Re: Opinions

[mojzes@tiger.vill.edu (brni)]

In article <930701091528.22a00760@glerl.noaa.gov> RIDLEY@glerl.noaa.gov writes:
>
>What's my point? My point is that people on this news group are just way
>to NITPICKY.
>
thats fer damn sure.

>Jon Drukman made a good point. He may not have said it in a way that everyone
>understood it, but it is a good point. Here is what I think he was trying to
>say:
>
>  Everyone's opinion is there own and is of equal value to everyone elses
>opinion. This is the first point. And it is undisputable.
>
no its not.
:)
1: many people's opinions are not their own.  they in fact are simply
the opinions that have been fed to them by a variety of sources, depending
on the culture within which they operate.  this would include family,
language, social structures, corporate advertisers, and joe isuzu.
this influence is highly pervasive and exists on many different levels,
some obvious and some very subtle.  some people can fight off some of the
effects, while others fall prey to every influence.  always remember that
opinions are *not* something personal; they are a consumer product like
any other.

2: an educated opinion is always more valuable than an uneducated opinion.
note the price difference...

3: nothing is indisputable except this statement.

>  Everyone judges other peoples opinions and decides on their own personal
>beliefs what varue that opinion has to them. Ah.... do you see? So, if some-
>body who had only heard one Kate Bush song and wrote to the group saying
>'Kate bush SUCKS WATERMELONS!' 99% of us would take that as a "stupid 
>opinion." We judged his/her opinion and deamed it worthless. It is not
>worthless to others though. The opinion itself is priceless, our interpretation
>of the opinion is that it is bogus. (does that make sence?)
>
research scientists will tell you that there is a certain minimum sample
size necessary to make an intelligent deduction.  the person may have only
heard "deeper understanding," which would not have inspired me to become
the rabid katefan that i am had i heard it first.  likewise, had the person
only heard "get out of my house" and thought that kate was the best thing
since unsliced bread, s/he would still be below minimum sample size, and
the opinion would still be an uneducated one.  in both situations, the value
of the opinion is the same.  lets say that i make a sampler for this person,
so that s/he can hear a good variety of kate.  no matter what decision they
make about kate's music, it is a more informed, hence more valuable opinion.

4: if all opinions are equally valuable, then:
	kate bush is the goddess = ronald reagan is the only good american
	president in history = peanuts taste good = iraq should be nuked
	= kate bush is the antichrist = reproductive freedom is a right
	=...anything else.

5: if all opinions are equal, then 90% of human interaction is irrelevant
and often counterproductive.

6: if all opinions are equally valid, then my opinion that they are not
is equally valid is valid, which makes the original statement self-
contradictory.

>  Here's another example: Professors at Colleges. (since this was brought up
>before) We go to college because we value the opinions of the professors there.
>Most educated people (not ALL educated people) base the value of other people's
>opinions on their intelligence of the subject. We go to college because that
>is where the smart people are and we will value their opinions more than a
>bum on the streets opinion. There opinions have an equal value, we just
>judge them differently.
>
do not underestimate the "bum" on the street's intelligence.  in college
we are not just looking for intelligence, but for a combination of 
intellect and knowledge (that is to say, having experienced a significant
sample size of "facts" and "events" related to some subject).

>  Also, I must mention that I am not stupid. I know the difference between
>fact and opinion. In math, mostly everything is fact based. An uneducated
>person would have a hard time teaching math. History is MOSTLY fact based,
>but it has a lot of opinion thrown in. Some other subjects could be
>completely opinion based.
>
7: facts are sedimented fictions. (see nietzsche and foucault)

>  We, as a society, have been evolving to where we consider the educated
>person far above the uneducated person. This in itself is a form of
>bigotry. Keep that in mind.
>
we, as a society, have a long tradition of considering the educated 
somehow inferior to the common working man.  this is where statements
like "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" and insults like 
"egghead" and "nerd" come from.  this is why the assholes who lead
can get to where they are, and why they can do what they do.  this
is why adlai stevenson was never elected.  this is why woodrow wilson
was mocked and reviled.

>Aaron Ridley
>Ridley@glerl.noaa.gov

brni
mojzes@tiger.vill.edu