What's your controversial opinion?

[Tharwen]

As LawlessSquirrel said, my most controversial opinion is that being a paedophile is not a bad thing in itself. It's involuntary and does no harm.

If, however, you try to act on your desires, that is wrong. That can (almost) never be anything less than taking advantage of someone who hasn't made an informed decision about it.

I suppose there's also another one I have which is that different sexes and sexualities are just things that we find attractive, not absolute limits on the types of people we are able to like. I mean that a gay person is essentially just biased towards men in the same way that lots of people are biased towards red hair, for example.

 

[FarleShadow]

That Democracy is a joke, because, really, have you met the majority of most countries? If they're not drinking themselves stupid or worshipping celebs like gods, they're just working deadend jobs and stagnating.

And people think this is the best system? HAH! Its a joke. I wouldn't trust the majority of people in a X-factor competition, let alone the formation of a fucking government.

 

[Agayek]

There's really nothing that's universally offensive/controversial.

That said, in US society, the ones that have caused the most arguments for me are:

First off, I am against the entire concept of organized religion. If people come to believe in some higher power on their own initiative, great, but I despise the organizations that promote them. Mostly because they encourage the lack of understanding. The fundamental nature of religion is that you do not question your faith, and that is something I cannot forgive. Everyone should always question everything they believe in. It's the only way to progress.

Second, gay marriage. I'm firmly in the camp that it's nobody else's business and anyone who wants to stop two gay people from being married needs to fuck right off. It doesn't bother or affect anyone, in any way, shape or form, so it makes absolutely no sense to deny them. This one is quite a bit less controversial on this site, but I've got a number of family, family of friends and casual acquaintances that argue with me about it.

Third, morality. I am very much of the opinion that there are no shades of grey. Any given act is either right or it's wrong, with absolutely 0 middle ground. The "rightness" of an act can easily be determined by one factor: Does it bring harm (physically, fiscally, or to their freedoms) to someone who did not choose to be involved? If the answer is yes, the act is morally wrong. If the answer is no, it is morally right. Any arguments to the contrary are inherently invalid, as they assume a person has a right or obligation to impose their thinking on another.

Finally, Israel the country should not exist. The creation of the state of Israel was both morally bankrupt and in violation of several international laws. The Zionists needed to shut the fuck up and they all need to leave Palestine alone.

 

[Rewdalf]

I think that ADD is an excuse for teachers and parents to drug their kids into calming down...

While I acknowledge that certain serious cases of ADD exist, I think it's goddamn ridiculous that more than half of the middle school studens in my school are taking ADD medicine because their elementary school counseler diagnosed them...
My elementary school counseler diagnosed me with ADD, except instead of going to the doctors that the school was trying to send us to, my parents took me to our doctor, who told us that the diagnosis was a load of bullshit.
And look at me now. I'm perfectly fine.

I've got more controversial opinions as well, mostly regarding religeon and how I think it's ridiculous as well, but I don't want to get into that discussion...

 

[Agayek]

-snip-

100% agree, with one exception. Religious institutions are very much responsible for many of the horrific and otherwise negative things "religion" has been held accountable for. The very concept of organized religion encourages blind faith and obedience, making it several orders of magnitude easier for one persuasive nutjob to commit atrocities the likes of which we cannot fathom.

The biggest problem with religion (including atheism, but it most certainly is a religion) is blind faith. It doesn't matter what you believe; if you are unwilling or incapable of accepting that you might be wrong, you are just as harmful as the Westboro Baptist Church.

 

[Rewdalf]

That Democracy is a joke, because, really, have you met the majority of most countries? If they're not drinking themselves stupid or worshipping celebs like gods, they're just working deadend jobs and stagnating.

And people think this is the best system? HAH! Its a joke. I wouldn't trust the majority of people in a X-factor competition, let alone the formation of a fucking government.

Aw crap, you reminded me of yet another controversial opinion I hold.
I'm in the same boat as you buddy, especially regarding voting.
In America, you're allowed to vote for whoever the crap you want for whatever reason!
Hah!
Sometimes it's a goddamn popularity contest!
And why does everyone align themselves with either of the two extremes?
I'm not a Republican or Democrat. They both have good ideas, and they both have god awful ideas. Why can't we just take the best of both?
And don't get me started on religion...
Should religion be a major decider as to who gets elected president?
HELL NO! He's being hired to lead a goddamn country, not comfort people with fairy tails!
That is all.

