The Ridiculousness of "That's Just My Opinion!

[LightbulbSun]

[rant]

This statement always hinders any sort of debate from developing. People use it all the time with me. "THAT'S JUST MY OPINION!" as if repeating that over and over again will make their view just as valid as mine. Of course a lot of people find this tactic appealing because they feel like questioning the validity (god forbid) of a viewpoint is condescending on the part of the person that's questioning the validity, and the thought that they can think of anything and not have to think about it too much. It's ridiculious. It's the biggest piece of relativist propaganda garbage I have ever heard in my entire life. You know there is such a thing as ill-informed opinions and informed opinions. It's not like all opinions are thrown under one umbrella. Some people actually use factual data to form and back up their opinions, but nope if we scream this meaningless mantra and tear up a bit people will feel bad and attack that guy who dare questions my ill-informed viewpoint. I even heard someone mutter to me just recently about how I can't even attack the argument. I can't attack anything. It's too combative. I'd love to see how they go about a debate. It's probably something along the lines of this.

[debate]
Relativist 1: It's ok if your viewpoint is absurd, we all have opinions and they're all equally valid!

Relativist 2: Yeah, I know. Screw thinking!

Relativist 1: Right! [/debate]


It's bull****. Where in the hell did this ridiculious concept come from and why do people constantly use it in every god damn discussion they have. GROW THE **** UP!

[/rant]

 

[zoobyshoe]

[rant]

This statement always hinders any sort of debate from developing. People use it all the time with me. "THAT'S JUST MY OPINION!" as if repeating that over and over again will make their view just as valid as mine. Of course a lot of people find this tactic appealing because they feel like questioning the validity (god forbid) of a viewpoint is condescending on the part of the person that's questioning the validity, and the thought that they can think of anything and not have to think about it too much. It's ridiculious. It's the biggest piece of relativist propaganda garbage I have ever heard in my entire life. You know there is such a thing as ill-informed opinions and informed opinions. It's not like all opinions are thrown under one umbrella. Some people actually use factual data to form and back up their opinions, but nope if we scream this meaningless mantra and tear up a bit people will feel bad and attack that guy who dare questions my ill-informed viewpoint. I even heard someone mutter to me just recently about how I can't even attack the argument. I can't attack anything. It's too combative. I'd love to see how they go about a debate. It's probably something along the lines of this.

[debate]
Relativist 1: It's ok if your viewpoint is absurd, we all have opinions and they're all equally valid!

Relativist 2: Yeah, I know. Screw thinking!

Relativist 1: Right! [/debate]


It's bull****. Where in the hell did this ridiculious concept come from and why do people constantly use it in every god damn discussion they have. GROW THE **** UP!

[/rant]

opinion:
1 a: a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter b: approval, esteem2 a: belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge b: a generally held view3 a: a formal expression of judgment or advice by an expert b: the formal expression (as by a judge, court, or referee) of the legal reasons and principles upon which a legal decision is based

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/opinion

The concept of an opinion is often confused with the concept of personal taste. They aren't the same thing. That's something you might point out. Having formed an opinion implies that a person has given the matter some consideration and applied their sense of judgement to it, and that is, indeed, a basis for a discussion, and possibly a debate.

 

[christianjb]

Of course, that's just your opinion, which you stated without any hard evidence.

Life's too short- that's my opinion.

 

[LightbulbSun]

Of course, that's just your opinion, which you stated without any hard evidence.

Life's too short- that's my opinion.

Of course I did. I pointed out why that cop out is such bull****. Opinions as said above you are proned for debate. This is not a matter of personal taste.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Of course I did. I pointed out why that cop out is such bull****. Opinions as said above you are proned for debate. This is not a matter of personal taste.

Yes, if you offer an opinion it automatically implies you have performed some level of analysis and feel a tendency toward a stance on the matter, while not claiming absolute positive knowledge. "It's just an opinion" means it's subject to revision after more consideration or in light of new information. It does NOT mean: "It's a matter of taste. You can't argue against it." Anyone who uses it in the latter sense is probably committing several logical fallacies. If they can confuse you into silence they think they win by the fallacy of "Last Man Standing".

 

[croghan27]

Of course I did. I pointed out why that cop out is such bull****. Opinions as said above you are proned for debate. This is not a matter of personal taste.

GEEZE - you gyus are awfully hard on some poor souls and must be difficult to have a discussion with.

I take the inclusinon of "that's just my opinion" as a lead into an explanation of what special and maybe unique circumstances helped in the formation. ("I believe in capital punishment, remember my whole family was slaughtered in a bank robbery") I would rather have a statement framed with that then be a self aggrandizing pronouncement that subtly, or not so subtly say: "Here is truth." (but then, that is just my opinion. )

 

[Pattonias]

I usually interpret someone saying "IMO" to mean that they are representing something that they personally believe that may not correspond to the more commonly accepted view point.

Technically, I would argue that anytime anyone says anything that they are stating their opinion. Unless of course they were representing someone else's or a larger group's interest despite their own beliefs about the issue.

