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Originally Posted by Manbearpig
Well technically it was created by the military to facilitate the quick transfer of information during wartime. 
Hair splitting aside, I see your point. However, that's just it. As a society, we're wrong for embracing the whole "You have an opinion so you're a special snowflake" ideal. I'm not saying you are, or any of us are, I'm just saying the mentality behind thinking you're right for having an opinion rather then having a correct, factually supported opinion, is wrong.
I'll even take it a step further and play devil's advocate against my own argument. I'm a young man who loves the scientific method. Part of why I love it is because empirical data is never truly set in stone. We could discover something tomorrow, 5 years from now or 100 years from now that completely wipes out everything we know about what we consider universal truths, for instance gravity. It has happened numerous times in the past.
How do these breakthroughs occur? Well usually they start with a differing opinion. Ergo, opining in itself is not a bad thing. Challenging what stands as the authority for a subject is not a bad thing, oft times, that challenge leads to new revelations. It's completely two different things however, when one challenges the subject with a analytical and well-researched eye versus someone who opines based on a perceived expertise with limited information. The latter is what needs to stop/be addressed.
tl;dr. stupid people need to shut up and stop ruining good debates for the rest of us. |
I agree with you that many known truths are just what is known at this moment and those truths could change. At one time everyone thought the earth was the center of the universe.
My general point is that people post false information on the internet all the time and then others read it and take it as true without checking the facts out,they then repost it and then others repost it until it takes a life of its own and a soon you get someone that will argue with you that it is true no matter what facts you present otherwise just because they have seen it posted over and over by people they think are smart. We see it on this forum all the time about car related myths.