All Opinions Are Not Created Equal
By Zerstorer

We like to pride ourselves on our open-mindedness and non-judgment of others’ opinions and lifestyles. In reaction against the intolerance of earlier times, it has been a sort of sign of the times now to be open, accepting and tolerant. This is a healthy attitude in that it allows us to come in contact with new ideas and not kill anything that isn’t the same as us.

But it is possible for our feet to come loose of the ground. When the idea of every opinion being equally valid is acceptable, then perhaps we’ve gone too far.

In America, everyone has the right to their own opinion, but too few exercise this right wisely. Because we are all allowed our own opinion does not make every opinion correct, true, valuable, or good. Often people like to spout their opinions off with little to no knowledge of what they are talking about: if you wanted a question answered about physics, for example, would you ask your neighbor Bob, who has no knowledge of the subject, or would you ask Einstein? Someone obviously has a better opinion on the subject.

The misjudgment from ignorance can lead to the very same intolerance and closed-mindedness that the move for tolerance was opposed to. Beside that, if we are to take all opinions that people, to use a colloquial term, pull out of their asses seriously, then we are basing our thoughts on nothing more than hearsay and poor conjecture.

At the heart of this, I am attacking a kind of relativism, that is, the belief that all opinions are equally valid, implying that there is no truth, no falsehood, and no morality. Take for example this statement: “All opinions are equally true”. But the opinion exists also that all opinions are not equally true, which by the original statement would be correct, and so the statement that “All opinions are equally true” would contradict itself. The contradictions that exist with such a statement go on and on. On the other hand, it must be said that anyone claiming to know ultimate truth is probably lying, and I certainly cannot make that claim- I can only aspire to seek whatever truth there is as best I can.

It is difficult to claim to be "open minded" as those words have had their meaning destroyed. Open minded does not imply acceptance anyone's opinion, especially if they are morally repulsive or just outright uninformed. Tolerance does not imply acceptance of totally incorrect statements and opinions. Tolerance and open-mindedness mean giving other people the benefit of a doubt before making a judgment.

I do not mean to inspire the use these thoughts to dismiss all opinions that we may disagree with, but rather to say that we should approach the act of judgment with some humility and research. The truth is out there.

By Zerstorer