Ramblings of me.
The value of an opinion.
I have heard people say things often that basically amount to ‘my opinion doesn’t matter’ a common mask for this phrase is ‘one vote doesn’t count’ and the like. However people fail to realize the difference between opinion and true fact. And how much of what is accepted as fact is simply an opinion that has been widely accepted.
My favorite example of this is the Webster’s dictionary. Something that was made and is considered fact by many however is nothing more than opinion. A word was decided to have a definition and it was printed, and then it was accepted, but that doesn’t make it fact, it simply makes it an accepted opinion.
A lot of people never realize how much of there life is based on someone else’s opinion. And the large amount of suffering that takes place in the world simply because someone does not respect someone else’s opinions, or wants someone else to have the same opinions as they do.
One person may think that a red shirt is best, and another may think that a green would be better. This is a very simple example for contrast in what I will write about next. A lot of people have complained about the United States invasion and occupation into Afghanistan and the way the American troops are being used. The phrase commonly used is ‘War On Terror’ however what it is actually the best course of action according to the opinion of someone that the population thought was the best man for the job based on there opinion.
As we all know, someone’s opinion can change when faced with external factors, or simply over time. One such occasion to cause a change of opinion for a lot of the world happened on September 11, 2001. Governments across the world looked at the damage that could be done and started doing what they thought was correct in there opinion. Unfortunately the leader elected in the United States was taking an approach of watching out for the whole, not the individual. Using the idea that individual freedoms should be sacrificed in order for the betterment of the whole.
This becomes a problem when the people that you are a part feel that they are not being properly represented and cared for by the leader they entrusted there very lives to. It is in its most basic form a case of bad customer service. The government that is running the United States has forgotten who it actually serves it would seem. They want to serve the United States as a company; while the paying customers are getting fewer and fewer services that they were promised.
Several people have said that the Bush administration has done things that go against the basic principles of justice, and I for one do agree with them. In someone’s opinion the best way to protect an individual was to the things that were outlined and put into effect; and in a large part of the nation’s citizens opinions it was not what they wanted.
However, this is not about me going into the Bush administration or anything like that, I am still (trying) to stay on the subject of opinion. Someone’s opinion is the greatest thing they could ever have. One thing that is truly there’s, and while others opinions won’t always line up with yours, in fact they will more often than not line up, there opinions are something that is there own; and something that every person should respect. This doesn’t mean you have to like there opinion, several opinions and the actions taken based on them are not what I would consider the best course of action, but that is my opinion.
Expressing ones opinion is also something that everyone should be able to do, however in this day and age one should be careful because if someone takes offence to it you could be in a court case being sued; or in Guantanamo Bay. In the united states voter turnout has been somewhere between bad and poor for the last few elections, however maybe this time the voters will realize that if they want there opinion to matter then they must do something in order to make themselves heard. Fortunately there is an easy way to do that through voting and surprisingly enough, YouTube.
People are starting to realize that there opinion matters, and hopefully the politicians will stop trying to do nothing but win votes and simply figure out how to help the people. I must admit, I have not kept up with the candidates to much, however I was previously supporting Clinton because of something I saw relating to health care (if anyone knows the story of my last few months then you will understand how bug a deal healthcare is to me). However after a few moments looking online at the CNN website and saw that the top two democrat candidates are to busy fighting each other to tell the people what they will actually do for them, and what there opinion is that needs to be done.
And we come back to opinion, and the opinion of the general public. There are some who love to follow politics, and love to get hugely involved. However I am one who doesn’t particularly care at this point, and the reason is because my opinion is mostly ignored and the politicians are to busy slinging mud at each other to actually show they are going to do something useful.
Now, I can understand that questions need to be raised, if there is a hole in someone else’s plan it does need to be addressed. However the politicians are taking too much of there ego into the equation, they are trying to prove that they are the best, that they are the one that should be there. In my opinion the best person should be the leader, not the one that can be backhanded and dirty and win a popularity contest. While I do understand that having ‘President of the United States of America 2008-2012’ on your resume would look nice I think that the point should be to serve the people. I understand that it is sometimes hard to get the people to understand what you are planning on doing, and you think that the plans of the other person are inadequate, however simply squabbling like to children who want the same toy is not exactly the attitude that I would like from the leader of my country. I think the phrase used now is ‘Lesser of Evils’ I don’t want the best of someone bad running the place I live in, I want someone good, someone who cares about me for more than just my income tax and the one vote.
However everything I have said here is my opinion.
And who knows, maybe the grumpy people are right, and one person doesn’t matter.
However, one day someone decided that it was a good idea to call up ‘up’ and say that we breathe air. At one point those were someone’s opinion, and now they are so accepted that I don’t think changing it now would even be possible.
You never know what the actions that come from an opinion will do, or how they will sway the world.
