I am supposed to respect these people's opinions?

[Bjorn Against]

We are constantly being told that it is important to respect the opinions of others. In general this is good advice, but there comes a point when a person's opinions are just too batshit crazy to be respected.

Why should I respect the opinions of a group of people who seriously believe that if we don't stay in Iraq the terrorists are going to come over and convert us all to Islam? What kind of crap are these people smoking? They honestly believe that a small group of people with no real military are so powerful that they can move into our country and forcibly convert three-hundred million people to Islam? Hollywood could never come up with a story so absurd and they are writing fiction, yet many Republicans are stupid enough to believe this is really a serious threat to our nation. Why should I respect the opinions of anyone who has lost this much touch with reality?

Why should I respect the opinion of any person who believes that it is murder for scientist to research stem cells, but seems to have no problem throwing those same stem cells in the dumpster? We have people dying from serious illnesses, but it is murdering embryos to help these people so we can't do that. Of course no Republican actually wants to spend the money to turn one of these embryos into their precious snowflake babies, so they just throw the embryo in the dumpster and brag about how much they value the sanctity of that embryo's life while it gets sent to the landfill. Why should I respect the opinions of anyone who is stupid enough to believe that the best way to protect the sanctity of life is to keep throwing things that could provide life saving research into the dumpster?

Why should I respect the opinion of anyone who says "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here"? Do these people realize that when they drop bombs people and kill off members of people's families that they just may be creating more enemies? Imagine if these people applied their foreign policy to their everyday lives. "Oh that person walking down the street looks threatening. Maybe he never actually threatened to attack us, but he might. So lets punch the fucker in the face preemptively so we can be safe from him striking back." My god, if people would take a second and think about how insanely stupid their talking points are maybe we would actually have peace in this world, but they keep insisting that the best way to keep people from attacking us is to attack them first. Why the fuck should I respect such an idiotic opinion?

And why should I respect the opinions of people who tell us that global warming is nothing to worry about? They tell us that just because the scientists say the Earth is warming does not mean that we should be concerned about that warming because the scientists are forgetting that the Earth has been going through climate cycles for billions of years. Are these people really so dumb as to think that all the scientists are ignoring climate cycles, and are Republicans so moronic that they don't realize that the Earth has changed over the course of the past several million years and not all of those changes were natural? Why the hell should respect the opinions of a group of rednecks who think they understand climatology better than any of the scientists who have put out peer-reviewed research on global warming?

And when those same people who tell me that I am ignoring the climate cycles that have been happening for billions of years also say to me that the Earth is only 6,000 years old why the hell should I even consider respecting their opinion? Goddamn that must be some potent crack that Republicans are smoking when it causes the age of the Earth to change depending on the issue they are talking about. Sorry to say I don't respect these cracked out opinions, and why the hell should I?

I respect the opinions of all kinds of people I disagree with, but there comes a point when a person's opinion is so freaking stupid that it does not deserve an ounce of respect. Unfortunately we have a huge political party in this country that is made up entirely of people who hold batshit crazy opinions, and anyone who chooses to associate themselves with such moronic opinions does not deserve to have their moronic opinions respected. If a Republican wants me to respect their opinion, well then they can regain their sanity and realize that their party's platform is made of nothing but idiotic opinions. Until they do that though, I can not respect the insane opinions of Republicans any more.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Atrios has been bitching about this for years. The Wise Old Men syndrome - lol.

[Annces]

2. Yep

Watching the republicans debate, it seems they are being held hostage to the stupid ideas, in order to get elected. I really think many of them know better.

[Bjorn Against]

3. And if they know it is stupid but they do it anyways...

then they are even dumber than the ones who don't know it is stupid.

[MnFats]

4. i think you have to take an oath of fealty to stupid ideas...

...to become a GOP office-holder or standard bearer.
...well, that's not entirely true.I know a couple Republicans who aren't insane.

