# Post your unpopular opinions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 6, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001 "2018-01-06T22:19:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/121 "2018-01-09T16:55:04Z")
> [@AI\_Proofreader](#): > > I’ll see your unpopular opinion and raise you another: > > Al-Qaeda won. > > It was never their intention to try to kill us, or somehow take us over and impose Sharia law as some simple-minded people seem to believe. They were following the traditional model of guerrilla warfare (which we taught them, by the way, when we armed and trained Bin Laden and the precursor of Al-Qaeda, the Muhajideen, to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.) > > Against a vastly superior enemy that you cannot possibly defeat in a direct military confrontation, the goal is to harass the enemy and goad them into attacking you. Offense is always vastly more expensive than defense. You want to make war so costly, and last so long, that eventually the occupiers either can no longer afford the cost in money and lives of ruling your country, or they lack the will to continue to do so. > > They’ve won on both those counts; the U.S. has pissed away trillions over a conflict that shows no signs of stopping any earlier than a generation from when it began. Our will to continue isn’t there; the only reason we are continuing the “War on Terror” is that the oldest generation is still the one in power, and [the 82% of everyone else who no longer wants to be in Afghanistan](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/30/cnn-poll-afghanistan-war-most-unpopular-in-u-s-history/) and elsewhere haven’t been able to convince them to stop. > > When the old assholes in Congress die out and younger politicians replace them, eventually we’ll pull back, minus $10 trillion or more, with greatly reduced global influence and good will, demoralized, and with nothing to show for it but a million dead civilians and tens of thousands of dead U.S. soldiers. > > And all it cost them was a little money for flight lessons, 19 soldiers, and a few AK-47s to take potshots at soldiers to keep the conflict going. This is the correct assessment, in my opinion. It is how the US – and maybe many other first world countries as well – can always be goaded. Our collective tempers cost us trillions needlessly. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/122 "2018-01-09T17:36:01Z")
I can’t stand W. C. Fields. I recognize that he was a talented clown with a unique delivery, but I can’t stand his unrepentant drunk, “fuck you if you don’t like it, you old bitch” routine. I’ve seen too many drunks take him as a role model to find it funny anymore. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/123 "2018-01-09T19:23:35Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > Wind drives surface currents … [snip] Yes, that’s what I said … “wind drives the ocean surface currents, not the other way around” … > [@Scribble](#): > > [snap] … Since water gets exchanged between deeper currents and surface currents, the wind, alone, isn’t what determines where water goes or how much heat that water brings with it … [snop] There is a temperature inversion in the ocean … convective heat transfer is inhibited … the sun heats the top of the water, that warmer (and less dense) water stays at the top … where the wind can push it around … > [@Scribble](#): > > BTW–Uneven heating of the Earth’s surface is part of what maintains global wind circulation patterns. As the distribution of heat across the Earth changes, those wind patterns might change, too. Those changes, in turn, could alter global patterns of rainfall and surface ocean currents, which might increase changes in heat distribution. Global climate change could act like a chain reaction, messing up climates worldwide. I’m open to this possibility, when the temperate circulation cell collapses these climates will disappear and change into … (hehe) … tropical climates … though I’m not sure your stated mechanism is correct … > [@Scribble](#): > > Here’s a link that explains how global wind circulation works: [How Climate Works - Hall of Planet Earth | AMNH](https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/rose-center-for-earth-and-space/david-s.-and-ruth-l.-gottesman-hall-of-planet-earth/what-causes-climate-and-climate-change/the-atmosphere/how-do-the-winds-circulate) Your citation is factually incorrect … “The Earth’s rotation causes winds to flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is called the Coriolis effect.”… both Trade Winds and Westerlies occur in both hemispheres … this strange they should write that since the map is right there (and is correct), maybe they don’t understand the Coriolis effect … ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/124 "2018-01-09T19:46:20Z")
Rush, Yes, and U2 are sucky bands. BBT is a sucky TV show Country is a sucky music genre Winter is a sucky season ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/125 "2018-01-09T20:05:11Z")
The advent of unlimited free porn has been, as a whole, harmful, with few redeeming benefits. This will be as accepted as smoking is harmful in probably less than 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/126 "2018-01-09T20:09:21Z")
-Rush does indeed fucking SUCK. -Trump is scary. But the whole, o noes, we iz d00md!!! is really laughable. No, he’s not Hitler. And even he IS, the world is not the same as it was in the 1930s, and you cannot seriousy compare the 1930s Germany to 2010s USA. Mind you, I’m not saying that Trump isn’t scary, per se. If you really want to compare him to a historical German leader, he’s more Kaiser Wilhelm II than Ol’ Schicklgruber. A narcissist with a massive case of Dunning-Kruger. (And once again, the world in 2018 is not the same as it was in 2014) -I think at this point, we should just say fuck it, and let Israel and Palestine do what they want. We’ve tried every thing we can. Yinz want to kill each other? Whatever, just leave the rest of the world out of it. -The radical left can indeed be as bad as the radical right at times. Extremists suck, no matter who you are. And I’m really, really ashamed of some of my fellow leftists right now. ☹ > [@watchwolf49](#): > > Ding ding ding … we have a winner !!! Winner in that you agree Lemieux is better than Gretzky or winner that it’s an unpopular opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/127 "2018-01-09T20:24:20Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > The advent of unlimited free porn has been, as a whole, harmful, with few redeeming benefits. This will be as accepted as smoking is harmful in probably less than 100 years. Out of curiosity, how has it been harmful? My impression is it is beneficial. It lowers the rates of sex crimes. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/128 "2018-01-09T20:29:02Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > It is as bad as it’s been since the civil war. We are not one nation, what one side sees as good, the other sees as evil. Take gay marriage, it is a basic human right to me, an affront to god to a Roy Moore voter. It used to be that we had some shared experiences, there were only a few networks and at least we were all watching the same shows, but now we can completely wall each other off from one another and live in completely different realities. Which brings us to Trump, the damage he has done to America is permanent and catastrophic. That red America was so bigoted and so ignorant to choose him shows that we are irrevocably split. If ever there was a chance at reconciliation, it was killed by red state America electing him president. Today only seems that way to you because you are living in the present. The nation has faced far greater threats and divisions. But you weren’t there immersed in a 24 hour newsfeed. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/129 "2018-01-09T20:34:19Z")
We’ve done this at least once before (though I always find it interesting, so no big deal): [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799315](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=799315) Here’s what I posted in that thread (with slight edits): In the US, the concept of Reparations shouldn’t be a fringe political idea. Not necessarily Reparations for slavery, but it should be considered and debated for policies and practices like Redlining which actually did significant financial damage to many still living black Americans. I think the [many worlds interpretation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation) of quantum physics might allow both free will and fate to be true – you can make any choice you want, but you are ultimately fated to make _every_ choice. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/130 "2018-01-09T20:38:18Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > -Rush does indeed fucking SUCK. > > -The radical left can indeed be as bad as the radical right at times. Extremists suck, no matter who you are. And I’m really, really ashamed of some of my fellow leftists right now. ☹ What does the “radical left” do that’s comparable to the alt right? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/131 "2018-01-09T21:00:00Z")
Arg. OK, I know this is supposed to be “Post your unpopular opinions” rather than “argue people out of their unpopular opinions”. But the notion that Al Qaeda “won” is just nonsense, and it’s a particularly parochial kind of nonsense. They weren’t trying to make Americans waste a bunch of money and effort on nonsensical security theater, they weren’t trying to make America worse off. America was just a symbol to them, they didn’t actually give a fuck about America or care what our internal politics were like. What they wanted was an America that stayed out of the Middle East and didn’t support the regimes that they didn’t like. You know, like the House of Saud. How’s the House of Saud doing lately? Toppled yet? The 9/11 attacks didn’t chase the Americans out of the Middle East, they didn’t destabilize American client states in the Middle East. Sure, we spent a trillion dollars on the wars and got nothing in return, that doesn’t mean the Jihadis won anything. Notice that Al Qaeda isn’t even a thing anymore, it’s all ISIS. Well, soon enough ISIS won’t be a thing, and all the cool Jihadis will pledge allegiance to some cool new movement. It’s possible for America to be worse off, and Al Qaeda to be even more worse off. It’s not a victory for Al Qaeda if America’s economic growth is flat for a decade. A victory is God deciding that America should be humbled and millions flocking to the Islamist banners. That didn’t happen, and it ain’t going to happen. There isn’t any pan-Islamist movement, and the Middle East is still mired in exactly the same problems as before, and it’s only getting worse. And none of this is good news for the Islamists in a “the worse it is the sooner they will turn to us” because Islamism doesn’t have any sort of track record of fixing the problems plaguing the Middle East. To which the Islamist would reply that’s not their goal, their goal is to live according to God’s plan, and God will solve the problems when people start following God. But that’s, you know, not going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/132 "2018-01-09T21:05:15Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/133 "2018-01-09T22:22:52Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > [snip] … Winner in that you agree Lemieux is better than Gretzky or winner that it’s an unpopular opinion? Unpopular … although I can see the case that yours isn’t the _most_ unpopular … kind of surprised you haven’t received the virulence some “other” opinions posted here garner … Mario Lemieux was a great player, no doubt about that … only the best of the best of the best could come within 1,134 total points in a career as The Great One did … ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/134 "2018-01-09T23:43:01Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > . . . I’ve never known anyone who said Bob Dylan could sing … Jeez, you guys sound like my parents (in 1964). ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/135 "2018-01-10T05:20:21Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Yes, that’s what I said … “wind drives the ocean surface currents, not the other way around” … > > There is a temperature inversion in the ocean … convective heat transfer is inhibited … the sun heats the top of the water, that warmer (and less dense) water stays at the top … where the wind can push it around … Did you even read the rest of my post? The point was that the wind, alone, isn’t what gets the ocean to carry heat from place to place. And, even if it were, wind patterns might change as a result of global warming. > [@watchwolf](#): > > I’m open to this possibility, when the temperate circulation cell collapses these climates will disappear and change into … (hehe) … tropical climates … though I’m not sure your stated mechanism is correct … Well, yeah. Of course you’re not sure whether my stated (or, rather, hypothesized) mechanism is correct. I’m not sure of it, either. No-one knows exactly how it is that global climate change is going to alter our climates. Climate and weather prediction is notoriously difficult to do, and the probability of each particular scenario is, unavoidably, less than 100%. Here’s the thing, though. The changes we’ve seen due to global warming–more severe weather, rising sea levels, acidification of the ocean, etc.–all fit very well with the models used for climate change prediction. It therefore makes much more sense to assume that those predictions are more accurate than any other predictions people could make. > [@watchwolf](#): > > Your citation is factually incorrect … “The Earth’s rotation causes winds to flow clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is called the Coriolis effect.”… both Trade Winds and Westerlies occur in both hemispheres … this strange they should write that since the map is right there (and is correct), maybe they don’t understand the Coriolis effect … Really? You think the American Museum of Natural History doesn’t understand the science it teaches? As far as I can tell, the AMNH isn’t saying that westerlies and trade winds don’t occur in both hemispheres. Clearly, they do, and the AMNH isn’t arguing that they don’t. Are you trolling at this point, or being willfully obtuse? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/136 "2018-01-10T05:31:24Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Arg. OK, I know this is supposed to be “Post your unpopular opinions” rather than “argue people out of their unpopular opinions”. > > But the notion that Al Qaeda “won” is just nonsense, and it’s a particularly parochial kind of nonsense. They weren’t trying to make Americans waste a bunch of money and effort on nonsensical security theater, they weren’t trying to make America worse off. America was just a symbol to them, they didn’t actually give a fuck about America or care what our internal politics were like. > > What they wanted was an America that stayed out of the Middle East and didn’t support the regimes that they didn’t like. You know, like the House of Saud. How’s the House of Saud doing lately? Toppled yet? The 9/11 attacks didn’t chase the Americans out of the Middle East, they didn’t destabilize American client states in the Middle East. Sure, we spent a trillion dollars on the wars and got nothing in return, that doesn’t mean the Jihadis won anything. Notice that Al Qaeda isn’t even a thing anymore, it’s all ISIS. Well, soon enough ISIS won’t be a thing, and all the cool Jihadis will pledge allegiance to some cool new movement. > > It’s possible for America to be worse off, and Al Qaeda to be even more worse off. It’s not a victory for Al Qaeda if America’s economic growth is flat for a decade. A victory is God deciding that America should be humbled and millions flocking to the Islamist banners. That didn’t happen, and it ain’t going to happen. There isn’t any pan-Islamist movement, and the Middle East is still mired in exactly the same problems as before, and it’s only getting worse. And none of this is good news for the Islamists in a “the worse it is the sooner they will turn to us” because Islamism doesn’t have any sort of track record of fixing the problems plaguing the Middle East. To which the Islamist would reply that’s not their goal, their goal is to live according to God’s plan, and God will solve the problems when people start following God. But that’s, you know, not going to happen. I think the Islamists are taking the long game. I assume since ISIS and Al Qaeda are both Sunni muslim groups, they feel they are just 2 sides of the same coin, and the war will go on for centuries. I do recall during the Bush years reading how Al Qaeda said all they have to do is put up the Al Qaeda flag in some barren desert and the US will invade. Granted, I ‘think’ the US learned its lesson from Iraq. Nation building doesn’t work and you fight terrorism better with law enforcement, drones, intelligence and special forces than with trying to overthrow regimes or take over hostile nations. Under Obama something like 30,000 terrorists were killed. But the goal of Islamists was just to bleed the US dry in the hopes that they either collapse or give up. Also the US did withdraw troops from Saudi Arabia, which was a major motivator for AL Qaeda. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/137 "2018-01-10T07:14:55Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Out of curiosity, how has it been harmful? I suspect the amount of people who expect sex to follow an exact script is higher than before there were visually-acted scripted sex acts easily available. The amount of males who think that the more you last the better may also correlate. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/138 "2018-01-10T07:20:13Z")
Commercial air travel has mostly improved over the last 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![AI\_Proofreader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@AI\_Proofreader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AI_Proofreader)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/139 "2018-01-10T07:23:34Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > There are currently over 20 million refugees today from just warfare according to the UN [“‘Unprecedented’ 65 million people displaced by war and persecution in 2015 – UN”](http://refugeesmigrants.un.org/%E2%80%98unprecedented%E2%80%99-65-million-people-displaced-war-and-persecution-2015-%E2%80%93-un) – June 20th, 2016 … all of written history includes warfare, can’t reasonable pin this to the burning of fossil fuels _en masse_ … True, but consider how much _worse_ it’s going to get when freshwater rivers and lakes start drying up due to higher average temperatures in some countries that are barely wetter than deserts as it is, and how tempting the rivers in neighboring countries are going to look that are _just a little bit_ over the border… No better motivation for war than survival. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2018, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001/140 "2018-01-10T08:00:14Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > **Global warming is a GOOD THING** … > > Tropical climate from pole to pole … no permanent ice anywhere except the highest mountain peaks … luxurious plant growth everyplace … we’re at the dawn of a new Golden Age of human achievement … all will prosper, the hungry will be fed, the homeless will be housed and the naked will be clothed all over the world … Siberia, North Canada and Antarctica all become eminently habitable for all the diversity of life … the deserts will because immense grasslands supporting trillions of wild critters … hate and war disappear … > > Humans are returning to the Garden of Eden … More like the next Dust Bowl. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-your-unpopular-opinions/806001.md?page=8)