Unpopular Opinions: the Chit Chat version!
 

Based on the Adventure thread of the same name, here's where you post unpopular opinions you hold that don't have anything to do with adventure games. I'll start:

I'm more afraid of getting old than dying. By "getting old", of course, I mean getting so old that I won't be able to do anything for myself anymore, and will have to live in constant, excruciating physical pain. Death would be far preferable, in my eyes.

To be honest, though, I don't really mind aging about ten or twenty more years. In fact, I think I'd look pretty damn cool with some wrinkles.

I have religious beliefs, but I also believe that it's very much possible for atheists, agnostics, and even people who hold religious beliefs different from my own to lead a good and moral life, and end up in that state we symbolize as "heaven". In fact, I know many such people, perhaps moreso than those who belong to my own religion.

I find it generally easier to strike up random conversations with people who are at least a few years older or younger than I am than to do so with people around my own age.

I believe that truth is not something we must find, but something we must create.

I refuse to believe that disco ever died.

I have absolutely no desire to boss people around, instead preferring to assume that people are intelligent and perfectly capable of making their own decisions. This is one of the reasons why the idea of having children scares me.

I don't like giving change to beggars, because even though they might need it more than I do, I find the act of begging to be so degrading that the very thought of supporting such an act repulses me. I am, however, more than happy to give change to street musicians, if I like the music they're playing.

I agree on all those things, except maybe the disco one, which I am neutral about.


I personally am also not afraid of the end of the world. I mean, if tomorrow was the end of the world, and we'd all die, what harm does it do me? I mean, I'd be dead anyway, so what's there to fear? The thing that I'd be afraid of would be surviving an apocalyptic event, and having to live in the ruins.

I try to remain neutral in discussions, or at least try to see both sides of the argument. Many people seem to disagree with that notion, not realising that I am not judging anyone, but rather try and see what the others think.


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i wouldn't really want to be incredibly wealthy.

I have no desire to be famous.

I don't think I'd have a problem with being wealthy, though.

I'd like to be famous enough to have my work make an impact and be remembered by others, but not famous to the point of being scrutinized by the media. That would suck muchly.

I believe that not having, and never having had, a girlfriend does not make me a social failure (I'm a social failure for all kinds of other reasons).

I believe that, in general, children should have married rather than co-habiting (or seperate) parents.

I'm in favour of smacking children as a method of discipline (though only one's own children, and there's a limit to what is acceptable). I'm going to get slaughtered for this.

I'm in favour of grammar schools, and against the idea that everyone should go to university (instead I support the idea of vocational courses being just as valid an educational path).

I am, in other words, a rather outdated, outmoded person. I'm certainly not about to make myself more popular with these views :P.

And, for my bonus, flippant comment: I think that the films of Stanley Kubrick are grossly overrated (at least from what I've seen).

From what I have read of Harry Potter, and the Da Vinci Code, admittedly I couldn't read much, it was not well written, and was not full of new content and ideas. The Da Vinci Code in particular, claimed to be "historically accurate" by its author, was illogical, even though, as one has to, accept the premises of the fictional universe it was set in. I will not say they were bad books, Harry Potter, is a children's book, and given its readership, it is possibly an exceptional book. The hype these books, and their movies were and are given, is far too much.

Religion, much "alternative medicine", psychics (mediums), faith-healing, etc... is most likely irrational superstitious nonsense, in many cases can be dangerous, and we would be better off without it. Children should not be subject to indoctrination, and doing so I consider to be a mild form of child abuse.

No one, as far as I know, has come up with a rational argument against abortion. When they use the term "life" it is meaningless, and the "beginning" is arbitrary. The arguments usually involve specieism, prejudice against other species.

The concept of race as it is most commonly used does not correspond to reality, and does not conform to our current understanding of biology. As such, I think it is correct to say "there is no race". Although, obviously there are characteristics that not all of the species has, and this is due to heredity.

