WE'RE ALL ENTITLED TO OUR OPINIONS

The slogan "you are entitled to your opinion" is so often repeated that it is almost impossible for the brain of a modern person not to have absorbed it. Before showing that this cliche is very tricky at best "Of course you're entitled to your opinion, but...." Here is a simple way of putting it, if the opinions to which we are entitled might be false,the entitlement cannot properly be invoked to settle a dispute. It adds no new information on the original matter, it does nothing to show that the opinion in question is true.It does not in fact make the entitlement to an opinion relevant in deciding who is correct in any dispute.

You are entitled to an opinion, in this sense, only when you have good reasons for holding it, evidence,sound arguments, and so on.

It is increasingly a part of a mindset that obstruct the free flow of ideas and their robust and correct values. Many people seem to feel that their opinions are somehow sacred, so that everyone else is obliged to handle them with great care. When confronted with counterarguments, they do not pause and wonder if they might be wrong after all, they take offense.

Does your right to your entitlement to your opinion oblige others to agree with you? NO, as others too, are entitled to their opinions, which might contradict yours. Just think of the practical implications. Everyone would have to change his mind every time he met someone with a different opinion, changing his religion, his politics, his eating and drinking habits.

Does your right to your opinion oblige me to listen to you ? NO, many people have many opinions on many matters. You cannot walk through your normal day without hearing some enthusiast declaring his opinions on God or the Christian religion or the Zionist and imperialist conspiracy or some other topic of pressing concern, listening to them all is practically impossible, and not a duty.

Does your right or your entitlement to your opinion oblige others to let you keep it ? This is the closest to what I think most people mean and want when they claim a right to their opinion. They do so at just that point in an argument when they would otherwise be forced to admit error and have to change their position.

It's just that, on some topics, many people are not really interested in believing the truth. They might prefer it if their opinion turns out to be true.

Many of my friends, though not practicing members of their religions or not even accepting the many absurd details of their different sects, claim to believe in a "superior intelligence"or " something higher than us." Yet they will also cheerfully admit the absence of even a shred of evidence. Never mind. As truth really is not always the point,and it is very annoying to be pressed on the matter.

Finally to register all this, and to make it clear that truth is neither here nor there, they declare, " I am entitled to my opinion." Once we hear these words, one should realize that it is rude and inefficient to persist with the matter. You may be interested in whether or not their opinion is true,but accept that they are not.

As usual my thanks go to Jamie for inspiring and contributing to these ideas, and as always thanks for your time and patience, salamat.