"well, that's just your opinion"

One thing that ticks me off is when someone says to me, "well, that's just your opinion." I am not always sure what they mean, but it feels to me like they are saying that I am the one who created this thought or idea. BUT, most of the time I am explaining or providing a thought or idea that is grounded in the findings of "experts" across time, not something I casually came up with on my own. I have pondered in depth what others that have gone before me found. I have put their ideas to test and found it worthy of sharing. I take the ideas I share seriously and the notion it is "just my opinion" seems dismissive. 

This blog is not my opinion of opinions, but a thorough examination of what many people rarely ponder, but often say and trust.

If we look at the current use of the word "opinion," we can see why people use it in this dismissive way. After all, everyone can have an "opinion" without any need to have any facts or knowledge. So, why should my opinion be superior to anybody else's opinion? We are all created equal.

An opinion piece in the news is not the news but just what someone thinks about the news. If you search "opinion,"  you find Wikipedia says "a view about something not based on fact or knowledge." So, the culture has propagated the common response most people give me, especially when they disagree with my view. "Well, that's just your opinion." It seems to put us all on the same playing field regardless of knowledge or facts.

Interesting that 250 years ago when the English language was first put into a dictionary in the USA, the word "opinion" meant "a statement or judgment supported by a degree of evidence that it is probable." This may suggest that there has been a slow erosion of the need for thoughtful support for us to have an "opinion." It seems that the idea of "opinion" has become simply personal preference based on no evidence acquired from outside our own bias as a resource of knowledge.

Certainly there is room for personal preference. In decorating we may prefer blue over red or shiny over dull. Often in the field of science there is contradictory evidence offered producing opposing conclusions. We can prefer to believe one conclusion over another. This is the case with creation vs evolution, climate change, the beginning of human life and other politically charged areas where there are opposing sets of evidence. One's opinion may be the side of an argument one chooses in competing scientific conclusions where both provide some evidence. Contrary to popular belief, science proves nothing, so there is plenty of room for "opinions" based on evidence.

In both of these cases, I am quick to concede that my view is my own and more a result of preference. However, when I base my view on authoritative sources, it offends me when others equate my statement with personal preference. Such is the case with the meaning of words. When I find that the classical Greek word used in scripture is what it is and means what it means based on the scholarly background of classical Greek language, then my view is not my opinion in today's understanding of "opinion." When I take the position on topics like motivation, personality and emotion, I am standing right in the middle of years of scholars and experts who have defined what these mean. When I quote the US Constitution verbatim to explain "freedom of speech" or "freedom of religion," then it is not my personal preference but a view based on an authority outside of myself.

So, when you say to someone, "well, that is just your opinion," have you pondered what your opinion of "opinion" is? Are you so influenced by the culture that you gravitate to the norm without thinking?Are you jaded to the possibility of authoritative views outside of how you feel?  Can you accept an idea that challenges your status quo thinking without being threatened of feeling judged?

Maybe this would be a New Year's resolution that you haven't considered yet? There may be nothing more worthwhile in advancing discourse with others than clarity of understanding on your view of "opinions"?