college writing... might as well make it good, huh?

[burnanddie]

ok, im writing a paper about whether its important to have a strong opinion on any given issue or not. i need some ideas. input please?

go nuts. seriously. anything you think, no matter how hair-brained it is.

why is it/is it not important to have a strong opinion or be opinionated?

Comments

[gorgeyfatty]

well.

i think everyone has a given amount of everything they can give and think, energy, whatever you want to call it. so there is really only so much we can have true opinions on because we only have a certain amout of capacity (that's what i think anyway, but i will agree that most people do not come close to reaching their potential.) and by having strong opinions on everything, we are creating useless opinions on nothing. basically, no one can possibly concentrate enough energy to have a strong opinion on everything, and anyone who says they do is deluding themselves. i think to develop ideas on certain issues and create valuable opinions is more important than cramming in tons of infomation and making sloppy attempts at having opinions on everything. and even if you do try and inform yourself, you have to try really really hard and it might still mean nothing to you. like i don't know, the health care issues in thrid world asia countries. i can research and care a lot about it, but is my opinion legitimate if i haven't even experienced it myself? i don't think so, you can offer your advice, but personal experience makes is a lot more valid to me, and since we can't experience everything, how can we have strong opinions on everything?

[mexicorules]

Personal experience also makes your opinion a lot more BIASED.

Yeah...

[gorgeyfatty]

all opinions are biased.

feel free to prove otherwise.

[burnanddie]

this is a really good point. most people think opinions are things to have that need to be defended, and thats where all the passion springs from. thats part of what an opinion worth having is. if its something you feel strongly enough about and would do something about. like political parties. i cant say i claim to be one party or the other. i dont have a strong enough opinion of one over the other, i wouldn't defend any. i have opinions on issues, and there are different points i would defend, but not all issues. theres things that just dont concern me, so i dont care. when it starts to affect me, thats when ill expend the energy, because ill want to do something about it. if i want an opinion, a well-based opinion, of course im going to ask someone who has actually "been there. done that." its interesting to me that the people with passionate opinions rarely have actually had anything seriously to do with what theyre talking about. the people who have actually lived it don't give a single side nearly as much passion.

[mexicorules]

(I know this will most likely get us anywhere, but it makes a point-hopefully) You say people who have actually experienced something or lived through something have a much better and valid opinion about something. So let me ask you this, what makes your opinion that heaven exists and God exists any better than mine if you haven't experienced it or lived through it? Having experienced something doesn't necessarily mean you have a more valid or true opinion of something, at all.

[burnanddie]

It doesn't necessarily make it more valid or true if someone's more experienced with their opinion, but it ususally does. But you have made a good point. I can't say my opinion is better than yours on about the existence of heaven or God (and I've never made that claim). My argument for you on this is that I'm looking for reasons to say it exists, and you're.. not. I would almost go so far to say that you're looking for reasons it doesn't exist. That I don't understand. I don't have any type of authority to prove it exists, but who are you to say it doesn't?

[mexicorules]

Who are you to say it does? That's such a ludicrous statement to say "who are you to say it doesn't." I could ask the same thing, who are YOU to say it does? It's the same thing as me taking one side to an argument and you taking the other side. Your side is that it exists, my side is that it doesn't. You gotta prove your side, don't you?

[burnanddie]

The first thing I said was "I can't say it does, but you can't say it doesn't." I'm NO ONE to say it does. I'm not taking away your opinion. I'm saying mine is just as good and equally as valid. I can't prove it exists. I don't know how to, especially if you aren't really interested in seeing that it does exist.