Yes, but you actually have to evidence to examine in order to come to a position. Having an opinion, for most AMerians, in my experience, is about believing whatever you choose to believe without examining evidence at all. It's about having a damned opinion, damn it. and my opinion is mine all mine and I get to stroke it and love it and do whatever I want with it, but don't, damn it, touch it. If I wave it about and stroke my opinion in public, that's my right damn it, and you're NOT to touch it or do anything to sully it. It is MY opinion. ^^^^^ CB: By my experience, as an American among Americans, I agree with you that this is a common theme in American characters. Basically, it's a form of the freedom of thought-speech. And as you say, it is often premised on a very low standard of proof for the opinion. ^^^^ -clip- The earth is the third planet from the sun. A lot of people know that only from looking at pictures of the solar system. They know that only because they were told that it was so and that they needed to know it to pass the exam. That happens with a lot of things these days. Do we know how our computers work? How the electricity works. could we fix a toilet that keeps running? Vast swathes of lives are lived by accepting handed down authority, and never really thinking too much about it. ^^^^^ CB: This is true , of course. However, interestingly, the reliance on "handed down authoritative opinion not thought too much about" is in excess what is actually, in my opinion, the big difference between us and animals. Most of what we know ( I mean the "good stuff" that is really true too) is "hearsay" in the sense that we as individuals didn't directly witness or empircally investigate it to confirm it. We rely on lots of other people's experience to build our own knowledge base. This is the great social network, including reaching back to dead generations, that gives an individual human knowledge beyond their individual experience. You know, for example, we know how to make wheels because somebody figured it out a long time ago. We know about wheels from hearsay, but it saves us the time of not having to reinvent the wheel each generation. But what you describe becomes an inevitable habit of thought that can lead to people believing things "from authority" too readily.
^^^^ clip- For these folks, they might ask, "What is unreasonable about knowing that Hussein lost GWI, that he might be itching to get Daddy Shrub back and reclaim his honor, and that he might just form an alliance with alQ in order to do so?" ^^^^ CB: Yea, this isn't entirely unreasonable or illogical, but it must be treated as a hypothesis to be supported with evidence, if the person saying it is really interested in whether it is true. Of course, as people have said on this thread, many Americans are not really interested in whether this is really true or false. They are more interested in keeping their worldview and sanity in tact, not rocking their "life" boat, career, staying in their comfort zone ( all of which is not illogical either), than sacrificing all that for uttering Truth regarding world politics. The prospect that America is the bad guys in the world is too disruptive of their whole life situation to entertain the possibility of , let alone actually believe and act on. For others, as you mention below, it doesn't impact them directly or immediatly enough to spend a lot of time researching the truth on the issue. ^^^^
Yeah, and Nicole Simpson MIGHT have been slashed by a drug dealer! If it doesn't fit, you must acquit! ^^^^^ CB: It looked like the work of a professional assassin from the evidence on television. Killing somebody with a knife ain't that easy if you aren't a pro. Why not take a gun ? ^^^^^^
I don't know about anyone else, but it takes a good solid 2 hours of my day to stay informed. I couldn't begin to imagine where my friend M would find the time to keep up with everything. She works 9-5 at a social service agency, comes home, changes, and three week nights, she delivers pizzas to support her kids and a chick who's staying with her (and before that it was her unemployed brother).
Mrs. Brown? She gets home at 6, gets dinner on the table by 7, does homework with the kids til 9, gets them to bed, does some housework, relaxes with Mr. B, or maybe goes to a volunteer meeting or church meeting. She's in bed by 10:00 so she can get up at 5:30 and start all over again.
So, someone dipshit pollster asks them what they think, and they tell 'em: here's my opinion. It's my opinion and it isn't necessarily supposed to be based on evidence, logic, or anything other than "gut feeling". Soooprize, you get these poll results!?
kelley ^^^^^^^ CB: Truly. And what difference does it make in their life or that of their loved ones , if Hussein and ALQ are together or apart ? Not much.