“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Opinions aren’t facts — they can be based on fact or knowledge, but can also rely heavily on emotions, preconceived thoughts or belief systems. Everyone has formed a variety of opinions about many different topics, from public figures and celebrities, to global happenings and events — and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. However, that does not mean that, when in an argument or debate, you have the freedom to fabricate your own facts to support your opinion.
Disagreements are a natural part of human history, ever since our species developed the ability to express their symbolic beliefs onto others to form cultures and belief systems. When you’re in an argument with someone, you are entitled to express your opinions, but it’s not okay to start making things up or denying facts given by the opposition.
Arguing over opinions might not lead anywhere. For example, if a friend thinks cilantro tastes awful, but you think it’s the best flavor on the planet, going back and forth debating it probably won’t lead to any changes on either side, because that’s just the other person’s opinion, and you can’t really back up either side with much solid evidence.
Arguing over opinions might not lead anywhere. For example, if a friend thinks cilantro tastes awful, but you think it’s the best flavor on the planet, going back and forth debating it probably won’t lead to any changes on either side, because that’s just the other person’s opinion, and you can’t really back up either side with much solid evidence.
On the other hand, for an exaggerated instance, if one person argues that they think the number six is smaller than the number three, and the other opposes explaining that, value-wise, six is indeed larger than three. Just because the other believes the opposite doesn’t make it true. Regardless of what they make up to support their opinion that six is smaller than three, they are still misinformed.
Bringing facts into a healthy debate is, arguably, the best course of action to change someone’s views on something, given they are open minded and not too stuck in their ways. Being well-informed about a variety of subjects leads to an all-around more knowledgeable person. On top of that, being able to process and accept the knowledge of others speaks even more highly of the person.
Thus, when bringing “facts” into a debate, try to do it as ethically as possible. If you are told a fact by another person, check it for yourself. If one person says “one third of our school is female,” and another person explains “30 percent of our school is female,” and lastly it’s passed along as “a quarter of our school is female,” it is no longer the same fact. Playing fact telephone via a line of conversations can result in miscommunication, so it’s best to check things out for yourself. That being said, facts may be presented with some form of bias. Whether it’s selection bias or bias within the way the data is communicated, not every fact you read online may be entirely true. It’s best to analyze the data yourself or synthesize information from a variety of sources — on both sides — to get as close to the truth as possible.
If you find yourself in a situation where you don’t know much besides your opinions on a topic, it doesn’t make you unintelligent to admit that you’re not well-informed on the subject and would rather refrain from debate. Take this time to listen to the other person, and read up more on it later. The “read up” part is important — don’t just regurgitate what someone else said just because it was the first thing you were told.
Overall, just try to be mature and open minded in any argument, and understand that your beliefs aren’t inherently “better” or “worse” than everyone else’s simply because they’re yours. You, too, can be misinformed. But hey, that’s just my opinion.