As we understand genetics more and more, we should seriously look into Libertarian eugenics, and whether it is ethical to not offer the option to parents. It is already in use in some communities at risk of genetic disorders.

• There is no such thing as "positive" discrimination.
• The United Kingdom should not have a monarchy.
• "Hate crimes" are "thought crimes".
• Winston Churchhill was a bastard.
• I wish pain upon anyone who uses the phrase "people's princess".
• Immigration is not a huge problem.
• Islam is a problem, there is a "clash of civilisations", and we need to win.
• Television is mostly rubbish, radio and the internet is where it's at.
• Ben Affleck is a good actor.
• Freedom of speech was a good idea.
• Prison doesn't work.
• Recreational drugs should be legalized.
• The state shouldn't be involved in marriage, and homosexuals should have the same rights as anyone else.
• Israel does not have a "right to exist", no other state has, no other claims to.
• Nationalism is harmful, and I hope it dies.

I think that instead of giving homosexuals the same rights as heterosexuals, we should give heterosexuals the same rights as homosexuals.

(While making the completely wrong assumption that "the homosexual" and "the heterosexual" are binary categories of people, of course. :P)

I think that's probably a better way of stating what I meant.
The evidence is suggestive of in part a biological basis, hopefully in the future we will have stronger evidence. I do however, agree that the binary catergories of homosexual and heterosexual are probably inadequate. My stance on the issue doesn't have anything to do with orientation or attraction of people. Although we can always create our own "truth", not related to reality.

I think many people are interested in the proposition of living in a post-apocalyptic world, I certainly am, I think people like imagining others struggle. I think people prefer to continue, that's why they make up after lives. If not themselves, then they prefer the species, life, or the universe continue. I think it was in "Trainspotting", that the main character says "I choose life", I think it's safe to say that it's an advantage selected and passed to offspring, that we choose life over death, in almost all situations, even horrible ones.

Well, that is true of course. I am not really opposed to living in a post-apocalyptic world. It really depends on how I survive. I'd rather die fast and painless than slowly and suffering - that is, if I have no hope of ever getting better. If there however were a hope I'd eventually get better, I'd of course choose life. Just because I am not afraid of death, doesn't mean I don't want to live. In fact, I think I could go on and on with living if I want to.

I'm actually a very optimistic person. I never let anything get me down. I always see the light at the horizon whenever things are bad. So yeah, I'd probably never actually choose death if I was given the choice.

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I do believe people do randomly turn into Scotsmen, in my town. Or we have some kind of ghost here, because now and then a man in full traditional scottish clothing turns up out of thin air, walks along the streets of the town, playing a bag pipe.

I am not complaining. I actually like that phenomenon a lot.

The guy also vanishes suddenly, without a trace.


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I find myself being neutral and seeing two sides of an argument quite often myself. For me it's just as interesting to see what others think than just giving my opinion. But when it comes to the wellbeing of children though I tend to be quite emotional and keep on arguing to get my opinion heard.

Live and let live. :)

Dammit, I thought nobody saw me. ;)

Unpopular opinions. Hmm.

I agree that I find organized religion to be harmful. Personal belief is fine. It's when people start getting the notion that personal belief entitles you to dictate someone's life other than your own that we start having major problems.

I think several things that I find morally objectionable should nonetheless be legalized, since IMHO the "cure" is worse than the "disease". Abortion and drugs are the most notable things in this category.

I have no sympathy whatsoever for someone suffering problems born of their own bad decisions. I will certainly help and support someone who wants to make the effort fix/recover from their mistakes, but I will not feel sorry for them. I have no guilt over telling someone mature/smart enough to know better that, "You should have thought of that before you did it."

In an ideal world, I would likely be something akin to a Libertarian Socialist. (Rather unpopular opinion here in the US, anyway.)

Of course, this is not an ideal world. In the real world, people are often too stupid to know what's actually good for them. Trying to find a balance between the former belief and the latter reality makes me a bit miserable.

