Opinions without Fact!

Well, there is a difference between XP and politics. XP only effects those who run it on their computer. I may not be a nuclear physicist, but the people we elect to office could be asked to vote on nuclear related issues. Those elected officials are my voice at the city, state and federal level. If I simply sit by in silence just because I don't have some degree or experience, then I am silencing my voice in the process. True that nothing talked about here at Mylot reach the eyes of our elected officials. You could make the case that people here should only write opinions for issues they have some experience with. But the purpose of places like MyLot is for people to express themselves. If we just go around telling people to shut up if they aren't directly involved in the issue or topic, then there isn't much reason for MyLot. Also, something I've noticed about people. I can state an opinion, back it up with all sorts of personal experience and background, but other people only give my experiences as much credence as they want to. Say I make a case against abortion on demand based on classes in human anatomy and physiology, obstetrics, human development and the endocrine system. If you are all for abortion on demand, are you going to automatically give my opinion credence just because of classes I've taken? Most likely not. In fact, most people would try to discredit what I've said by trying to negate the very facts you call for here.

ok, you're half my age which doesn't mean that i know more than you - just i've maybe seen more. what is going on in your country scares people...

I too think people should be well informed. However, I beleive all people have a right to opine. Societies grow more educated when they debate, more so when all the people in the society debate. Even wrong and ill-informed opinions form an important part of debates. Such occasions can be used to correct or inform. It does not make much sence if five well-informed people sit for tea, agree with each other, and go to their respective homes without anybody having gained anything from the excercise.

I'm not one for politics, in fact I despise politics HOWEVER I have an opinion when it comes to certain areas of politics..Do I have ALL the facts on any one of those given particular topics? NOPE..do I care? NOPE...all I need to form an opinion on anyone of those areas is the basics and my personal feelings, experiences in life and so on...because they are MY "opinions"....Take for example abortion (just since in general its a MAJOR HOT topic)..I stand very very firmly and strong in my opinions when it comes to a womans right to choose...Do I know ALL the facts regarding abortion, the laws when it comes to abortion, the facts on the procedures in detail etc? NOPE..and I dont need to simply because I've personal experiences in life that directed relate to the yes or no of abortion etc...its my opinion of which of course i'm more than entitled to just like anyone else ya know.. As for ppl having "the nerve to think their opinions matter"...well they DO matter...even if they DON'T understand the topic...I have a very strong opinion on the war (any war)...I have no personal experience, I dont know or understand the policital aspect of it all blah blah blah but I still have a strong opinion on it and one that I have the right to voice should I feel the need.... Keeping religion and state seperate is another on...I dont know the ins and outs of it all and quite frankly dont care to HOWEVER I have a very strong opinion on it all because it directly affects my life and the lives of my kids... I think thats the key thing.. or word really "affect" - a person who doesnt own a computer, use a computer, have any desire to buy one etc most likely wouldnt really have an opinion on XP because it doesnt affect their lives, its a total non-issue...Politics however affects ALL OF US so of course to one degree or another we're all going to have an opinion on it/any political topic that stems from a variety of things depending on the person..

I think politics is more fun than science. In science, it's all facts but in politics, both sides have a chance to prove they are right. Politics is a a hard topic is understand fully so maybe that's why people hold more opinions than facts.

nice one. i've got the horrible feeling you'll be banned in about 10 minutes though. you didn't include infantile insults,

I agree that we must learn from history in order to understand today. Especially politics where there are so many facets. A lot of people just try to argue with feelings. Feelings are ok but have their time and place. Politics is not that place. I think it is important to be thoughtful and practical.

Hmmm. A lot about politics in general is wrong anyway though, although each side claims it's right. This is why I dislike both republicans and democrats, neither group knows what is right for EVERYBODY, furthermore, politics cannot be a blanket umbrella under which things are right for everybody. People are always at odds and there is way too much lying and hypocrisy for any truth to surface at all. People are too busy buying each other off, hiding things, and making things out to be what they are not just to convince people to vote for them or support their cause. It is disgusting! Case in point, the health care thing. The stimulus bill. This reminds me of people who were polled and mentioned that Palin would be an excellent help to OBAMA. Huh? She ran with MCCAIN. *befuddled*

It is a pity that politics seems to usually come down to insults and wild theory. I suppose generalization usually doesn't work though. Sometimes, you come across people citing misinterpreted or even perhaps misconstrued sources. Peoples perception often vary, and on some issues, there could be a chance of misrepresentation in the source. Different eyes witness the current scene, and record history. Maybe there should be a scale that is presented when things are written, disclosing the amount of opinion vs. accepted truth... that seems to be where a lot of problems start... misinformation.

