Wednesday, February 06, 2008

The problem with holding conventional opinions

The problem with conventional opinions is that to the onlooker, a conventional opinion that you've blindly accepted without a second of critical thought looks exactly the same as a conventional opinion that you've analyzed deeply.

Suppose I say, "I don't believe in photons". Regardless of how sensible you think that opinion is, it's clear that I've thought about it rather than unquestioningly accepting what I was taught in science class.

However, if I say, "I think democracy is a good thing," you have no way of telling whether I've given the matter any thought or whether I'm just blindly accepting society's opinion.

2 comments:

laura k said...

It's like using the word "literally" or "awesome" to mean what they actually mean. You have to alwyas explain.

I find myself doing the same thing when I agree with the majority. Which is rare, but it happens.

impudent strumpet said...

I actually learned the ninja turtle meaning of awesome years and years before I learned the original meaning, so my usage is a bit skewed.

Luckily, we can now measure awesome in hotdogs.