The name of the community is Unpopular Opinion. Try to list an authentic one and see what happens. It gets downvoted.
If it is unpopular and you don’t agree with it you downvote it. The community name is not “Edgy Opinions That Aren’t Mainstream That I Agree With”
If you don’t believe what I am saying to be true I’ll give you an example.
Try to post this:
Dogs in shelters should be euthanized and the meat should be used to feed various farm livestock.
That will get downvoted and you know that to be true.
Let the downvotes for this post commence!
Two problems with that. First, it’s like saying you think the world isn’t round. That’s not an opinion; you’re just wrong. Worse still, your opinion is literally the most popular take on drug addiction, informing all the moronic laws that empower cartels and cause so much unabated misery.
Seriously folks, an unpopular opinion is something like: “meat eaters will be viewed in 100 years the way we now view slavers.” That’s unpopular (and probably true). It’s also nonfactual, and therefore just an opinion.
It’s still an opinion. Opinions can be judged as wrong by those that disagree. It’s not wrong to me. I do honestly believe that addiction is NOT a disease and should not be treated as such.
The point of unpopular opinion is to voice these opinions without being destroyed in the process.
Instead, it’s basically a troll farm of shit posts.
Opinions are evaluative judgements somewhere below the epistemic threshold for facticity. Denying scientific facts isn’t “an opinion.” Worse, it’s very boring.
You’re not edgy when you claim that germs don’t cause disease. You’re just wrong. I mean if that’s what you consider an “unpopular opinion” you might as well fill this community with the autogenerated negation of all the sentences in Wikipedia.
I’m not trying to be edgy. This is my opinion. I disagree with the label. To me- it’s not a disease and I refuse to acknowledge that it is. And I never said germs don’t cause disease- I said ADDICTION is not a disease.
Period. Let it go.
Then we should rename this community to “dumb things that are obviously wrong.” Or maybe “anti science.”
You don’t have any interesting opinions — evaluative judgements formed on the basis of evidence disregarded by the majority — so you latch onto simple nihilistic gobbledygook. It’s just… pointless.
And by the way, there are tons of scientific takes that enjoy opinion status. For instance, “psychopathy is far more common than 5% and the condition should be treated very aggressively.” That’s an opinion. It’s an evaluative response to inconclusive or incomplete evidence.
I disagree. See how that works? It’s an opinion. And an unpopular one at that. But look at you proving my point! Go you!
It’s not about disagreeing with opinions in this case. That is factually wrong.
I disagree. See how that works?
Facts don’t care if you agree.
Looks like you’re starting to understand how opinions work. Now go forth into the world and let everyone know you learned something.
You know, I’m actually going to post something here, I usually just lurk around lemmy.
Because I agree with you.
Fundamentally, people can have opinions about “facts” including that those facts are incorrect.
Science has become a religion. That’s my unpopular opinion. And the scientific method is grossly misunderstood these days.
You don’t get to just say, “it’s a scientific fact” and walk away from a discussion the defacto winner.
Scientific concensus just means that a large number of people within a given field with a certain level of expertise agree on the same conclusions to any sets of data. It does not make it an absolute reality, all binding and unchallengable.
Science works best when these conclusions are continually challenged by laymen and experts alike.
Addiction in particular is not simple. And the labeling of it as a disease can be detrimental to recovery as it offers an easy out that can allow for interpretations that remove responsibility and free will.
Is that always the case? No. But I have witness to it. That’s anecdotal, sure, but that’s irrelevant to my personal experiences that form my OPINION on the subject.
It’s ridiculous to think that an approach to addiction treatment that places a burden on the choice that is involved in it is flawed and incapable of helping people.
My favorite quote on the subject came from Kurt Cobain, who once said, and I’m paraphrasing,
“Addiction is saying ‘fuck it’”.
You don’t get to choose to not say “fuck it” and cure your cancer. And while it’s certainly not easy, no one has recovered from addiction without the acknowledgement of their choice in the condition.
Maybe addiction is a disease. I don’t presume to know with certainy, but I do know that labeling it as such has hurt people in the throws of it, as much as I know it has helped some.
Anyway, I just thought you should know that you’re not alone in your position in this, even if what I’ve said isn’t in line with your point of view on the subject.
To the point of the OP, what’s the point of this sub if discussion on a particular topic is shut down with statements like “that’s not an opinion, it’s stupidity”?
Opinions can and are held upon all kinds of supposed facts. Let’s discuss them.
At least you contributed with some real effort.
Thank you! I couldn’t have said it better if I tired. And you brought up a similar point I made when I had originally posted.
A child with cancer didn’t chose to have cancer. A heroin addict doesn’t get to be in the same category as that child.
Cancer is a disease.
Addiction is a mistake made that was a result of choice.
Some people are much more susceptible to it, though. So it is a little more complicated. But I wouldn’t really call it a disease either.
Don’t worry, I have a much, much more unpopular opinion which I’m definitely right about.
The definition of disease has been progressively broadened to include anything that impacts physical, mental, emotional well-being and social functioning in a negative way. It’s lost it’s meaning and i predict that loneliness will be declared a disease any time now. That’s an opinion.
Ok, fair call. I never learned grammar.
That “unpopular” opinion is something that would get hundreds or thousands of upvotes in many other communities on Lemmy. There are a lot of opinions on Lemmy that are wildly unpopular with the general public. So what is the metric for “unpopular” exactly?