Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mac D
all these posts about trying to prove others wrong. we all are entitled to our own opinions and u must realize and respect that no matter how ridculous it seems to you. why can't we all just get along?
|
That is absolute drivel of the first order. Firstly, you do not "have to respect everyone's opinions." - I certainly do not respect Hitler's opinions on the whole genocide issue, and I certainly do not think anyone should respect them.
Secondly, there is "true and false" - so acting like we can't say "that's bullshit" to someone believing in a lie is not only unproductive, but actively dangerous. Stupidity kills. It is the ignorance of the US citizenry at large which has resulted in hudnreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis being killed.
Thirdly, as Socrates would point out, opinions are not some untouchable enshrinement of imaginative virtue. Opinions are discrete concepts, and as such as subject to criticism of the most intellectual and scientifically rigorous kind. If an opinion is not consistant with Socratic method, if it is not based on objective fact or sound logical reasoning, the opinion is either wrong, or worthless.
There are no two ways about it. No matter how much you'd like to pat people on the back for being able to type out enough words to actually illicit a comprehensible response, it doesn't mean there is any merit in it whatsoever.
As Socrates DID point out, it is the duty of every member of a democratic society to challenge preconceptions with rigorous and clinical scientific thinking to ensure that all the components of a democracy (all members of the society) are working correctly.
A misinformed ignorant voter is like a cancer cell to a democratic nation. Even if they are a benign tumour, they are unwanted and unnecessary. Shielding these people from criticism is NOT helpful to anyone, not even them.
Yours is an argument for stupidity, and I cannot see how you can make a clever argument for stupidity, even if you were both competent enoguh a debater to do so, and had the inclination.