The Confusion between Opinions and Lies
The Confusion between Opinions and Lies
We’ve been looking at comments on news articles and sociable media nowadays. There seems to be much confusion between opinion and lies.
An opinion Isn’t a lie
There are two chief ways that people formulate opinions. Some will read an article or listen to the news and decide whether they think it or not. This really isn’t the ideal method to make an opinion unless you’ve got specific knowledge of the topic. But when something doesn’t make sense it always isn’t sensible! So an opinion may be formed depending on the absence of logic.
The better method is to do a little bit of research and set the details of an issue. When you have the details you are able to think about these, add your own ideas and post your opinion.
Some may elaborate on the reason why they disagree with you and try to change your opinion. Others might suggest you are lying because they can not know how you may potentially have reached your conclusion, given the facts.
A very simple example to demonstrate that the difference between opinions and lies comes from a BBC broadcast from years ago.
Were individuals lying when they said spaghetti grew on trees?
On 1 April 1957 BBC Panorama broadcast a’documentary’ about a Korean family that were seen to be harvesting a’spaghetti tree’. It was possibly among the greatest hoaxes in the history of April Fool’s Day pranks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti-tree_hoax
Very little was known about spaghetti in the UK at the time and it certainly was not readily available as it is now. Canned spaghetti was the closest anyone got to eat a pasta dish in these days.
Following the broadcast, countless audiences known as the BBC. Some asked whether it had been authentic and many sought additional information as to how they might develop a spaghetti tree of their own.
But, it had been the nation media broadcaster and several individuals genuinely believed the content of this documentary. The concept of an organisation like the BBC lying would not have been countenanced.
When talk about growing the trees started between acquaintances and friends, some did not think it was possible but others mentioned the BBC documentary. Those who believed it was possible were stating an opinion based on the’fact’ the BBC said it had been. In this instance the first way of forming an impression comes into play. Some people did not believe it was plausible so therefore did not think it. They were right. But people who did think it weren’t telling lies when they said you could grow the trees. It was their opinion based on which they were told and seen.
Think carefully about opinions and lies
Calling someone a liar on social networking or an article comments session is never going to achieve a good outcome. You might consider something to be a lie but it’s not necessarily clear why someone else doesn’t. You will know it is a lie therefore the best strategy is to determine why you think the article is wrong backed up by credible evidence.
We are living in a world where there’s an overload of information. Almost all we read and listen to has to be researched to confirm its veracity. Short of small red lights flashing each time a lie seems having half of the world take lie detector tests, our quest for the truth is never easy. As humans we do not all think in the same way, even if we’re presented with the same evidence. There’ll always be opinions and lies but our capacity to determine the difference makes for great discussion.
