Opinions are a dime-a-dozen!

[coberst]

Opinions are a dime-a-dozen!

Why are opinions so cheap?

Opinions are so cheap because there is almost an infinite supply of them; almost everyone has an opinion about almost everything; when offered an opportunity most of us readily share these opinions.

Where do opinions come from?

I suspect that almost all of our opinions are derived through social osmosis. This means that we derive our opinions unconsciously without any consideration or effort from the surrounding social environment. I suspect most of the opinions that each of us has are opinions that we absorbed from our family while growing up.

Why have we become a “sound-bite” society?

Our technology, with its sustained media contact via radio and television, makes us susceptible to emotional response. Vacuous opinions drive most of our judgments. We are driven by well designed sound-bites because these well designed sound-bites are engineered to trigger our unconscious emotional responses.

When I set out to understand some particular matter I start with some model of what I think is the answer I am after. From this point I modify my papier-mâché like intellectual model until I reach some kind of understanding for the question I posed to myself in the beginning.

The question I started with many years ago was ‘How does my world operate’?

The Matador waving a red cape to manipulate a giant muscular bull is my analogy of how my world functions. The bull is the people; the Matador is the oligarchy that controls the people with various ideologies.

I guess, for all of us, a meme (often just an opinion) that gives impetuous to much of our behavior is the “capitalism is good” meme. This meme, with its closest suburbs, probably represents a fundamental element of the dominant ideology of western culture.

This cluster of memes contains the wonderful “doing good by doing well” meme. This is the rascal that allows us to follow our imperialistic and selfish impulses. This meme allows us to invade Iraq under false pretenses, it allows us to open our borders to those who will work cheap, it allows for the “trickle down” economic theory, it allowed the Nineteenth Century imperialism practiced by our European cousins, etc.

Most of the memes (opinions) we live by have never been examined by any of us. I suspect this one, “doing good by doing well”, in particular, needs to be placed on the table for close individual examination.

We saw the Nineteenth Century birth of a new economic entity, the corporation. A recent delivery of a new economic entity has occurred. This is the corporation-state. The new supranational corporation is here and on a fast freight. I suspect all these things happened too fast for a liberal democracy to encompass; so much for liberal democracy.

Perhaps philosophy should be an advocate of “lets take a meme out for examination” day.

“Weaken the nation state and you weaken liberal democracy.”

[G#Gill]

I think you spend too much time analysing. All opinions are valid. Most of them are worth listening to. One can learn much from hearing other opinions.

[minks]

G#Gill;1300698 wrote: I think you spend too much time analysing. All opinions are valid. Most of them are worth listening to. One can learn much from hearing other opinions.


I agree with Gill on this. This is what makes us unique, the ability to see things differently. Why does red have so many names? Because in my opinion, your opinion, Gills opinion we see it differently.

Red, Falu Red, Scarlet, Carnelian, Venetian Red, Sangria, Maroon, Carmine, Vermillion, Burgundy, Persimmon, Magenta

Is the rose below Maroon or Carmine?... see just a matter of opinion.

Attached files

[Saint_]

G#Gill;1300698 wrote: I think you spend too much time analysing.


I'm going to agree here. Coberst, it's completely obvious that you have a talented, gifted, and seriously analytical mind. But that can be a curse...truly.

I sometimes have the same problem. I'll look at the clouds in the sky and think, "Those stratus clouds might mean rain, but the cirrus layer above lowers that probability."

then I catch myself and think, "Gee, what a beautiful day.";)

You and I need to spend more time seeing the "Big Picture" and enjoying just being alive.

[Amythest]

Coberst.



I like your post just the way it is. It's worth a roll of dimes.

[along-for-the-ride]

I'm not sure how much opinions matter, but we like to express them sometimes.

I'm here. I'm somebody. I have something to say about that. I matter.

[coberst]

along-for-the-ride;1300749 wrote: I'm not sure how much opinions matter, but we like to express them sometimes.

I'm here. I'm somebody. I have something to say about that. I matter.


We develop words when we feel the need to communicate our thoughts with someone. If we have no words to communicate our nuanced thoughts about subject X it indicates that we seldom have sophisticated thoughts about subject X.

“Opinion” seems to be the only common word that we have to communicate to another our view about our thinking. Webster informs us that the definition of “opinion” is “to express a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter—a belief stronger than an impression and less strong than positive knowledge—a generally held view—a formal expression of judgment or advice by an expert—the formal expression (as by a judge, court, or referee) of the legal reasons and principles upon which a legal decision is based.

It appears that our commonly used vocabulary needs several additional words that we presently do not have at our command for expression of a more nuanced comprehension of this matter.

The hierarchy of our sophisticated view, number one being the highest and number 7 the lowest, of expression might look like this:

1) judgment

2) knowledge

3) considered opinion

4) impression

5) belief

6) assumption

7) opinion

[fuzzywuzzy]

I had an opinion on this but I'm tired and going to bed and can't be bothered expressing it. ...................... suppose it wasn't important anyway .