Originally posted by Silent Master
So, you(Adam) think only certain people are allowed to have opinions. that explains a lot about you.
Perhaps his is unrelated to what the conversation has been about. But I do think that there are different levels of importance of opinions on different topics. Most democracies do agree with that to some degree, the US is a particularly strong example with its federal nature, where it says the opinions of people that live in an area locally are more important to decisions in that area than those of other areas.
We can also see it when decisions are made by the legislative and they ask for the testimony of experts and those directly affected, so for example agricultural policy is generally done with input from farmers or farming lobbies, giving their opinion more weight and value.
I am personally not opposed to extending that further in some personal areas, so for example, since abortion particularly affects the people that have to carry he pregnancy, I believe their opinion on it should be given more weight, similarly with trans issues in regards to surgeries, or to take another example, a military draft that is set up to only affect young men should be more based on their opinion regarding it, rather than old men deciding that they want it, or perhaps women deciding that it seems like a good idea to have men drafted.
This doesn’t mean that other people’s opinions on any of the topics are worthless, it’s just about weighing them somewhat, which we already de facto do in a lot of areas.
Arguing the validity of opinions here is dumb, Surt is being purposefully obtuse and it’s just additional “we don’t like each other” and the two sides complaining back and forth.
However, the folks described as “left” (or Alt-left or whatever Scribble Bibble drunkenly opted for in order to further push a fight) is closer to the actual truth. Everyone is allowed to have an opinion. No one is arguing otherwise, Team Republican.
Artol pretty much nailed it. When it comes to experiences and knowledge, some opinions carry more weight than others. This should be crazy obvious.
Originally posted by ArtolI think that line of thought eschews all sensible understanding of the implications of the potential of conscious life.
I think a fair amount of people against abortion don't believe that fetuses are human beings yet and might not use the term "children" to describe them. Others of course think that the bodily autonomy of a person trumps the right of the fetuses to continued sustenance. Or a mix of those two.