A Matter of Opinion

As this is the last day that I will be competing at the National Phi Rho Pi tournament here in Greenwich, Connecticut (which I will blog about specifically later) I feel like it's okay to stay up a little late and blog. Especially since I haven't been blogging at all. For this I apologize.

So my teammates and I just had a discussion in regards to the world of debate, of which I will not go into detail because it doesn't really pertain to this blog directly. What it does pertain to is the matter of opinion. One of my teammates established this point towards the end of the discussion that he would like to end it because he doesn't want to offend, because his opinion is never going to change and mine is never going to change. Now when I hear this statement I laugh, and walk away. Not because I "lost" the argument, but simply because once he establishes that he is never going to change I'm simply beating the dead horse. Did he ever ask me if my opinion could be altered? No. He simply assumes it can't. Now in that discussion opinion was not altered whatsoever. Why? The easy way out is to say because I am unwilling to change, but what it really boils down to is that he doesn't present sufficient enough argument to alter my opinion.

Argumentation is about persuasion and reiterating the same points over and over does nothing to persuade. It takes logic, and you telling me why its better. Simply saying what you're doing, whatever it may be, is better and its just that. I am not told why, how, and not even given a comparison. I'm given absolutely no reason or need to change my opinion. So why would it change?

My opinion is about as malleable as titanium, but I assure you it can be changed. My closest friends can attest to these rare occasions. Simply saying that my opinion will never be changed, that's a cheap cop out. It takes a lot of work to make titanium malleable and to bend it into a favorable form, it takes work to change someone's opinion. Not just mine, and if you don't do the "work" the opinion you are trying to change will always, always remain the same.