Monday, November 23, 2009

Am I right and Are you wrong?

1st third of 16th centuryImage via Wikipedia

I know I'm right. Why? Because it's what I believe. I've thought about it and I've come to my opinion and that opinion is right. Any other opinion that differs is wrong. I do not doubt this.
I have many reasons I can give for my opinion and they all justify my opinion. Taken together, all these reasons for absolutely a convincing argument for my opinion. I know that other opinions which differ to mine have their own convincing arguments to justify that other point of view but they are wrong. In fact, I would go so far as to say that any opinion that differs from mine is caused by a lack of intelligence. My opinions are in fact based upon my superior intelligence. Only opinions that agree with mine are of equal intelligence. There are no opinions of greater intelligence than mine if they disagree with my opinion. Of course, if I choose to alter my opinion to another opinion, that can only mean that I have opted for the more intelligent opinion. If you disagree with me then not only are you obviously wrong, but you must also be less intelligent.

I continually tell myself, isn't the human mind wonderful? Each of us is capable of having unshakable belief in our own opinions even when they differ from other people's opinions, we never doubt that our opinion is correct.

I have to confess that one day, many years ago I lost my faith in my opinions. Here I was trying to talk sense to my stepson and he said he couldn't accept my opinion because I was a loser. (He didn't put it so politely but that's the gist of it). How could I argue with that? If I come across as a loser in somebody's mind, how can my opinion carry any weight? How can I expect them to respect my opinion? In other words, how can my opinion carry any weight when I don't command any respect as a successful individual? And that made me realize how in society, we do value certain opinions above others. The value we attach to individual opinions is based upon that person's material, financial and career success.
Let's say for example, a wealthy lawyer has an opinion on a structural engineering project. (Regardless of the fact that he may know nothing about structural engineering), his opinion would carry more gravitas than say a checkout chick at the supermarket. Even if the lawyer has no knowledge of structural engineering, we bow to his achievements in making money and bestow upon him the virtue of wisdom. We respect his opinion.
Similarly, I see ads on TV with surgeons telling me what is safe speed to travel on the road. He is a surgeon therefore he must know more than me about road safety than me (and probably structural engineering as well).

Here's another example that comes to mind. Ever tried discussing your health with a doctor?
Have you opinions ever been dismissed as irrelevant by the doctor because he knows better? After all he is a doctor?

So what's my opinion worth? It all depends on how successful I am, how rich I am and how important I am.
I guess the fact that I blog speaks for itself.

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1 comment:

Jeannie said...

We laugh all the time at commercials with celebrity spokespeople or doctors (who used to recommend various brands of cigarettes!) We yell at the tv - Why should we listen to you?

There are so many arrogant people out there who revert to "I don't agree because I think you're stupid" as a valid argument. (teens excel at this one - my husband used to say a lot: It's great that they let teenagers drive while they still know everything)

We have found that teachers - kindergarten through highschool - all believe they are experts at everything because they are teachers! They can be very very difficult and expect to always have their way.

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