Different Opinions?

Yeah, I know you’re not supposed to consider people with opinions which differ from yours to be evil or stupid. And, I really do try.

But…

This means I’m not supposed to consider people who think rape is an OK way to interact with women to be evil. Their opinion simply differs from my opinion. Right?

Just like my opinion is that it is NOT OK to make up “laws” against self defensive tools, and if you do you are violating people. How can it be otherwise?

It means I’m not supposed to consider someone who believes “taxation” isn’t theft stupid, regardless of the plain facts of the matter. Which do they not understand? What makes an act “theft,” or how “taxation” is carried out? And, once both are explained to them and they still refuse to believe “taxation” is theft, I’m supposed to not think them stupid? They might as well believe fire is the breath of fairies, as far as I’m concerned. One belief is no less rational than the other.

OK, so maybe the people aren’t evil or stupid, even if they keep refusing to change opinions that are. I understand that people get so invested in their opinions that they become immune to facts. It’s human nature. Maybe opinions don’t make a person stupid or evil until acted upon.

But how can a person hold opinions they don’t act on? How could a person’s opinions fail to guide their life? And, wouldn’t this cause people with stupid or evil opinions to act evil or stupid? How consistently does a person have to behave in an evil or stupid way for me to consider them evil or stupid?

Really, if you can pretend that people with evil or stupid opinions, who act on those opinions to cause harm to others, are not evil or stupid, you can probably justify anything.

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