Language is a strange and wonderful thing. I was listening to the radio the other day and someone tried to berate the talk-show host about something, calling him a liar. The host goes off on a rant saying it was opinion. I’m just curious about who is responsible for interpreting whether statements are intended to be statements of fact or statements of opinion. Is it the listener or the speaker?
If I say 2+2 equals four, I believe that I am stating fact.
If I were to spout an opinion, I generally try to make that clear in most cases.
But if I were to say: “Republicans want to hand this country over to large corporations” I think it would be valid for someone to call me a liar. Now, I could probably come up with some examples of why I think this, but without explicitly saying this was an opinion, it would appear I was claiming this as fact.
Would you respond differently to different ways of putting things?
“Republicans want to control what you do in your bedroom!”
“I believe that Republicans want to control what you do in your bedroom.”
or
“Democrats want the U.S. to lose in Iraq!”
“I believe that Democrats want the U.S. to lose in Iraq.”
Just one of those things that I think about when I make a mistake and listen to talk radio.
I used to think people purposefully worded things in such a way as to create friction. Over a period of years I’ve come to the belief that many people lack the ability or possibly the desire to word things in a non confrontational or extremely opinionated manner.
In the case of political talk radio, I think the people intentionally word things confrontationally. The problem is that it seems to be seeping more and more into “normal” conversations.
Maybe it has always been that way, but it just seems to happen more often because of the people I hang out with.
Fact: My car is red.
Opinioin: My car is fast.
Fact: My car is faster than my bicycle.
Iraq.
Actually that isn’t a fact. You car and bicycle operate based on external forces (you). If they are sitting there on their own, they both won’t go anywhere.
Actually that isn’t a fact. You car and bicycle operate based on external forces (you). If they are sitting there on their own, they both won’t go anywhere.
Picky one aren’t you?
Fact: When I drive my car I go faster than when I ride my bicycle.
Headline & subhead from today’s paper (AP article published in The Post & Courier):
Diet soda linked to heart risks Study: Diet has same dangers as regular
and then the article went on to say how diet soda has no direct provable cause and effect relationship with heart risks, that it’s all correlative and speculatory.
Fact: the media prints garbage.
Opinion: the media thinks we’re idiots.
Actually that isn’t a fact. You car and bicycle operate based on external forces (you). If they are sitting there on their own, they both won’t go anywhere.
Picky one aren’t you?
Fact: When I drive my car I go faster than when I ride my bicycle.
It is just interesting that even though one person believed that to be a fact, another person can point out that in their opinion, it isn’t a fact. Which is certainly a problem when it comes to the definition of what is a “fact”. Know what I mean?
Well several posts here would have me believe that people lack the ability and or don’t believe it’s necessary to even try to be civil. Take a look at the “Guess what I did at IMLP” thread where the lady yelled across the platform and told the guy to put his cigarette out. Several people in there apparently do the same thing whenever they get a chance rather than approaching and asking nicely. That’s certainly not the only subject and or only thread this has happened in either. For the most part I think our society has lost a great deal of civility in the last 20 years…but I guess that means I’m getting old.
I understood your criticism to be that identifying either one as fast was nonsensical because neither could move of its own volition. I did not take it to mean that you considered it a statement of opinion instead of fact. Rather, I took it to mean that you were being picky about me assuming that normal people would know that what I meant was that when I drive my car I can go faster than when I ride my bicycle. If your meaning was that the statement was one of opinion and not fact then you are wrong … and that is a fact.
Fatmouse – There are statments of fact. There are statements of opinion. There are statements of fact and opinion. Statements of fact can be false. Statements of opinion can not be false unless the declarant is lying about the stated opinion because the opinion is a reflection of the declarant of the opinion not the subject of the opinion.
It has nothing to do with what “normal” people would THINK you meant from the statement. I was simply stating that while you said one statement and believed it to be fact, someone else can see that exact statement and see it as fiction. Pretty simple really.
I was simply stating that while you said one statement and believed it to be fact, someone else can see that exact statement and see it as fiction. Pretty simple really.
Not really. It had nothing to do with what I believed. You pointed out that a person who thinks or reads in an unusally odd fashion might not be able to understand my meaning therefore making my technically incomplete statement nonsensical. If your position is that what I wrote could be seen by some as fiction, then you are simply wrong. It was either a statement of fact (as people reading normally would recognize) or it was incomplete and therefore nonsensical but it was in no way a statement of fiction or opinion.
You don’t have to be right to make a statement of fact. Likewise, you don’t have to be wrong to make a statement of opinion. The difference is simply how sure you are. An opinion is a statement based on insufficient evidence to be certain that what you are saying is fact. I would say that with radio or TV news/editorial shows, it is up to the viewer/listener to know what kind of show they are listening to.
The problem there is that the hosts often describe themselves as bringing the facts to their listeners, sometimes in the same sentences that they are describing their political opinions (especially when attributing characteristics, motives, and agendas of the opposition). While you and I might understand that these hosts are being disingenous, they often have millions of listeners, many of whom have demonstrated an inability to discern between factual statements and opinions.