Why I Don’t Respect Everyone’s Opinion
But do respect their right to have it.
We live in a very very strange epoch. Science, facts and reason are being challenged by superstition, biblical literalism and good old fashion charlatans. As every good schoolboy who made it through 8th grade history class would know, this is nothing new. We’ve been confronted by idiots, the ignorant and those who would exploit the former since we lived in caves. What makes our era special, is that for the first time since the Age of Enlightenment, maybe since the Italian Renaissance, we have the elite and people who should know better denying scientific facts, and pushing back against the well established method of the double blind replication study. Not only are there those doing the denying, but perhaps even more dangerous, is the attitude and position taken by so many more.
They propagate an air of acceptance of all opinions as equal. Whether this is some ill-informed attempt at democratic thinking, a lack of understanding of the scientific method, or a lack of their own convictions with which to ground themselves is unclear, and probably changes from person to person. Regardless of the cause. It’s damaging.
I am not one of these people. I believe some people are wrong, and some people are right. Some people have an opinion grounded in fact or a consistent outlook, where as others are based on nonsense and voodoo.
Some people are more wrong than others. Some people I believe are wrong, but they could be right. For example, I believe it’s a bit wrong to say Andrew Luck is the best Quarterback in the NFL, where it is completely wrong to say Miley Cyrus is the best Quarterback in the NFL. Andrew Luck is a quarterback, he is talented, and he does play in the NFL, I just don’t believe he is the best. But I will be willing to debate someone who says he is. I am not, however, willing to debate someone who says that the best QB in he NFL is a 23 yr 5'5" female pop singer. So I can disagree with one persons opinion but still respect it, where I don’t respect the others.
The same applies to anybody who dismisses scientific reason. I am willing to debate somebody who says “I believe in man made global warming, but I don’t believe taxing carbon is the most effective way to tackle it. Direct incentive programs would work better.” I will not debate or respect someone who brings a fucking snowball into congress as if that proves 99% of climate scientists and literally hundreds of thousands of independent studies. And so you see John McCain is someone I will debate, where as Jim Inhofe is a dumbass.
The same applies to
- Anyone who tries to tell me that paleo is better than a balanced diet in spite of numerous independent studies showing it to simply not be the case.
- Anyone dismissing the plethora of evidence that conclusively proves autism is not caused by vaccines, who then put their children and indeed us all in danger.
- Anyone who believes in biblical literalism. We have fossils, we have history books, we have the obvious fact that a fucking senior citizen couldn’t get 2 or more of every single species on earth and put them on a boat. Especially because the boat mentioned in the bible literally would not fit all these animals, and how on earth is that geriatric supposed to have built that boat anyway.
The list goes on. But let’s get to the most important group, Anyone telling who tells us a food will cure cancer. It won’t. Eating healthy is great, and so is keeping a positive attitude. But some kale and coconut oil won’t save a dying child. And it’s about time these fucking assholes shut their mouths and stop it. Children will die when ignorant parents shun traditional proven medicine and remedies, and instead in an act of desperation follow the advice of a charlatan espousing lies and bullshit and try to save their child with Ginger.
David “Avocado” Wolfe has claimed ginger is ten thousand times stronger than chemo at killing cancer cells. What study showed that David? What independent, double blind study, testing one group of cancer patients using chemo, and another using a fucking route, showed the ginger group miraculously cured while the chemo group was decimated? I’ve searched high and low and I can’t find it. I can’t find it on your website, I can’t find it in the links you’ve posted claiming to demonstrate the proof. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are one of two things. A fucking idiot who can’t read data and shouldn’t be respected… at all, or a dangerous conman playing on the hopes and fears of desperate people. You better fucking hope it’s the former, or your soul will be weighed down with the deaths of innocent children who’s parents you knowingly deceived.
Miley Cyrus aside, that’s why I don’t respect “opinions” equally.