[stillcool]

5. A ball of confusion

The Politics of News Media
from the book
False Hope
by Norman Solomon, 1994
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Popularized renderings of reality, however phony, supply us with shared illusions, suitable for complying with authorized itineraries, the requisite trips through never-never lands of public pretense. Privately, we struggle to make sense of our experiences; perhaps we can create some personal space so that our own perceptions and emotions have room to stretch. But the limits of privatized solutions are severe. Public spheres determine the very air we breathe and the social environments of our lives. The standard detours meander through imposing landscapes. Beyond the outer limits of customary responses, uncharted territory is "weird"-certainly not familiar from watching TV or reading daily papers. Following in the usual footsteps seems to be safer.
Confusion about politics and power denies us clues as to where to go from here. Anne Wilson Schaef has identified pivotal results of such confusion:
" First, it keeps us powerless and controllable. No one is more controllable than a confused person; no society is more controllable than a confused society. Politicians know this better than anyone, and that is why they use innuendos, veiled references, and out-and-out lies instead of speaking clearly and truthfully.
Second, it keeps us ignorant. Professionals give their clients confusing information cloaked in intimidating language that lay-people cannot understand. They preserve their "one-up" status while preventing us from learning about our own bodies, our legal rights, and our psychology.
Third, it keeps us from taking responsibility for our own lives. No one expects confused people to own up to the things they think, say, or do, or face the truth about who they are.
Fourth, it keeps us busy. When we must spend all our time and energy trying to figure out what is going on, we have none left over for reflecting on the system, challenging it, or exploring alternatives to it.
These have the combined effect of keeping us stuck within the system. And this, I believe, is the primary purpose of confusion. A confused person will stay within the system because the thought of moving out of it is too frightening. It takes a certain amount of clarity to try new things, walk new roads, and cross new bridges, ~ and confusion makes clarity and risk taking impossible."
Mass media encourage us-viewers, listeners, readers-to suspend disbelief, willingly or otherwise. Stalked by propaganda wolves in chic clothing, we are the intended sheep. Conformity is disguised with appearances of diversity-just as silence about what matters most is in no way inconsistent with constant verbiage.
-----------------------------
The pretense is that You Are There, or you have choices; the reality, much more likely, is that you aren't anywhere, and/you can choose from the choices that have already been made for you. The delusion of "choice" from an array of televised (and corporately backed) programs is parallel to the delusion of choice from an array of pre-screened (and corporately backed) presidential candidates.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In effect, "The TV newsman comforts us as John Wayne comforted our grandparents, by seeming to have the whole affair in hand.... Since no one seems to live on television, no one seems to die there. And the medium's temporal facility deprives all terminal moments of their weight."
Being numb to untoward events is in sync with being passive. For mass media, this is a perfect fit. Television, a powerful number, asks that we do nothing-"don't touch that dial"-except go out and buy things. Everything is well-produced, including the latest war; especially one made in the USA.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media_control_propaganda/PoliticsNewsMedia.html

[Quantess]

6. I completely agree.

[LWolf]

7. You don't have to respect the opinion.

You should respect the right to have an opinion that is different from yours, however.

I think it is not just ok, but vital, when discussing opinions, to ask for the evidence that backs up the opinion. What, exactly, is the opinion based on? What evidence is left out when the opinion is formed?

If people want to share their opinions, they should be ok with giving the source of their opinions.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Yes, I absolutely support the right to have an opinion...

But Republicans tend have very stupid opinions, so I don't have a problem calling them stupid opinions. They have the right to say whatever they want, but they need to be challenged when they say something that makes no sense. And yes sources are nice.

[angrycarpenter]

9. I respect no one's opinion just because they have it

Few if any opinions are based on fact alone. Somewhere in any opinion is an element of assumption. There is never a true opinion, only an opinion of the truth.

[bahrbearian]

10. Its called Christian Meth.

[Bjorn Against]

12. ...

:spray: :rofl:

[cgrindley]

11. Don't respect opinions, respect the right to have an opinion unless

that opinion itself runs contrary to the basic concepts of human rights that we hold to be true.


If people are going to have stupid, uneducated or irrational opinions, then they should get used to having their feelings hurt. Nothing in the constitution protects anyone from hurt feelings.

[WinkyDink]

13. Who says this? I don't respect the opinions of non-readers, for starters.

Stupid is as stupid does.