I think that birth control should be mandatory, and people should be screened for mental, social, and financial fitness before being allowed to have children. (We screen and check like the dickens to place kids in adoption, but any wife-beater or wastoid can screw around and pop out their contribution to the next generation's quota of badly-raised/abused children. Yeah, that makes sense.)

Women should be able to purchase clothing that is attractive, comfortable, and practical at the same time. Dressy pants that have functional pockets. Flat-soled shoes with supportive insoles and soles that aren't granny loafers. Bras that enhance and show off large breasts instead of wrapping them up in gigantic minimizers you can't wear under anything less revealing than a t-shirt. You wouldn't think that being able to look attractive without being miserable in your outfit would be unpopular, but apparently it is, since nobody sells that sort of clothing. *loud grumble*

That's the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Peace & Luv, Liz

If you want to go incognito, you have to stop raiding Step's closet!

This was fun, although many people don't really post that many "shocking" unpopular opinions. With a few exceptions though, like RLacey want to smack children and Squinky don't give beggars a helping hand. :P I think the exact opposite in both statements. ;)

I totally agree that organized religion can be harmful and I don't have an urge to be incredibly wealthy at all just like Hammerite. I can also really relate to Squinkys' opinion about wanting to be famous enough to have my work make an impact and be remembered by others, but not so that I'll be followed by the media.

Drugs should be legalised creating a controlled market.

Hiphop and rap are laughable.

The miliatary should be banned around the globe.

I think the Matrix-movie sucks enormously.

The Beatles are not an interesting band.

Modern/contemporary art is not dumb.

My grandmother died last year, deep into her 90s. She was a nurse and a heavy practitioner of preventative medicine and lifestyle. What this ended up meaning in the end is several years of debilitating "hanging on". It was sad to see. I want to go much quicker than that.

Sqinky, you got some 'splainin' to do. Could you expound on that?

It didn't. Much of the modern "world beat" music that I listen to seems to have a constant 120 bpm drone under it.

I happily give to anyone who's working for it, even if I don't sit there and consume their music, or read their hand-out magazine. I feel more confident that the money will go towards food rather than booze.

Unpopular, hmmm!

I agree that things like drugs, abortions, and prostitution should be legal and regulated, but I'm not sure these are really unpopular as much as they are controlled by the vocal religious factions that lobby the governments.

The United States is not the "protectorate" of the worlds suffering people. I mean, okay, I would give us the nod if we were doing it uniformly, but we're not--it's only applied where our economic or world-power self-interests are served. What's more, it shouldn't be "our" job, it should be the collective coalition interested in the same solutions without corporate self-interests involved. (Ironically, this goal achieved would actually serve to be in our self-interests, economically--it just takes longer and is more expensive in the near term to bother with.)

The UN is not ineffectual. That's just the Karl Roves of the world trying to turn the world against the tide of my last point.

OPEC is not for the western world to own. It's their resource! Find another way to benefit from that resource (or not become so wholly dependent on it) than taking it from them and ruling the fucking world. Give them better reasons to offer it as commerce and revenue to their world in a way that benefits their clients.

Bicycles do indeed belong on the street, and not on the sidewalk, you fat bastard in the Chevy Subdivision.

The urban real-estate market in the western world (at least in the US) is bloated and self-destructive. It's destroying the middle-class. I both hope it collapses, and fear when it does.

</idealism>

Oh, a couple more slightly less weighty ones I forgot to mention, that I was reminded of from the recent Movies thread:

I think Blade Runner is very overrated. While it has some good individual scenes (basically anything with Roy Batty in it) the whole is a poorly edited and convoluted mess.

I think Tolkien is also overrated. I enjoyed the LotR films far more than I enjoyed the books, because the films unearthed the actually interesting story and universe that was hopelessly mired and ruined by the morass of overdone and ponderous descriptions and asides.

Peace & Luv, Liz