Opinions - are we all really entitled to have them?

You know the scenario: someone you know, let's say at a dinner party or something, comes up with an outrageous assertion such as 'the earth is flat' or 'the government is controlled by aliens, who replaced the politicians secretly some time ago'. You bristle and take them up on their statement and they come back and tell you that they are entitled to their own opinion on things, and so is everyone else.

'Everyone's entitled to their own opinion' the saying goes and it may be so, but this can only work under certain circumstances otherwise it's a little bit like 'the customer is always right', which we have seen - and, I believe clearly demonstrated -is a very stupid statement.

Let me explain: We are all entitled to hold a VALID opinion, one that we can support by facts and arguments; indeed we most certainly should all have opinions about most things happening around us. What we are most certainly not entitled to is opinions based on just our feelings, preferences or the way we would like things to be. Put bluntly, that we want things to be a certain way does not mean that they are or should be (sorry about that!), and the good folk of Greece apparently have an appropriate saying: 'if you don't know (about something) why are you talking (i.e. why are you expressing an opinion?)?

The internet has made it a lot easier for people to propagate unverified/unsupported opinions dressed up as facts for various reasons, not always well-intentioned, but repeating them over and over again does not make them true. And we as individuals owe it to ourselves and to others not to spout the first thing that comes to mind - often misrepresented and mislabeled as honesty - but to think, clearly and deeply (as much as realistically possible, anyway) before putting forward our point of view. Failure to do so results in generating lots of vapid statements - expelling hot air, in effect - and helps no-one, least of all ourselves, as we look like complete idiots.

The solution to this does not lie in not having opinions, which is often the piqued response of someone caught out talking nonsense; rather, it is to take a little bit of time to think before expounding on this that or the other - the old 'engage brain before mouth' dictum, valid more than ever today.

So do yourselves and the rest of the world a favour by ensuring all opinions you hold have some rational thought behind them. And no, this does not mean we all have to think alike and agree on everything, just that our debates must be based on reality, not fantasy.