Everyone is entitled to an opinion

By Trevor Doré, Opinions Editor

s the opinions editor, I figured it
A= probably a good idea for me
to at least know the definition of

an opinion.

The dictionary defines an opinion
as “a view or judgment formed about
something, not necessarily based on fact or
knowledge. When you give your opinion
on something, you offer a conclusion or a
judgment that, although it may be open to
question, seems true or probable to you at
the time.” This to me is a very interesting
definition as I always figured that any good
opinion should be educated and informed.
As I read a little bit more, I realized
that there are many, somewhat vague
implications of opinions.

The dictionary gives multiple
definitions for what seem to be subsets
of the opinion. For example, a view is an
opinion that is affected by your personal
feelings or biases while a sentiment is a
more or less settled opinion that may still
be slightly affect by emotion. A belief
differs from an opinion or a view in that it
is not necessarily the creation of the person
who holds it. A conviction is a firmly held
and unshakable belief whose truth is not
doubted while a persuasion is a strong
belief that is unshakable because you want
to believe that it’s true rather than because
there is evidence proving it so. I guess it
is all a matter of opinion—something not
capable of being proven either way. So is
everyone really entitled to an opinion?

According to Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
“Everyone has the right to freedom
of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media

 

 

and regardless of frontiers.” Looks to me
like you’re good to go no matter what your
opinion may be.

While that is all great, I still think that
when it comes down to voicing an opinion,
especially on a serious topic, the facts must
be consulted. For example, if I were to say
the sun revolves around a flat mass that is
earth, you would probably say that I am
wrong. This is because there is scientific
evidence that supports the opposite of this
claim. While I am entitled to my opinion, it
is not a very valid opinion because I am not
a scientist and I have completely neglected
the facts.

Opinions are often expressed in a
way to persuade others to jump the fence
or get on board. Often, data that does not
support the viability of the persuasion is
neglected resulting in a completely bias
opinion. For an opinion to be valid it must
take into consideration all of the facts and
the other side of the argument. When freely
voicing an opinion, one must always be
aware that everything cannot be known and
that opinions can be proven wrong. Taking
this into consideration, one should be
open, flexible and willing to consider and
discuss both sides of an argument. Most
importantly, one must exercise critical
thinking.

In the end this is only my opinion and
I, much like you are entitled to that. If you
feel your voice needs to be heard please do
not hesitate to exercise you human right.

A college newspaper—namely The Other
Press—is an excellent source to throw
your ideas down on paper and have them
published for others to mull over, consider
and debate.

 

Fuming? Nodding? Tell us what you think;
contact opinions@ theotherpress.ca with your
opinions about this or any other article

 

 

 

 

 

Ditton

We need a more centred view

Leftist, anti-American, anti-Israel thought shouldn’t be forced on

students

 

By Garth McLennan

centred person when it comes to

political views. One thing that I do
believe in firmly is freedom of speech, and
while both sides of the political spectrum
have long histories of abusing it, it seems
that lately if you aren’t a believer in certain
controversial issues, you get absolutely
lambasted.

Don’t think that global warming
science is quite settled yet, or that some
of the so-called solutions to are a bit too
radical? Well, be prepared to have your
sanity questioned or to be compared to
Nazis and holocaust deniers.

Think that unions are getting just a
little too militant or that the police actually
do a decent job from time to time? Well
then I guess you’re a fascist who thinks
like George Bush.

Do you believe that giving drug
addicts a free place to shoot up without any
sort of reprimand might not be the smartest
idea? That makes you a soulless bastard
who doesn’t care about anyone.

Do you actually support the
Olympics? Well, then all you care about is
money.

It’s these kinds of reactions today that
make it almost impossible to have rational
discussions about controversial topics
without one side wanting to physically
assault the other. Now, while there is no
shortage of half-crazed right wingers out
there, it seems to me that lately, most of the
hysterical insults about the above subjects
have come from the very left wing.

Now, before I get accused of being a
conservative zealot, please remember that
I said the very left wing. I have absolutely
no problem what political beliefs you
have. There’s nothing wrong with being
left wing, nor is there any issue with being
right wing and there’s no problem with

[= to consider myself to be a fairly

a healthy discussion about it. What is
wrong is one side having zero tolerance
or willingness to expand the way that they
think.

That hyper left, anti-anything right
thought process is accentuated at post-
secondary campuses and always has been.
Douglas College is no exception. I’ve
taken a number of courses here where
professors have, instead of just teaching the
facts, gone out of their way to dump their
opinions and beliefs on everything from
domestic governmental policies to the wars
in the Middle East. Generally these have a
heavy anti-American, anti-Israel theme to
them. In high school we were repeatedly
shown Michael Moore movies, which no
intelligent person can say are objective, as
facts in history class.

That isn’t right. If that’s the way you
think, great, not a problem. But to try and
shift the views of impressionable people,
often much younger than you, without
offering a contrasting perspective of things,
as is often the case at Douglas and other
institutions is a problem. People, especially
students, should be shown the concrete
facts by their instructors and those in
positions of power and then be left up to
their own devices to decide what they do
and don’t want to believe.

That’s a big reason why religion
is no longer permitted to be taught or
preached in schools, and that is a great
thing for education. Now, in a political
system where all parties bombard the
public with millions of dollars worth of
public relations propaganda, it’s difficult
to expect a completely unbiased approach
to anything, but it’s time we take the bias
out of teaching, and all start thinking with
more open minds.

 

Fuming? Nodding? Tell us what you think;
contact opinions@theotherpress.ca with your
opinions about this or any other article

 

 

 

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