Told you it was long...
I have heard people say things often that basically amount to ‘my opinion doesn’t matter’ a common mask for this phrase is ‘one vote doesn’t count’ and the like. However people fail to realize the difference between opinion and true fact. And how much of what is accepted as fact is simply an opinion that has been widely accepted.
My favorite example of this is the Webster’s dictionary. Something that was made and is considered fact by many however is nothing more than opinion. A word was decided to have a definition and it was printed, and then it was accepted, but that doesn’t make it fact, it simply makes it an accepted opinion.
A lot of people never realize how much of there life is based on someone else’s opinion. And the large amount of suffering that takes place in the world simply because someone does not respect someone else’s opinions, or wants someone else to have the same opinions as they do.
One person may think that a red shirt is best, and another may think that a green would be better. This is a very simple example for contrast in what I will write about next. A lot of people have complained about the United States invasion and occupation into Afghanistan and the way the American troops are being used. The phrase commonly used is ‘War On Terror’ however what it is actually the best course of action according to the opinion of someone that the population thought was the best man for the job based on there opinion.
As we all know, someone’s opinion can change when faced with external factors, or simply over time. One such occasion to cause a change of opinion for a lot of the world happened on September 11, 2001. Governments across the world looked at the damage that could be done and started doing what they thought was correct in there opinion. Unfortunately the leader elected in the United States was taking an approach of watching out for the whole, not the individual. Using the idea that individual freedoms should be sacrificed in order for the betterment of the whole.
This becomes a problem when the people that you are a part feel that they are not being properly represented and cared for by the leader they entrusted there very lives to. It is in its most basic form a case of bad customer service. The government that is running the United States has forgotten who it actually serves it would seem. They want to serve the United States as a company; while the paying customers are getting fewer and fewer services that they were promised.
Several people have said that the Bush administration has done things that go against the basic principles of justice, and I for one do agree with them. In someone’s opinion the best way to protect an individual was to the things that were outlined and put into effect; and in a large part of the nation’s citizens opinions it was not what they wanted.
However, this is not about me going into the Bush administration or anything like that, I am still (trying) to stay on the subject of opinion. Someone’s opinion is the greatest thing they could ever have. One thing that is truly there’s, and while others opinions won’t always line up with yours, in fact they will more often than not line up, there opinions are something that is there own; and something that every person should respect. This doesn’t mean you have to like there opinion, several opinions and the actions taken based on them are not what I would consider the best course of action, but that is my opinion.
Expressing ones opinion is also something that everyone should be able to do, however in this day and age one should be careful because if someone takes offence to it you could be in a court case being sued; or in Guantanamo Bay. In the united states voter turnout has been somewhere between bad and poor for the last few elections, however maybe this time the voters will realize that if they want there opinion to matter then they must do something in order to make themselves heard. Fortunately there is an easy way to do that through voting and surprisingly enough, YouTube.
People are starting to realize that there opinion matters, and hopefully the politicians will stop trying to do nothing but win votes and simply figure out how to help the people. I must admit, I have not kept up with the candidates to much, however I was previously supporting Clinton because of something I saw relating to health care (if anyone knows the story of my last few months then you will understand how bug a deal healthcare is to me). However after a few moments looking online at the CNN website and saw that the top two democrat candidates are to busy fighting each other to tell the people what they will actually do for them, and what there opinion is that needs to be done.
And we come back to opinion, and the opinion of the general public. There are some who love to follow politics, and love to get hugely involved. However I am one who doesn’t particularly care at this point, and the reason is because my opinion is mostly ignored and the politicians are to busy slinging mud at each other to actually show they are going to do something useful.
Now, I can understand that questions need to be raised, if there is a hole in someone else’s plan it does need to be addressed. However the politicians are taking too much of there ego into the equation, they are trying to prove that they are the best, that they are the one that should be there. In my opinion the best person should be the leader, not the one that can be backhanded and dirty and win a popularity contest. While I do understand that having ‘President of the United States of America 2008-2012’ on your resume would look nice I think that the point should be to serve the people. I understand that it is sometimes hard to get the people to understand what you are planning on doing, and you think that the plans of the other person are inadequate, however simply squabbling like to children who want the same toy is not exactly the attitude that I would like from the leader of my country. I think the phrase used now is ‘Lesser of Evils’ I don’t want the best of someone bad running the place I live in, I want someone good, someone who cares about me for more than just my income tax and the one vote.
However everything I have said here is my opinion.
And who knows, maybe the grumpy people are right, and one person doesn’t matter.
However, one day someone decided that it was a good idea to call up ‘up’ and say that we breathe air. At one point those were someone’s opinion, and now they are so accepted that I don’t think changing it now would even be possible.
You never know what the actions that come from an opinion will do, or how they will sway the world.
Told you it was long...