Are Some People Confident in their Opinions?
Opinions are everywhere. People have many different tastes on what they perceive and look on. Whenever it comes to differing opinions on what's in the world, arguments can occur and there's usually no middle ground taken as it seems one or the other always has to have the last word. Some people just don't seem entirely that confident in their opinions that they have to forcefully act like their opinions are the only ones that really matter and a differing opinion has no merit and is simply shrugged off as mind numbingly stupid thinking in their eyes since they don't feel entirely confident in their observations.
I always find myself suffering this habit of getting angry if there is a differing opinion that fully isn't respectful and has a bit of an arrogant superiority complex acting like their opinion is the only correct one that matters. But even so, I sometimes get out of hand in acting like my opinion and any opinion that agrees with mine is the only one that has any merit and should be taken seriously unlike a differing opinion, so it comes down to the fact that I really don't find myself that confident in my opinion and don't like being challenged for having a different viewpoint and perhaps that kind of thing occurs in many people.
Is it just an internet thing where some people feel like they have a bit of an arrogant and rude complex where they don't have to worry about physical consequences? Probably.
This might not mean much, but these are just some rambling thoughts I have been thinking about lately.
Thoughts?
Comments
If I am arguing about something, I am usually fairly confident in my opinion. If I wasn't confident in my opinion, I wouldn't bother arguing. It seems odd that someone would argue while not even having confidence in their own ideas on the subject. What's the point? If you aren't confident in your ideas, why waste time pretending otherwise? If I'm ever uncertain of an opinion that I put out there for others to see, and someone offers a more reasonable opinion or corrects me, I'm not going to take it personally and argue just for the sake of arguing. In fact, if I do say something that is questionable or doesn't add up in some way, I want someone to correct me, as long as they aren't patronizing about it. That's how you learn. From my experience, people are more concerned with shielding their own opinions than they are concerned with actually wanting to make sense. Having the ability to stick to your guns is a good trait to have, but if you're doing so while not even having confidence in what you're standing up for, then I think you should probably question what you're doing.
(For clarity purposes, I'll just say that I'm speaking in general)
For me, it's a lack of confidence in being able to defend my opinion. I'm not exactly skilled at debating, and I'm a rather solitary person, so it's sometimes hard to really express what I'm trying to say.
Online or off I'm very confident about my opinions.
You can't win an internet argument. If it comes down to science, their studies are always empirical whereas your studies are cherry picked. Anytime they fail to convey their point articulately, you're the one who's strawmanning. If you point to a group who share similar ideas and say they're a vocal minority, you're doing a true scotsman, but when they point to that group and say that's what ____ (I think we can all fill in the blank here) really is, thereby discounting all other members of the group, it's valid because... reasons.
There are so many people who claim to be the great logicians of the internet, calling anything and everything they don't agree with a fallacy (which is argument from fallacy, a fallacy unto itself), but really they're just using a double standard.
Opinions are all different no reason to feel scared I'm confident but still believe most other arguments are just as credible nor will I feel.the need to attack those who thinkdifferently
I'm always completely honest and love different perspectives as I might learn something or confirm my thoughts.
If everyone agreed on all my opinions what a boring world that would be the fun is in seeing all the unique ideas and perspectives for me.
This forum would close down be no debate conflicting opinions make stuff fun.
Some, yes. Most? Not really, especially on the Internet. Based on my experiences of being a member on several communities for many years.
You just summed up the internet perfectly. Have an upvote.
Opinions are like assholes. Everyone's got one, and they all stink. . . except mine of course.
I fiercely defend most of my opinions, but try to acknowledge fallacies and factual errors when I'm called on them.
The problem is that on the internet, your conversations have no non-verbal cues. People don't always notice the difference between seriousness, sarcasm, intentional hyperbole or plain bullshit.
Yes, I could see that, but I do respect a strong character.
That's why I usually try to avoid pointing out fallacies, unless they're particularly egregious.
Also, maybe you can't win an argument on the Internet, but two reasonable people can often find common ground and leave the conversation satisfied and possibly even better informed.
As a horribly oppressive despot once said : "Let a hundred flowers bloom. Let a hundred ideas contend."
I basically gave up on trying to convince people, on the internet or otherwise. John Stuart Mill made the appropriate observation ~150 years ago that both sides are going to be so obdurately ensconced in their opinion that they will give almost no ground. Any debate is really meant for undecided 3rd parties.
My problem is that I'm a walking contradiction. I consider myself to be one of the most screwed up people on the planet and not really the best example of what the human race has to offer. At the same time I find myself being in a position where I'm almost never wrong, and I don't say that out of arrogance and thinking I'm superior, infact you will find no person that is harder on me then myself. But I generally feel like the world in so many ways is 5 years behind me, so many times I will have an opinion about a law that I find stupid or what I consider a dangerous trend, I will speak up about it and while there are definitely people who agree and have thought about it aswell. Most people seems to be against my opinion then 3-5 years go buy and suddenly the law is changed or people start to wake up an realize why I was against that dangerous trend. I'm also really stupid but I feel like I should just be able to control the world for just 1 month, just to change all the things that I feel is being done wrong and those things that I do implement and change should be kept permanently. Then we can go back and let smarter people continue running the world again (sure under my rule the unemployment line would get alot bigger but I swear the new people on that line would mostly consist of 40-80 year old white men dressed in 3000 dollars suits)
I'm completely confident in my opinions. I believe that while my opinion isn't fact, it's still extremely agreeable and completely reasonable, however, I would never shove my opinion down another's throat, as many people have an opinion perhaps superior to my own. But there are people who are confident and are assholes about it. Some people are confident in their opinions, but there will always be people that will be assholes about it.
