"It's just my opinion". There are few phrases that get me foaming at the mouth as rapidly as this one. What's wrong with it? Well that, my friend, is what this thread is all about.
Almost every debate I get into, whether in real life or online, the person I'm talking to inevitably falls back on that old reliable "it's just my opinion" and the person saying this generally assumes that this is immediately the end of the argument, because everybody is entitled to their opinion, and who am I to be critical of theirs? Essentially, most people seem to assume the subjectivist view that all opinions are equally valid, and consider anybody who doesn't share this assumption as intolerant and arrogant.
But have they really thought it through? If we were to genuinely accept that all opinions are equally valid, then all discussion is rendered irrelevant, how can we possibly discuss the merits of my position versus your position if both positions are perfectly correct just because we hold them? If you have ever thought that somebody else is wrong about anything then you have acknowledged that thier opinion is not equally valid with yours. Everyone implicitly accepts that some opinions are more valid than others.
If all opinions are not equally valid, then you are perfectly entitled to criticise someone else's opinion. It doesn't undermine their right to an opinion, you're not forcing them to change it, you're merely arguing that it's flawed in some way. "It's just my opinion" is an utterly redundant phrase, there is no reason somebody cannot be critical of your opinion, and indeed the same thing applies to taste which is just a form of opinion relating to specific areas.
So next time somebody tells you your opinion is wrong, don't regurgitate that pathetic old phrase, tell them why it's not wrong.
Almost every debate I get into, whether in real life or online, the person I'm talking to inevitably falls back on that old reliable "it's just my opinion" and the person saying this generally assumes that this is immediately the end of the argument, because everybody is entitled to their opinion, and who am I to be critical of theirs? Essentially, most people seem to assume the subjectivist view that all opinions are equally valid, and consider anybody who doesn't share this assumption as intolerant and arrogant.
But have they really thought it through? If we were to genuinely accept that all opinions are equally valid, then all discussion is rendered irrelevant, how can we possibly discuss the merits of my position versus your position if both positions are perfectly correct just because we hold them? If you have ever thought that somebody else is wrong about anything then you have acknowledged that thier opinion is not equally valid with yours. Everyone implicitly accepts that some opinions are more valid than others.
If all opinions are not equally valid, then you are perfectly entitled to criticise someone else's opinion. It doesn't undermine their right to an opinion, you're not forcing them to change it, you're merely arguing that it's flawed in some way. "It's just my opinion" is an utterly redundant phrase, there is no reason somebody cannot be critical of your opinion, and indeed the same thing applies to taste which is just a form of opinion relating to specific areas.
So next time somebody tells you your opinion is wrong, don't regurgitate that pathetic old phrase, tell them why it's not wrong.
