Jimmy2shoes,

Welcome to the forum.

Hope to read more from you.

Foxy,

I wasn't referring to opinions. My concern is with the quality of the arguments being presented. My goal is to seek knowledge, being that which one can justifiably believe to be true. A basic epistemological tenet.

On opinions, it is false to say that everyone's opinion is equal because an opinion is based on who one is and what one knows. As such some people's opinions are of greater worth than other's.

Mr O,

We know that opinions are not formed in a vacuum;
they are made in the context of existing cultural
and personal preconceptions.

Moreover, people do not necessarily get their opinions
directly from media sources. Information and viewpoints
are sifted through other people, particularly family,
friends, workmates.

For example, we're more likely to be influenced to see
a movie by a friend who recommended it to us that by
a newspaper advertisement.

The public is also influenced by opinion leaders,
usually people who spend greater time studying controversy,
form definite opinions about it and interpret the issues
for others.

Political ideologies come into play. Members or supporters
of certain political parties will be influenced by their
leaders on various economic and other issues.

Awareness of others'views may also play a role in the
formation of your opinion. The "bandwagon effect".
If it appears that opinion is swinging in one direction,
some people - especially those who previously were
undecided may be influenced to change their viewpoints.

That's why commercial advertisers often stress -
"everybody is doing it!"

Then there's opinions where knowledge and expertise is
definitely required. Such as a medical problem. You'd go
to a specialist for that.

So it all depends on the kind of opinions that you're
referring to. Because some do require knowledge and
qualifications and expertise while others do not.

You can't place them all in the one basket. Opinions are
as different as the people behind them.

That goes for knowledge as well.

It all depends on the topic under discussion.

Areas of expertise and or knowledge will vary
from person to person depending on the subject,
their life hands-on experience, and know-how.

I've known people who have degrees handing on their
walls and yet have never practiced what they've
learned and would be scared to.

The skills you learn in studying anatomy does not
necessarily make you a good doctor in an emergency
unit of a public hospital. Nor getting good grades
in the philosophy of education - teaches you how
to handle an unruly class room.

Mr O,

I'll probably use up all of my posts pretty soon.
However before I stop I just want to add that -

The ability to craft a coherent argument and to
express arguments with others in a discussion are
skills that not everybody has.

This forum is a public forum so you have to expect
a variety of styles and ways of expression.

One thing that I like about this forum is that from
these many diverse views you can learn how to engage
with people but not only that you learn to process
your own thoughts and discover your own opinions about
things.

You also learn that not every body is interested in
discussion as such. Some are interested in argument.
There's a difference.

However, we should not forget that the real purpose of a
discussion is to explore a variety of arguments to arrive
at the truth - where possible.

We don't always succeed. But that's why many of us
keep coming back to this forum. There's always - next
time.

Hi Foxy,

Don't tell me, the Reds have moved from under some forumites bed, and are now infecting his puter' with terrible unsanitary comment....DISGUSTING! WE MUST FLUSH THEM OUT! I don't know who said that, there are so many on the Forum to choose from.

Besides having too many female young farts, and not enough male old farts on OLO everything is A-okay with me. We are most fortunate to have Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Issac Newton, Clarence Darrow, J. D. Rockefeller, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Aristotle, The Pope, God and Jesus Christ to name a few of the lesser known anonymous posters using odd ball nicks such as "Wally Wombat" (me thinks that'really Mahatma Gandhi) on the Forum. So fortunate as we are.

Cheers.