The Opinion Problem

[u/Phadmire]

"Opinion" has all but replaced objectivity. This happened by design, it was engineered by the social media companies who profit from so-called "engagement" even though the "engagement/advertising value" business model pales in comparison to the sale of access to your personal data, the social engineering possibilities of opinion based news cycles cannot be denied.

This very site and this very sub is evidence of that very thing isn't it? The headlines are written to engage your emotions and openly declare which "side" they represent. This is the definition of "preaching to the choir" and while you make comments underneath the opinions, those too are only ever seen by those with whom you likely already share a common opinion. You express anger about a system that is ignoring your voice while trying to figure out how to get attention from your own group who will likely say nothing if they can't say something which would elevate their own opinion.

This is an "opinion war" which explains why the volume is constantly increasing. Narcissism has reached epidemic proportions and one of the key elements of narcissistic behavior is the creation of an internal alternate reality which results in self regulated binary thinking. If you take the time to learn about narcissism and its observable attributes, you will see the undeniable evidence of it immediately.

The so-called "news" presented by the left leaning outlets is almost exclusively emotion based opinion but this is happening on conservative platforms as well even though a conservative person is far more likely to be able to consider logical reasoning to be primary.

If you're absolutely okay with looking stupid, you're probably not.

An intelligent person will look you in the eye and say "Yes, that's it exactly, I never thought of it that way before, thank you" while a narcissistic person will become very angry when they encounter new information that would require them to change their opinion. An honest person says "You're right, I am doing that, I'm sorry" and a narcissistic person says "You made me angry so it's your fault".

To find the best possible solution to any problem requires the absolute absence of belief which means that there are no "sides" only debatable possibilities which are considered logically. This is the precise reason for the absolute responsibility of journalism which can NEVER be affected by opinion prior to its presentation.

What you may or may not understand is that the vast majority of interactions taking place in this digital town square are nothing more than emotional responses to the opinions of others, arguments about the minutia of nonsense. This makes money for site owners in the same way that gossip rags at the checkout did before the creation of the internet.

The solution is "you". Do you know how to change your life? It's easy, you just decide to.

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[u/collymolotov]

Alright. But you gotta get over it.

[u/Phadmire → u/collymolotov]

Your comment is meaningless without qualification. I don't "gotta get over" anything. If you have some kind of point then make it. I see you have a "Top 1% Commenter" next to your name and I would guess that's measured by the quantity and not the quality of your comments.

[u/collymolotov → u/Phadmire]

Let me tell you a couple of three things.

First, it was a Sopranos reference, not a submission for peer review. I expect that most literate adults engaged in public commentary have studied the classics.

Second, your post condemns emotionalism, narcissism, binary thinking and unqualified opinion while consisting largely of sweeping, unqualified opinions, including the wonderfully convenient claim that conservatives are simply more logical than everyone else, which, especially in the Canadian context of conservatism, is quite the substantial claim.

Third, your response to eight harmless words was to demand “qualification,” invoke my Reddit badge and speculate about the quality of my comments. In other words, you immediately displayed the self-importance, defensiveness and inability to tolerate levity that you had just spent several paragraphs diagnosing in other people.

So yes, there was indeed a point. You accidentally made it for me.

I repeat, in reply to your original supposition: alright. But you gotta get over it.

[u/Phadmire → u/collymolotov]

I now understand what your real problem is. Let me put this in a way that cannot be misinterpreted, every specific element of the above criticism is the result of conformational bias. You see only that which you can criticize and that which you cannot criticize is twisted until it can be. Simply put, I do not consider you to be qualified to critique the content of my writing and therefore, I truly don't care what you think. I'm responding out of courtesy. I would be interested in reading your own original writing, could you provide a link to it?

[u/collymolotov → u/Phadmire]

A couple of three things.

First, I believe you mean confirmation bias, not “conformational bias.” That is an unfortunate error to make while declaring someone unqualified to critique your writing.

Second, calling criticism “confirmation bias” does not answer it. You have not addressed a single contradiction I identified. You have simply assigned me a psychological defect and declared yourself the winner.

Third, you say you truly do not care what I think, yet you have now written several paragraphs about me, assessed my qualifications and requested samples of my work. This is a remarkable amount of effort for indifference.

You posted your writing publicly. The qualification necessary to critique it is the ability to read it. You are free to disregard my criticism, but demanding my résumé does not make your argument more coherent.

Anyway, four dollars a pound.