In a debate, you wouldn't use this argument because you are representing your given topic or the issue which you support. In a web forum such as this you would always either be giving your opinion or be representing the opinion of a person more knowledgeable than yourself. (i.e. a journal source)

I don't think anyone is expecting you to assume that someone else's opinion is better than yours simply because they wrote out that it was their opinion. I'm guessing that someone directly contradicted you and offered that it was only their opinion as opposed to explaining themselves. I think that this is between you and those who choose to abuse your statements by offering their personal objections.

Happy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rant" .

 

[DaveC426913]

crogan, pattonias: two years ago, this was a commonly-held viewpoint. Humanity is two years older now. We don't cling to such primitive views anymore.

 

[ndnkyd]

Sound a little bitter.

 

[croghan27]

I usually interpret someone saying "IMO" to mean that they are representing something that they personally believe that may not correspond to the more commonly accepted view point.
<snip>
I don't think anyone is expecting you to assume that someone else's opinion is better than yours simply because they wrote out that it was their opinion. I'm guessing that someone directly contradicted you and offered that it was only their opinion as opposed to explaining themselves. I think that this is between you and those who choose to abuse your statements by offering their personal objections.

Happy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rant" .

IMO is a rather in-yer-face ish kind of retort :grumpy: ... frequently you will see a "IMHO" - "in my humble opinion" which, in its' slight self-depreciation is much less argumentative and I find much more convincing. The former tells me that you will not take my arguments seriously, while the second allows for some wiggle room - possible agreement.

If you really want to piss me off, come out with something like: "Blah, Blah, Blah ... there, discussion over, or 'nuff said'. !" (Like: "Liberals don't support the troops." or "All conservatives are closet fascists.")

Presenting your mind as closed is no way to convince me of anything.

 

[Pattonias]

IMO is a rather in-yer-face ish kind of retort :grumpy: ... frequently you will see a "IMHO" - "in my humble opinion" which, in its' slight self-depreciation is much less argumentative and I find much more convincing. The former tells me that you will not take my arguments seriously, while the second allows for some wiggle room - possible agreement.

If you really want to piss me off, come out with something like: "Blah, Blah, Blah ... there, discussion over, or 'nuff said'. !" (Like: "Liberals don't support the troops." or "All conservatives are closet fascists.")

Presenting your mind as closed is no way to convince me of anything.

In that regard, I can agree that it would depend on where the discussion has digressed. I really don't think that you would say that every time someone has said IMO that you have felt that they were trying to close off the discussion, but I can think of times when someone has said IMO as if that was enough of an argument to refute my own.

I guess having a discussion with a certain level of mutual humility would be the best way to avoid this kind of frustration.

 

[lisab]

I think we should pass the hat around, and buy calendars for crogan and pattonias .

 

[Pattonias]

I think we should pass the hat around, and buy calendars for crogan and pattonias .

Ah, the "two years ago" crack is making more sense after looking a little closer. Make that the second time I have made a argument against a necro-post. At least I wasn't the first this time.

Yall should add a little zombie emblem or something at the head of topics that haven't been posted to for over six months. Lest I be stupid... :tongue2:

 

[croghan27]

I think we should pass the hat around, and buy calendars for crogan and pattonias .

Is that "in your opinion"?

 

[croghan27]

I think we should pass the hat around, and buy calendars for crogan and pattonias .

Oh - an if you are wondering about crogHan - he is an American hero of the 1812-14 War. I am a Canadian (we won ) but I rather like George.

He was successful, pissed off his boss, General William Henry Harrison, and irked the British (always a good thing) - Harrison attempted to have him tried for treason for disobeying an order in wartime, and the Pres. (Madison) said: "Thank you William Henry, you did good work in the revolution, but you must retire now."

You got to like a guy like that, even if he spells his name with an 'h'. :!)

 

[lisab]

Oh - an if you are wondering about crogHan - he is an American hero of the 1812-14 War. I am a Canadian (we won ) but I rather like George.

He was successful, pissed off his boss, General William Henry Harrison, and irked the British (always a good thing) - Harrison attempted to have him tried for treason for disobeying an order in wartime, and the Pres. (Madison) said: "Thank you William Henry, you did good work in the revolution, but you must retire now."

You got to like a guy like that, even if he spells his name with an 'h'. :!)

Dang, I copied from Dave-with-the-numbers! :rofl:

 

[GeorginaS]

The advent of IMO and the equally annoying, IMHO, in online discussions is a huge sore point with me. And it's, particularly, because I've noticed that the people who use those letters the most frequently refuse (as other people have mentioned here) to hear other opinions or ideas or even elucidate theirs. If someone ends their post with IM(H)O and you call them on it or question it, generally their response is, "It's my opinion, and I'm entitled to it!11!1" And that well and truly drives me nuts.

I've tried, on several occasions (because I'm weird that way) to explain to the IMO people that, while they are certainly "entitled" to their opinion, it's not necessarily valid or even useful if it's uninformed or unsubstantiated. All opinions are not of equal value. And then the fireworks start.

Gack!

Okay, done now.

 

[leroyjenkens]

I don't think people think it through so thoroughly before they say "that's just my opinion". Some people just say it as another way of saying "I think". They're not necessarily saying all opinions are just as valid as the next, and I doubt that idea even crossed their minds. It's just something people say.