Hell everyone, What a great discussion! I'm extremely happy to hear that a theory is being formulated. I wish more youth world wide were trying to do the same! Bravo! I am no expert and can't write terribly well either, but I hope that I can make a tiny contribution at least and that it will be somehow inspiring. There is a huge difference between opinions and facts. I think in some ways, although we are supposed to be free countries people still feel SUBTLY oppressed and manipulated by the system, which leads to alot of frustration, and a type of counterbalance to this is to have some type of opinion at least, which gives people a sense of empowerment,individuality and self worth etc....ie it reflects an underlying problem with the 'system' aswell as us. Unfortunately, people do not have proper time to actually dig deep and do proper research and therefore kind of put things together prematurely, desperately to make sense of things. Majority of people's time is bound up by hard work, family, bills and loans, and that doesn't leave much time to look at ALL. Personally I feel to really know facts one has to look at almost everything in WORLD HISTORY as everything is interrelated. And the other problem is that Facts and History are also manipulated. Documents are often forged to fullfill a certain agenda, some documents are kept in TOP SECRET, so we never really get to correlate them with research available on the ground,so basically we can only usually lay our hands on the type of facts that the Govt and Corporates want us to. History needs to be revised very often, as new found evidence has always got to be integrated and there are huge delays as some countries just don't release them even if they are supposed to. For eg. the British Govt, still hasn't released some documents pertaining to World war 2, even though by law they should have,due to national security reasons, so be it. But unless we have all the documents infront of us, uncensored, how do we completely know what the all the details of world war 2 are? (I'm a British national by the way, living in India now). Other examples are that when the British left India, they destroyed lots of documents regarding the genocide here, so now there is no way of knowing accurately how many were killed, Indian journalists are hypothesizing that it could be as high as 11 million! History is often written by the Victors, and they will always manipulate things in order to favour their own image often missing out crucial facts, so what we study in Universities can also be very one sided and has an element of propaganda. Take Hiroshima for example. One of my favourite Investigative Journalists is the world renowned John Pilger. He gives us classic examples, time and time again, of what the Western Govt or Coporates, makes us believe is happening by producing documented evidence, but then upon GROUND INVESTIGATION John Pilger shows us an entirely different situation and FACT. So it seems that there are layers and layers of lies which are always being passed off as facts. So what Facts we know today about certain current wars could be proved wrong in 10 years! People dedicate their lives fulltime to exposing these untruths, but still the status quo will reject them as they don't have the establishments seal of approval. And the establishment are not made of Saints so should we believe everything they condone....? So there is a problem with the word fact and history. One has to have the ability to decipher truth from fiction and it's not an easy thing to do it seems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism http://johnpilger.com

From the standpoint of the poster when he/she responds to a political topic, you can identify if he/she knows what he is talking about. Since the examples are pretty simple then let's use them. Politics and XP have similarities in some ways. Windows XP users who is not that good in computer meets that operating system every now and then and accompanied in everyday life (if and only if that his/her OS). But does that user really cares for his OS, of course not.All he want to do is blog and live with it. Politics is the same way, a certain individual live in a particular area, he might not actually knew what's going on with the political arean but still, he lives with it. Another, Windows XP for technical people can of course manipulate windows XP and discuss this OS every now and then with a very comprehensive knowledge about that. Same goes with politics, if a certain individual knows about politics, he will discuss this geniusly. So what's the point? You cannot underestimate politics because people who understand it have a high level of proficiency. And besides, you cannot enter into a debate with it if you are a low-life jerk who doesn't care about it and just opening a topic nonsense. Politics is for above average person because it's a logical topic you can always discuss and everything can be learned by listening first than posting or responding to a political issues/concern being discussed.

Some people are just trying to be helpful, giving there opinions without thinking. Its like a carpenter wants to repair ur car...if u know what i mean. For me personally, i will accept opinions without fact coz im sure they are only trying there best to help u...now its up to us which opinion we go for.