Snow Melt

Opinion Thursday: About the Opinions of Other People

It's Opinion Thursday! The January 16, 2014 prompt for "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS"  is
Do you believe we should tolerate everyone's opinions no matter how misstated or misinformed they may be? How delicate are you when discussing your opinions with others? Make your case as logically as possible without emotion influencing you.

As the young man said to his grandfather on the old man's 90^th birthday. "I take after you, Grandpa, I'm willing to listen to everyone's opinion no matter how ridicules and uninformed it is."

All right, now that I've got the levity over with, I can continue with this post. Do I believe we should tolerate everyone's opinions no matter how misstated or misinformed they may be? I think there's a limit to how much a person should tolerate the opinion of other, but I think that limit occurs when the other person is screaming at you that you're wrong without listening to your argument. A person or group shouting their opinion is emotionally attached to the opinion and, therefore, doesn't care about the opinions that disagree with them. Short of a miracle, there is no logical argument you can make that will convince them they are wrong.

How delicate am I when discussing my opinions with others? I will not get into a shouting match with someone who is emotionally attached to his or her opinion because it doesn't do any good and it brings me down to the emotional level of the other person. I'm a relatively mature adult (at least I think so) and I base my opinion on numerous sources and meditating upon the opinion. In most cases, I'm willing to change my opinion given the logic or scientific proof of the other person's argument. If the other person thinks I'm going to hell because I disagree then that person is emotionally attached to his or her opinion and is entitled to that opinion, but not entitled to get me into a childish shouting match because I disagree with someone who doesn't want to listen to me or doesn't care about my opinion if it disagrees with him or her.

Thought of the Day: "Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein