Dear ttbn,

I see you doing it all the time so I thought it would be alright if I did it as well.

No Mr. O. I rarely argue with people who disagree with me unless their disagreement is addressed directly to me. Even then, there is not much point; no minds are change. Opinions, in my view, have nothing to do with people identifying themselves as 'sociologists' or sanitary engineers, so I don't really see the point in your claim to know more because you call yourself a sociologist. Nor do I see much point in my old mate individual's attempts to take the piss because you do. You could be Ronald McDonald for all we know.

Dear ttbn,

I disagree with you on the value of opinions.

One's opinion is based on what one is and what one knows. Therefore some people's opinions have more value than the opinions of others.

The trouble here, old son, is that one cannot prove what one claims about onseself, so one could be simply talking through one's arse and have no particular qualifications or experience that would entitle one to claim one's opinions are worth more than anybody else's.

Dear ttbn,

I have nothing to hide, other than the fact that I am not a doctor, not a lawyer, not an astronaut, not a plumber, not an accountant, not a wizard or stand-in stuntman for Tom Cruise and not a whole bunch of other things outside of being a sociologist. My opinions reflect both what I am and what I am not.

Has anyone found out yet of what benefit vs cost Sociologists are to us ?