ciphergoth: (Default)
Paul Crowley ([personal profile] ciphergoth) wrote2009-06-04 02:18 pm
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You are not entitled to your opinion

You are, I think, entitled to the right to hold and express any opinion without being shut down by the State for doing so; that is where the entitlement ends.

[Poll #1410915]
(edit: removed Harlan Ellison quote, which doesn't really express what I'm getting at here)

[identity profile] ciphergoth.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm still having trouble working out what you mean by "I am entitled to my opinion". By "allow", do you mean "not punch them"? If not just that, then what?

[identity profile] hughe.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
and what do "others" mean? fellow citezens? the government? MI5?

It's more complicated than it sounds. Sounds like there is some balance between them not harrassing others and others not physically asaulting them :)

[identity profile] ciphergoth.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 03:43 pm (UTC)(link)
and what do "others" mean? fellow citezens? the government? MI5?

Another excellent question you need to answer in order to give the phrase meaning, yes. What duties does it impose, and on whom? Beware of simply chasing the meaninglessness from one phrase to another!

[identity profile] hughe.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
but I think overall I think people have the right to be wrong. I don't think it puts any duty on anybody else. If they use their wrong and get burned (eg "in my opinion fire is cold") then it was their responsibility to research their opinions before putting them into practice. I don't think it is the goverment's responsibility to tell them fire is hot. Other people may want to, but I dont think it is a duty.

[identity profile] ciphergoth.livejournal.com 2009-06-04 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
But the point of the second article is that it's meaningless to posit a "right" that imposes no duty on anyone.