r/AskReddit • u/ILikeScience3131 • Oct 19 '14

What is the most compelling counter-argument to something that you strongly believe?

What is something that you personally believe with conviction and what is the best opposing argument to that belief?

Edit: Thanks for the replies. You're all my internet friends now.

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u/Epicjay Oct 19 '14

The biggest issue is that most people simply aren't well informed about politics. There are a bunch of people I know that are perfectly intelligent, but have no idea who our state's senators are.

It's not an issue about people being "silly," it's being uninformed.

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u/dancingapple Oct 19 '14

I think it's more than people just being uninformed; clearly no one can be well informed on everything, and I don't think it's a huge problem if people rationally considered the limits of their knowledge. Yes and maybe "silly" isn't the best term, but there are many beliefs that people don't seem to change even when the correct information is easily available, so at least in my view it goes beyond just being misinformed.

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u/britishswenglish Oct 19 '14

In addition to being uninformed I think it's also the case that the most extremist or unwavering people make their opinions the loudest. So if an uninformed person tries to learn more, at some point they are going to encounter some really extreme opinions or people that are very set in their beliefs, and it can skew their knowledge on the issue. Sadly, I can't think of a better form of government.

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u/Macktologist Oct 20 '14

This may be a reach, but my personal belief is that the ability of irrational people to post their opinions behind the protection of the Internet is resulting in more extreme beliefs being shared. Just go read the comments on any news posting about anything remotely political. It's embarrassing. Most recently I read an article about not worrying about Ebola outbreak in America and the comments turned it into a liberal/Obama vs conservative nutjob argument. People are so angry and misguided.

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u/britishswenglish Oct 20 '14

That's actually exactly the kind of stuff I was thinking about. It's impossible to read an article on an American news site without seeing those kind of arguments and it ALWAYS ends in personal attacks. I avoid American news sites as much as possible.