We all know how important it is to get your facts right before you speak to anyone about anything , do we really stop and think if all the data that we have are concrete FACTS or just OPINIONS of so called intellectuals , most of who are people who go around saying whatever comes to their mind and a majority believe them on the basis of face value or reputation.
Now how do i distinguish between a Fact and an Opinion ? Let me give you a simple example :- when i say "Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Mininster of India", it is a hard fact because he officially holds this position, everybody regards him as one, but when i say that "Dr.Manmohan Singh is one of the worst Prime Ministers of India", now that is an opinion because not everybody will agree with this statement.
Each one of us has a reputation that preceeds us , be it friends are concerned or colleagues. The idea i am trying to put on the table is that most of us have some sort of Opinion on someone, some event , some place or something and when we talk about any of these we want our listeners to believe it , although what we say need not necessarily be a Fact. There is a desparate ongoing attempt by anyone talking to you to believe what he/she says, hence there is a desparate attempt by people from all walks of life to be heard, to have their 'Opinions' be received as 'Facts' by their listeners. If you have ever noticed some of those guys in your college campus who want a bunch of people to be following them all the time, you'll know what i mean. And why shouldn't they, after all if they dont create there own circle no one else will create a circle for them. Now if this circle of people is created based no mere Opinions then , the circle will definitely not last long. And here comes the need to find out what How can Opinions be converted into Facts, because if one can then it is definitely for the better.
CREDIBILITY - is the 1st thing that comes to my mind when an Opinion has to be accepted as a Fact. We would accept an economic scheme proposed by Amartya Sen, than one by Montek Singh Ahluahlia (because he has become famous for the Rs.32 per day theory recently released to the media). I mean common, one is a Nobel Laureate and the other...well he's just there to say anything that comes to his mind when faced with a question ...
On the same note , if you want to be successfull , you would want to be listening to a successfull guy who has made it big in life than a wannabe who's himself trying to make his place .This is exactly why all those books sell you know, even Steve Jobs posthumous biography will , i am sure.
PROOF - is the second and more important for most of us who are not that credible yet. If you are good at something get certified in it, if you have worked well get you manager's/employer's letter of recommendation, if you have created something of value show people how valuable it is and if you believe that something is possible , dont talk about it, go out there and 'just do it' . When i was in High School, there used to be 3 words written on our school belts 'No Words, Acts'. Back then it only made literal sense to me, today it is a whole lot more than that.
Only acts in the right direction can help you convert your Opinions into HARD FACTS.
Happy Reading to you all.
Now how do i distinguish between a Fact and an Opinion ? Let me give you a simple example :- when i say "Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Mininster of India", it is a hard fact because he officially holds this position, everybody regards him as one, but when i say that "Dr.Manmohan Singh is one of the worst Prime Ministers of India", now that is an opinion because not everybody will agree with this statement.
Each one of us has a reputation that preceeds us , be it friends are concerned or colleagues. The idea i am trying to put on the table is that most of us have some sort of Opinion on someone, some event , some place or something and when we talk about any of these we want our listeners to believe it , although what we say need not necessarily be a Fact. There is a desparate ongoing attempt by anyone talking to you to believe what he/she says, hence there is a desparate attempt by people from all walks of life to be heard, to have their 'Opinions' be received as 'Facts' by their listeners. If you have ever noticed some of those guys in your college campus who want a bunch of people to be following them all the time, you'll know what i mean. And why shouldn't they, after all if they dont create there own circle no one else will create a circle for them. Now if this circle of people is created based no mere Opinions then , the circle will definitely not last long. And here comes the need to find out what How can Opinions be converted into Facts, because if one can then it is definitely for the better.
CREDIBILITY - is the 1st thing that comes to my mind when an Opinion has to be accepted as a Fact. We would accept an economic scheme proposed by Amartya Sen, than one by Montek Singh Ahluahlia (because he has become famous for the Rs.32 per day theory recently released to the media). I mean common, one is a Nobel Laureate and the other...well he's just there to say anything that comes to his mind when faced with a question ...
On the same note , if you want to be successfull , you would want to be listening to a successfull guy who has made it big in life than a wannabe who's himself trying to make his place .This is exactly why all those books sell you know, even Steve Jobs posthumous biography will , i am sure.
PROOF - is the second and more important for most of us who are not that credible yet. If you are good at something get certified in it, if you have worked well get you manager's/employer's letter of recommendation, if you have created something of value show people how valuable it is and if you believe that something is possible , dont talk about it, go out there and 'just do it' . When i was in High School, there used to be 3 words written on our school belts 'No Words, Acts'. Back then it only made literal sense to me, today it is a whole lot more than that.
Only acts in the right direction can help you convert your Opinions into HARD FACTS.
Happy Reading to you all.
Dude, you surely are going somewhere. Well most of the things that you wrote above definitely makes some sense. The way I see it, the world is run by opinions. Even if you look in each part of your day to day, I would be sure, hardly a decimal makes the facts rest all are opinion. Opinions are not bad in themselves, they just reflect someone else's thoughts. Its us who classify them as good and bad depending our own social and moral standards which in themselves are very relative as to what all cultures we have been in.
ReplyDeleteIsn't credibility in itself an opinion, I would call it a mass opinion. Make some sense in believing it after all it’s the mass that formed it, so the chances of many people being wrong definitely reduces. :) But the overall gist which I get from your above writing is what is somewhat very close to me. I like to call it Relative Vs Absolute. Looking around I barely find absoluteness in our universe. Our day to day lives are driven by all relative metrics. And to me it perfectly make sense. It is the basis from where the comparison, competition etc. terms evolve.
In summary all I want to say is there is nothing bad with opinions, all we need to do is analyze them for ourselves and how is it going to impact us. But hey, who has all that time in our current sophisticated busy life.
Take care.