Examples?
"He's a prophet, he's a pusher, partly truth and partly fiction, a walking contradiction?"
The best way to be confident about your opinions is if you can argue against them. If you can come up with reasons why you should be wrong, and yet you still feel the way you do, then you can be confident in that.
Others think this is stupid.
Yeah, I pretty much learned that the hard way participating in a lot of the "Force Awakens is a terrible SJW movie" controversy recently where I'm on a side that challenges the other side. It was exhausting dealing with a lot of hateful anger, arrogance, and disrespect from many people along with some form of trolling and unnecessary insulting for no reason. I had a different opinion and many stated I was wrong to feel the way I felt and others were as well if they didn't coincide with their own viewpoint.
first time i've heard that line, not far off
if u remove the drugs and partying from the song I'm afraid my life just isn't that interesting 
Well around 2006 people apparently thought I was crazy when I told them that their own government are most likely spying on them using unwarranted wireless phonetapping checking their e-mails etc. I was just some crazy conspiracy nut, suddenly snowden happened. Now I don't believe that I'm the only person who think that this was going on but if u where saying these things before snowden you would be lumped in with the same group as birther truthers or 9/11 conspiracy cases. I also told people they should probably lie when being asked by contributers who does pollings etc, apperently I was crazy then too but come next election and suddenly politicians could literally draw a line in neighborhoods if the people across the street weren't going to vote their way. And it doesn't help that people weren't getting informed about all of this happening because the people who actually knew about it weren't allowed to protest because under the new laws they don't care if your from that insane church family because they know people don't care about them. But say a political figure is having a parade if you have a support shirt on ur okay but if your against police actually are allowed to remove you from the premises and if you resist. Well then you've just resisted a police officer and off to jail you go. So the people who actually did know what was going on started to get, and rightfully so, scared. Because every time they tried to protest they where denied permission to do so. Having to have to bail out family memebers became to costly so instead they gave up.
One good example is the IMDB community board when talking about people who is not always all to honest in their opinions, it´s not very unusual you start to see them as Bambi on ice. When it comes to that point, you should really start wondering about if communities are your thing.
I would consider myself to be pretty confident in my opinions concerning topics/issues I have researched extensively. I’m not one to form opinions and express them vocally until I've researched both sides of the issue. I think that if you’re passionate about something to the point where you want to debate the issue with someone who disagrees with you, then you should definitely be well-versed on the subject. If you don’t know that much about the issue being discussed, then you don't have any business arguing your position until you do. Honestly, and I know I sound pretty harsh, but I don't believe anyone is entitled to their opinion, I believe people are entitled to their informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.
As for debates taking place on the internet, that's a whole 'nother can of worms. Personally, I've always enjoyed a good debate. Debates can be intellectually stimulating, you learn a great deal about your opponent's views and thinking process when engaging in discussion regarding divisive topics, and sometimes you learn something you didn't know or you teach someone something they didn't know. Debates can also be a lot of fun (as long as the participants keep it civil), they're great brain exercises and also help improve your public speaking skills. The problem with trying to have a debate online is that the vast majority of the time when someone replies to a post they disagree with, rarely are they actually looking to start a debate. They're just looking to start a fight.
There is no need to be civil in an online debate; people can be as insulting and as rude as they want on the internet, and that's not necessarily because they are actually confident in their opinion and their ability to defend their stance, it's because they have the guise of anonymity to hide behind. People often don't even bother to back up their arguments online because nobody knows who they are, meaning that they can say whatever they want without any consequences. As opposed to when you're having a debate in real life, face-to-face, you will most definitely be held accountable for whatever you choose to say, and you're expected to back up your claims with credible support as well as cite all of your sources. If you don't, then you can't be taken seriously and you've lost the debate. It’s as simple as that. But in an online debate you just end up going in circles, any sources you link go unread/unnoticed, you have to repeat yourself constantly, they refuse to cite any sources to begin with, and you're wrong because they say you're wrong. The best way to illustrate the difference between a real life debate and an online debate is that there is always a clear winner and loser in a real life debate, whereas nobody ever wins in an online debate. Bottom line, trying to have a debate and/or reason with people online who were never looking to have a debate in the first place usually ends up being a waste of time, not to mention all the illogical nonsense people spew as well as the blatant cognitive dissonance you encounter online can be pretty headache inducing.
So, yeah. Debates in real life I highly recommend, but debates online...welp, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you have a large supply of patience, free time and ibuprofen because you're going to need it.
Uh, no. You're wrong.
The only way to win an argument is to understand the argument, and that includes your opponent's views. I find the best way to strengthen a stance is to play Devil's advocate.
Foiled yet again, I am rendered helpless and speechless in the face of such an infallible argument. You win this round, but mark my words, Viva-La-Lee, mark my words..
Thanks for playing. Please come again.
Mao Tse-tung?
The one and only!
'Twas a sad but effective policy, rooted out all of the "dangerous thinking".
Yep, Mao was a ruthlessly brilliant political tactician, despite being a rather poor leader.