 

[Ikaruga33]

If someone commits a crime, their punishment should be equal and fitting to the crime.

Religion holds back progress, and is an example of human weakness. It has its benefits, don't get me wrong, but it restricts the human trait of curiosity. "How was the Earth created?" "I don't know. Lets go with magic." "Shouldn't we try and apply reason and logic to this-" "MAGIC!"

If you believe something, solely because you've been told to, whether its a religion, a political theology, or something else, you are an idiot. Find the facts and make your own opinion.

Oh, and democracy never truly works.

Can you think of a better goverment system?
Not flaming just curious

Also I feel sorry for pedos
A pedophile is someone who is born with a sexual fetish they can never satisfy without a horrible guilt trip and can never confide in someone about for fear of bullying

A child molester is a horrible person who ruins a kids life

In short theres a diffrence between pedos and molesters

Also I think gods an absolute murdering prick and satan is a good guy for giving eve the apple and thus the miracle of the descision to decide your own morals

 

[Kakashi on crack]

I believe in god, but not in religion, and when it comes to Abortion I'm pro-both.

I get wierd looks for both of them.

 

[Hawk eye1466]

Well since there's been a thread that asked what opinion you had that others disagreed with, I'm taking it a step further. What opinion do you have that might cause outrage? (game hate when among said game's fanboys not withstanding.) If you feel the need, spoiler it, and put in the spoiler tag who it may offend.

Spoiler: devout religious people

I want to preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of culture and tradition, and for that reason, I do believe that various religious practices and ceremonies should continue due to their traditional and cultural value. However, while tradition can be important to maintain the identity of your people (If you're that kind of person) I do feel that when it comes to logical and scientific decision making, religion should not be factored, and until it is removed as a factor from important decisions like this, humanity is being held back. This can range from decisions of logic and safety, like the use of condoms, to steps in science such as Stem Cell research. While I appreciate the philosophical and moral aspects of this, the religious aspect of such an opinion is only getting in the way of dealing with it reasonably. I would say that the best solution would be some kind of checkbox when donating sperm, or eggs to a fertility clinic. Removing the emotional attachment a pregnant woman might feel towards the life growing inside her will help I realize it sounds a little harsh, and am only stating it as a step in the right direction. If I had to give a historical example, I would point out how several interpretations of religion forbade the dissection of humans, and it was only with the founding of the Greek city of Alexandria that things slowly came about to a more logical point of view.

It isn't my intention to pointlessly offend, and I have tried to state my argument in a reasonable way, suitable for a level headed debate.

Edit: Also, the forum posting button freaked out on me, I don't know if it'll mess stuff up.

Actually the last time I checked it was awhile ago but the Catholic church actally supported a certian type of stem cell research the kind that doesn't kill a human embryo or something like that they are only against it when it kills a human life. (I think, again I heard this when I was a little kid and it was awhile ago)

 

[Kakashi on crack]

Can you think of a better goverment system?
Not flaming just curious

Communism!!!

It doesn't work in practice, but communism is the best governing system to ever be created (in theory anyways)

 

[subtlefuge]

People hope that if the world was free of religion it would be full of rational people. They are wrong, wrong, wrong. There are murderous idiots that would exist without religion.

You mean religion is not holding us back from becoming Vulcans?

I don't want to live in a fully rational world. Especially since the touted "rational" people can't see that religion is a tool for evil and good, not a cause for either.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I think religions should fuck right off the world. Without any religious people being hurt, except for maybe the Pope, islamists and whatever other people use religion for power and/or harm. I see no reason for why people believe in any of this mumbo jumbo other than greed (the different variants of heaven), it being hammered into their minds throughout their life (any religion and society ever) and the threat of harm (the different punishments of religions, such as hell.)
I sadly won't mention the second opinion of mine because I believe that it would be too controversial, even for this place.

