There’s a bit of a trend right now to share unpopular, non-political opinions on Facebook. Here are some of mine.
- I don’t smoke and never have, but I don’t mind cigarette smoke. I do mind those who complain about it.
- Nothing ruins food like adding vegetables to it. Especially shredded lettuce… No one wants your green confetti.
- I like my meat well done. It’s not wrong because it’s my preference.
- Car alarms do nothing to prevent crime, all they do is annoy people.
- There are thousands of different religions and denominations active across the globe, yet each one claims to be the exclusive guardian of sacred truth. What are the odds? Put another way, Pascal’s Wager is a bullshit argument.
- Santa Claus is a creepy fictional character who allegedly spies on people and defies the laws of nature to extract compliance with his unspecified code of ‘naughty or nice.’ Encouraging anyone to believe in such things is ill-advised, to say the least.
- The overwhelming majority of parents abuse their children to some degree. I’m not just talking about physical punishment either. There are also the lies, manipulation, denial of free speech, and forced labor.
- All human action falls under the umbrella of economics because it all involves opportunity cost (and many other reasons beyond the scope of this list.)
- Sports are a form of entertainment and are not objectively good or bad. It’s not wrong to play them, watch them, enjoy them, or ignore them.
- Information is never a bad thing. The more we have—about anything and everything—the better.
Do you agree? If not, you’re wrong! (Just kidding.)
What are some of your unpopular opinions (preferably on non-political matters)? Leave your comments below.
One reply on “My ten unpopular, non-political opinions”
1) Democracy as we know it is an abominable system of government: the rabble chooses short-term dictators based on short-sighted policy statements at best, a desire to beat “enemy” party supporters at worst. An administrative arm of government staffed by career civil servants who are qualified and experienced in their field of expertise, and a representative arm of government elected by the populace, with circumscribed powers of veto and impeachment, would provide continuity and a focus on long-term benefit.
2) Mainstream medicine’s nosology is fundamentally flawed, as is their therapeutic approach, which well deserves the “allopathic” label. Evidence-based medicine that is rooted in biological science such as zoology should take its place; focused on prevention and on correction of chronic systemic dysfunction.
3) No-one has the right to take a human life, whether in war, abortion, death penalty, euthanasia, assault, etc. But it may be necessary: assassinations or limited incursions to prevent full-blown wars, abortions to save a mother’s life, execution of a dangerous individual where imprisonment is not an option, wilderness or battlefield triage situations, self defence. Then it should be carried out decisively, swiftly, humanely.
4) All humans are equal: no matter race, creed, gender, orientation, age, criminal status, mental capacity. I more or less fully agree on your assessment of parental abuse, Parrish.
5) All humans are fundamentally evil.
6) Which leads me to: Jesus is the only saviour, but most Christians are Pharisaical religious jerks who are as nasty as any other religious person (I was one until very recently, I guess it shows).
7) There is no perfect economic system, but a locally-contextualised hybrid of truly free-market capitalism, gift economy, and a “centrally-planned” system of benefits would work better than what we have now. By that last point, I mean a strong civil service guiding businesses in their corporate social responsibility, i.e. zero tax passing through government hands. I’m writing novels that illustrate how various such hybrids could potentially work.
8) We have to protect our climate/ecosystems/wilderness areas, but the standard greenie approaches won’t work. Ethical hunting is a better option than veganism, traditional “organic” mixed farming is better than any high-tech fixes, nuclear is worse than useless (carbon positive, for starters), and ultimately, most of our tech needs to go: we need to choose between toys or a functional biosphere.
9) The private motor vehicle is a disaster. Motor vehicles for essential services and deliveries have a place, mass commuting by cars does not. Not only is it polluting and wasteful of energy resources, but the average driver sucks. There’s a good reason why there’s so many MVAs.
10) Most people don’t know how to use Occam’s Razor, what constitutes a logical fallacy (and why several logical fallacies are themselves logical fallacies), what constitutes scientific proof (there is no such thing), what falsification is, how to live with uncertainty, and how to look past the immediately obvious patterns that humans instinctively see, and generate alternative, falsifiable hypotheses.
11) (BONUS) Most people do not know how to commit to being absolutely certain of one thing, to the point that it shapes every other thought: whether one calls this monomania, obsession, fanaticism, commitment, focus, faith, dedication; people who have this focus are the people who change the world, for better or worse.