Unpopular opinions

[Biggirl]

There is this specious line of reasoning that goes something like this: I have an unpopular opinion (e.g., circumcision equals infant mutilation; old people should be rounded up and shot; Canadian views on homosexuality are null and void because they all love Castro). My unpopular opinion is met with scorn, derision and worse, therefore I am being censored.

I think these posters with unpopular opinions need to brush up on some definitions.

Unpopular-- Not popular. Main Entry: un·pop·u·lar
Pronunciation: "&n-'pä-py&-l&r
Function: adjective
Date: 1647
: not popular : viewed or received unfavorably by the public

Opinion-- Personal thoughts. Not facts.Main Entry: opin·ion
Pronunciation: &-'pin-y&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin opinion-, opinio, from opinari
Date: 14th century
1 a : a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter b : APPROVAL, ESTEEM
2 a : belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge b : a generally held view
3 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

Censor-- Denying you the opportunity to express opinion. Main Entry: 2censor
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): cen·sored; cen·sor·ing /'sen(t)-s&-ri[ng], 'sen(t)s-ri[ng]/
Date: 1882
: to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable

If you express an unpopular opinion it will be, by definition, not very popular. Many people will disagree with it. If you express an unpopular opinion it is, by definition just your opinion and not a fact. If you express an unpopular opinion and your thread or post has not been deleted, you are not being censored.


I am going to bookmark this thread and the next asshole who makes this asinine assertion will be lead here where they can read my unpopular opinion that they are, in fact, assholes. Moronic assholes. Moronic assholes in need of a dictionary.

[Fenris]

Dear Biggirl,

That was beautiful. * :: wipes tears from eyes ::

Love,
Fenris

* But I have one addition:
4. Pile-on -- Lots of people disagreeing with you...often loudly.

Pile-on: Verb
Lots of people disagreeing with whatever stupid thing you said.
Simply saying "This is just a pile-on" ignores the cause of the pile-on, to wit, the stupid thing you said.

[Jonathan Chance]

Well, that may be true. But pile-ons are still an ugly (and unworthy) thing to see.

Or maybe we should institute this as a guideline...

"If your point has been made, please resist the temptation to make it again."

[Enderw24]

Yeah, and another thing. If your point has been made, please resist the temptation to make it again!

[Giraffe]

Another addendum: expressing an unpopular opinion is not automatically a courageous thing to do. You're not necessarily Galileo. Sometimes you're the wild-eyed hobo, yelling about the CIA's mind control rays.

[Guinastasia]

If it's an UNPOPULAR opinion, it's UNPOPULAR for a reason.

:p

[mouthbreather]

I know everyone here likes my opinions, so we are just one happy family.

Kum-ba-ya and smores, anyone?

[Hamlet]

Now I know this is going to be a horribly unpopular opinion, but Enderw24's post had me getting strange looks because I was laughing out loud at [apparently] nothing when I was at the grocery store. And that was a good 2 hours after I first read it. Kudos.

[neofishboy]

um....I wanna smore...

[D_Odds]

Originally posted by Giraffe
Another addendum: expressing an unpopular opinion is not automatically a courageous thing to do. You're not necessarily Galileo. Sometimes you're the wild-eyed hobo, yelling about the CIA's mind control rays.

But what if the hobo is right? People laughed at Columbus and his round earth theory, you know.*


*Yes, I know that most people were almost, but not quite stupid enough to believe the earth was really flat.

[IzzyR]

From a purely technical standpoint, I would agree with much of this OP. But I am skeptical whether the attitude being decried is actually as prevalent as the OP would seem to suggest. It is just possible that the point being made - and lost - is somewhat more subtle.

What is true, is that people tend to judge harshly those who they disagree with. Their arguments are judged to be weaker, their debating tactics to be less honorable etc. etc. as compared to similar arguments by in support of positions that they agree with. This is natural. This can tend to provoke opposition to the "offending" poster and their position that is disproportionately harsh. If someone is an advocate of positions that have a strong level of support, the harshness of the opposition will be mitigated by both the actual physical support offered by other holders of these positions, as well as by the knowledge that these positions have a certain degree of "respectability" due to their widespread support. If someone supports an unpopular position, these will be lacking. And if someone consistently supports unpopular positions, the effect will be magnified.

As examples of the phenomenon that I am referring to, I would point to danielinthewolvesden and december. Again - not as proof, as examples. Part of the problem with this issue is that there is no real way to objectively determine it in a given instance. Nonetheless, someone who complains of it in a given instance just may have a point.