Posted by cccp1014 on 3/6/2019 3:18:00 PM (view original):
A fact is a statement that can be proven true or false. An opinion is an expression of a person's feelings that cannot be proven.
An opinion can still be incorrect. By definition it's generally not based on facts, but that doesn't mean that it
couldn't be proven correct or incorrect by factual evidence. For example, relevant to this discussion, numerous parents are of the
opinion that vaccinating their children puts the children's health at risk. But plenty of factual evidence demonstrates that this opinion is incorrect. It's their opinion. It's also verifiably incorrect.
I came back to this because I think your expressed opinion here is one of the root causes of the current dysfunctional state of political discourse in this country. There seems to be a widespread perception that opinions cannot be incorrect, and that everyone's opinion is valid and important. That leads people to disregard things like scientific studies because they believe their own opinions on issues are inherently valid. We see this in this vaccine debate, and we certainly see it in virtually any climate change discussion. Everybody wants to claim that climate change either A) doesn't exist, or at least can't be traced to anthropogenic sources, or B) is going to put 30% of the world's population underwater by 2070. Neither of these is a realistic position based on the preponderance of scientific modeling. By looking at outlier results of climate modeling studies (IE 1st and 99th percentile outcomes from a reported range) and convincing themselves that their opinions on climate change must be valid, people at these wild extremes find no common ground and just yell at each other. We're virtually never having the really important discussion, which should be how do we balance the long-term need to protect our planet with the short-term need to sustain economic well-being.
If more people accepted that their opinions might
not be valid, certainly not as valid as those of experts in a relevant field, we could have much more productive political conversations and maybe find mutually acceptable solutions.