First of all, not everyone should be allowed to have an opinion. I don’t know who started handing out opinion licences at birth, but there are definitely some people out there who should have written a test to get one.

Opinions have killed more people than firearms and automobile collisions, and you need licences for those. If you don’t believe that, just think about what happened the last time someone had a really strong opinion about the Jews in Europe. There are some things, correction; there are a lot of things that are just plain right/wrong, and have no room for opinion.

It wouldn’t be so obvious if the timing of those phrases was better. It seems like every time someone is proved wrong, or ends up looking like an asshole, that’s when the phrase, “it’s a matter of a opinion” comes out. There are some smart cookies out there that actually use it to prevent making someone feel like an idiot. If I know someone is just making themselves sound like an assdriver I will pre-emptively say, “To each their own.” But that still supports my claim that the phrase only comes out when someone is being stupid.

There are some things that are opinion-based, or taste-driven, but even then you typically need some kind of education in the subject—formal or informal—to correctly decide what you like. Some exceptions: Food. No one can really tell you what you like to have in your mouth, unless you are in prison and the guards aren’t around. Hey-OH! Other things, like favourite colour, what you enjoy doing with your spare time, etc. also apply. I’ve always hated it when people tell you what you are doing is a waste of time. Maybe you like singing Karaoke all day—all the power to you. There are no rules to life, just the logical and illogical.

Everything, other than the ones mentioned above, has a logical underpinning that overrides opinion. For instance, you may not like Michael Jackson’s Thriller, but it can NEVER be your opinion that it is a bad album. You just can’t say that. You would be wrong. So, instead of prefacing a false comment with ‘In my opinion’, say something that is actually true. Let’s look at the board:

In my opinion, Thriller is a bad album. WRONG! Don’t do this, kids.

I don’t really like Thriller. CORRECT! Do you see the difference?

The wild card in this argument is topics that can be ARGUED both ways, but opinion still doesn’t play a part. However, in order for this to be done correctly, you must be logical, objective, and reasonable. Never resort to using sweeping comments to win an argument, because you would have just lost it for your side, even if your cause was worthy.

For instance: let’s say two people are arguing about which is better, the novels or movies of The Lord of the Rings. I can already see a bunch of you resorting to, “Well you can’t argue that, it’s a matter of opinion.” NO! It’s not. Which one you personally and subjectively LIKE MORE is opinion, but which one is BETTER is not. You may never be able to prove which is better, but you can argue most accurately, and therefore, for the time being, won/proved in favour of your cause. In order to do this though, you can’t allow opinions or sweeping comments to get in the way. I will provide some good/bad examples, to better illustrate my point.

Bad things:

“The books are clearly better, because books are always better than movies.” (Sweeping comment and it means nothing. You’ve just lost your opinion licence)

“We covered the books in school.” (Who gives a shit?)

“I’m older than you.”

Good things:

“If you loved the movies, than it’s safe to say you must have enjoyed the world, the characters, the story, etc., right? Well, the books have even more of that than the movies.”

Sure, it’s not elegantly stated, but it is a worthy point. Plus its craft as hell, because the speaker stopped making it about his point of views, and manipulated his opponent by using their interests. It leaves the opponent with nothing to say. What can he argue to that? “No, I don’t actually like the movies either.” or “I can’t read”

Anything he says after that will either make you question his intelligence, or his commitment to his initial point. In fact, he might as well just drop the mother-lode and say, “I guess it’s a matter of opinion.” NO, it’s not.

It’s also very important that you completely hear/read the other person’s argument, and completely understand it. There is nothing worse than listening to a response that you just proved wrong five minutes earlier. If you don’t understand the argument you are having, you can’t possibly provide anything valid, and will most likely resort to a sweeping-comment or an opinion-phrase.

It’s for these reasons that many higher-order intellectuals seem arrogant, or claim to always be right, because even if they are wrong, or are discussing what you would think is opinion-based, they argue so well that wrong is never part of the equation.

I always say, life is like a game of chess, and I believe the same is true for argument and discussion. You want to know more about the game then your opponent, and you always want to be a few moves ahead and prepared for what he will say/do next. The stronger chess player will always beat an inferior one.

Oh yeah, and there are no opinions in chess, the person who wins the game is always right.

-Gerald A. Dinkel (He just says things.)

http://sardonicconnection.blogspot.com/2009/04/67-opinions-how-to-argue.html