Thread: Ki is Kindness.
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Old 12-13-2010, 08:00 PM   #101
lbb
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Re: Ki is Kindness.

Quote:
Carina Reinhardt wrote: View Post
And Demetrio all opinions do deserve respect
Well, yes -- if they really are opinions; that is, they are a personal perspective on a matter that has no factual basis for determining the truth. It is my opinion that chocolate is the very best kind of cake; if your opinion is that the very best kind of cake is vanilla, your opinion is equally valid and worthy of respect as mine.

If, however, you make a statement about something that has a basis in fact, you can't call it an "opinion" and thus shield it from scrutiny and challenge. If I say that 2+2=5, and when challenged, then claim that this is my opinion and deserves respect, I'm just appropriating and misusing the term "opinion". The same is true of the definitions of words, as I explained in an earlier comment. While the meanings of words aren't as unambiguous as simple arithmetic, they're also not infinitely variable, and particularly not variable on the user's whim. I can't simply use the word "banana" to mean "wineglass", and then when challenged make some tenuous connection that bananas are curved and so are wineglasses, and both contain something that nourishes, and therefore "banana" can mean "wineglass", and then call it an "opinion" and say it's worthy of respect. Language is flexible, but it doesn't work that way.

‘When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'
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