
Opinion vs. Stupidity - zabramow
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/129847513336/opinion-vs-stupidity
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delish
An extended quote:

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During an American election cycle you will see a lot of “opinions” that looks
like this:

“The Constitution clearly gives us the right to do X. Therefore, that’s the
way it should be.”

That sounds like an opinion, right?

But it really isn’t.

Here’s why.

The Founders wisely made it hard to change the Constitution, but they did give
us the tools to do it. And we have changed it in the past, e.g. slavery.

So it is stupid to hold the opinion that we should do what the Constitution
says, no matter what, when the authors of the document had no such intention.

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I don't think he answered his question (That sounds like an opinion, right?).
Say it isn't an opinion, then what is it? If an opinion can't be right or
wrong, then an _interpretation_ can be. "the Constitution clearly gives us the
right to do X," is an interpretation that needs to be supported by evidence if
I'm to be convinced of it.

The author showed that the proposition "The Constitution clearly gives us the
right to do X" is a stupidity and not an opinion. I think that's tangential to
the more general point: interpretations need examinable evidence.