I don't think you're being fair to (or perharps are just ignorant of) other religions than mainstream monotheistic religions. While yes, most religions that are popular today utilise the greed and fear of the people to gain supporters, many religions such as Bhuddism, Paganism and Hinduism (to a lesser extent), generally have a far less black and white approach that better represents reality. Also, you call religion "mumbo jumbo" and yet there is no conclusive way to prove that anything is real or not. Almost all scientific knowledge we have is taught to us by those who came before and could be a complete fabrication for all we know. On top of this, scienctific knowledge is based on empirical evidence that we have no way of assuring is correct. So clearly, people should be able to believe whatever they want because there is no sure way to know.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

Uhh. I don't think any criminals get near the sentences they should.

 

[redisforever]

I think that art, music and other creative subjects are more important that stuff like science and maths.

Yeah, I think that as well, however, my parents and the school system disagree.
Explains my failing mark in math, and my 90 in my Comm. Tech class. It's really just what used to be called film class.

 

[Ikaruga33]

Can you think of a better goverment system?
Not flaming just curious

Communism!!!

It doesn't work in practice, but communism is the best governing system to ever be created (in theory anyways)

The problem with communism is that the guy who organised the whole thing and is the communist countrys leader becomes a raging douche interested only in MOAR POWER and kills ppl to get it

Read animal farm by george orwells it explains it pretty well

Although I do suppose one way to get around this problem would be for the leader to be completely anyomonous thus meaning he cant harm others for his benefit

 

[ThePirateMan]

Yeah, sorry about that first thing, I forgot to mention that my more militant beliefs are more directed at Christianity and Islam. I havn't learned enough about the far eastern religions to make any decisive judgement on how bad/good/whatever they can really be deemed, my apologies. I didn't put a lot of thought into my post now in retrospective, which is definitely not good in an argumentative thread.

But yeah, in regard to your point, we don't know what is right or wrong here. But this whole thing seems kind of like a fairy tale to me. "There's an invisible pink unicorn somewhere in this galaxy with god-like powers!" - There would no way of disproving or proving that and I would say the same for god. Atheism seems like a better choice than, say, Christianity because in atheism you don't let this thing that you don't really know whether it exists or not dictate your life, while you do so within religions. I don't see any reason to believe in something that could very well be completely made up.

 

[Oilerfan92]

That religious people should shut the fuck up and keep it to themselves.

 

[Dango]

Science has not, and never will, rule out the existance of a higher power.

Despite not being religious, I believe religion is one of the most beneficial parts of humanity, and is what has caused us to progress for thousands of years.

Killing someone is never justified, with the exception of having no other alternative to saving another's life.

Edit: This too:

Prison should be a place of rehabilitation not punishment. That only breeds contempt.

 

[FarleShadow]

Aw crap, you reminded me of yet another controversial opinion I hold.
I'm in the same boat as you buddy, especially regarding voting.
In America, you're allowed to vote for whoever the crap you want for whatever reason!
Hah!
Sometimes it's a goddamn popularity contest!
And why does everyone align themselves with either of the two extremes?
I'm not a Republican or Democrat. They both have good ideas, and they both have god awful ideas. Why can't we just take the best of both?
And don't get me started on religion...
Should religion be a major decider as to who gets elected president?
HELL NO! He's being hired to lead a goddamn country, not comfort people with fairy tails!
That is all.

err, I think all the reasons you mentioned are covered under what I said, as in, the majority of people are fucking stupid. Why would anyone sane care what a bunch of drunk, militantly religious/non-religious, fucking retards think about how a country should be run?

I consider myself a conservative liberal, as in, I believe that between one/two(Or more) consenting adults, you can do anything you want. just don't expect me to pay for it!

 

[Death_Korps_Kommissar]

Can you think of a better goverment system?
Not flaming just curious

Communism!!!

It doesn't work in practice, but communism is the best governing system to ever be created (in theory anyways)

I think it could work if it was implemented without every single country on the planet trying to destroy it. Cuba could have done well if it wasn't for the US embargo on it, I think.

I think marriage is an outdated, stone age Practise that has been used to imprison women for millennia and dearly wish it would go out of Practise. Stay with one person for ever, that's cool, but don't expect anything special.

I think there should be an end to organised religion as it only seems to cause more death than it's worth. Divide all the churches wealth amongst the poor, they don't need all that luxury. Believing in god is fine, just for some reason when they all get together they get urges to murder people :/

Nixon wasn't that bad a president and Regan was an abomination.

Polygamy is fine.

Prison should be a place of rehabilitation not punishment. That only breeds contempt.