What's your controversial opinion?

[Underground Man]

Going to have to go with religion. I've read a lot on the subject, and I honestly can't think of even one real benefit to them. Any good thing they've ever contributed to society has been done in spite of religion, not because of it.

Also, democracy is a joke. Whose bright idea was it to let plebeians vote anyway (drat those ancient Greeks)? All they are going to to is elect fellow stupids and give themselves entitlements.

 

[Baradiel]

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.

 

[Underground Man]

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.

What benefits would those be? I'd be hard pressed to come up with even one that isn't just a by-product of something else that got tacked onto or exploited by religion.

 

[sageoftruth]

I believe Neo should have taken the blue pill. So what if the real world sucks? No one's complaining if everyone lives in blissful ignorance of it.

 

[Baradiel]

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.

What benefits would those be? I'd be hard pressed to come up with even one that isn't just a by-product of something else that got tacked onto or exploited by religion.

That was sortof an attempt to placate religious people. Personally, I think that being good and generous and overall a nice person, simply out of fear of Hell or a desire for Heaven, is incredibly corrupt and meaningless.

 

[Funk Engine]

Time to make people mad:

I think that the best way to help with the food crisis in Africa is to stop sending them anything. It is a biological fact that as long as there are food surpluses, there will be population increases. Sending food to Africa creates a momentary food surplus, which in turn creates a small boom in population. The best solution is to stop sending them food. Sure, many will die, but eventually the population will drop down to a manageable level, and they'll be find. If we must help them, send them the means to produce, not just the food itself. Also, the world as a whole needs to stop producing surpluses. That's the entire reason behind overpopulation. If we produce enough food to support only the people who are alive now, the population will stop growing.

If this sounds interesting to you, in a good or bad way, I highly recommend you read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Reading that heavily influenced my opinions.

 

[the spud]

I believe we should ignore ethics and morality if necessary for scientific progress.

The means are justified by the ends.

 

[emeraldrafael]

that things like this

<spoiler=The Vargas Dog>http://s3.hubimg.com/u/1188790_f520.jpg
A tied up starving dog that Nicaragua with "Eres Lo Que Lees" ("You Are What You Read") written above it in dog food

dont bother me and I would avidly support as art. hate if you will, but it makes a powerful statement.

EDIT:

Also, i was once overheard as saying a birth cap isnt a bad idea for Africa, especially if you're going to continue contributing to their welfare through foreign aid (which is hurting Africa more hten helping).

I'm not realy sure if i changed my opinion or not.

EDIT2:

nd that Micheal Vick shouldnt have been hated and fairly allowed to to be ont he cover of madden without his dog fighting past coming up.

 

[Funk Engine]

Here's one:

I think that everyone in here who is completely bashing religion is a couple fries short of a happy meal. I am an atheist myself, and I came to be that way through conscious choice. I didn't believe that the concept of some immense, all powerful deity made much sense. I'm more comfortable with the idea of random chance causing everything, and I know that's not an easy thing for some people.

However, this does not mean that I am completely against religion. Yes, many many terrible things have happened and are still happening in the names of religions, but this is the fault of the people, not the institutions. People are greedy, stupid, willfully malicious, and arrogant; the ideals behind any relevant modern religion are not. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, all coming from the same root, teach the value of loving your fellow man, helping those less fortunate, and trying to live as ideal a life as you can. Buddhism and Hinduism teach the value of charity and good deeds through the concept of karma and the hope of attaining either a higher reincarnation (Hinduism) or Nirvana (Buddhism). How are any of those principles bad?

It is my opinion, finally, that atheists who vehemently oppose all religion, even the concept of religion, are immensely stupid. They claim that a vital part of human history and culture that's been around since the days of ancient Greece, and before, is pointless and shouldn't exist, and that millions of rational, educated people are idiots simply because they happen to share a similar belief structure with such oddities as extremists and born-again Christians. In all honesty, these sort of militant atheists are no better, and often worse, than religions extremists. You are entitled to your opinions, and I to mine, and my opinion is that those of you who fit this description are raving idiots.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

I enjoy the Star Wars prequels. I happen to like episode 3 more than episode 4, but I love 5 and 6 much more than any of the other movies. Also, I sympathize with Anakin.

Halo is a fantastic game. So are all the sequels.

I'm proud to be a Christian, but I still don't care if you aren't. That's your choice.

Fox News is just another slant in news media and is just as bad as the rest of American Cable News. I happen to switch between all of them, and they all slant to their demographic.

Oblivion was much better than Fallout 3.

I love Fable 3. It was super fun and lived up to all my expectations.

I hope I didn't anger anybody too much here, I'm well aware that the above is extremely unpopular and many of you will dislike what I have to say.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

I think that everyone who talks about how anyone who believes in a higher power is a stupid, blind sheep is themselves a stupid, blind sheep.

 

[Ladette]

Despite being completely non-religious I don't believe religion is a bad thing. Furthermore, I find religion bashing to be annoying and it seems to me that many athiests treat their belief as a religion.

I believe the right to own firearms in America is a very good thing.

I believe prostitution should be legal and taxed heavily.

I believe marijuana should be legal and taxed even more heavily.

I'm very Pro-Choice.

Halo Combat Evolved is the best shooter ever and the sequels were also very good.

Dragon Age 2 was better than the original.

Oblivion is better than Morrowind.

Fallout 3 & New Vegas are better than Fallout 1 & 2.

Yay Capitalism!

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I don't know how, but saying that pony show is for kids, is a controversial statement.

Other than that, all I have to say is that I am a Conservative, and the flame storm of people fighting against the majority begins.

Believing people have proper rights and freedoms and shouldn't have to watch out for other people besides him or herself and family, crazily, is controversial.

 

[Wibble]

I believe that people would be a lot happier if they were not constantly being told they "should" be a hundred different things from a hundred different people.

 

[moosek]

Not much in terms of an actual specific opinion, but I am individualistic to the point of selfishness. Personal power is a belief that I refuse to let up.

 

[Purple Shrimp]

Here's one:

I think that everyone in here who is completely bashing religion is a couple fries short of a happy meal. I am an atheist myself, and I came to be that way through conscious choice. I didn't believe that the concept of some immense, all powerful deity made much sense. I'm more comfortable with the idea of random chance causing everything, and I know that's not an easy thing for some people.

However, this does not mean that I am completely against religion. Yes, many many terrible things have happened and are still happening in the names of religions, but this is the fault of the people, not the institutions. People are greedy, stupid, willfully malicious, and arrogant; the ideals behind any relevant modern religion are not. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, all coming from the same root, teach the value of loving your fellow man, helping those less fortunate, and trying to live as ideal a life as you can. Buddhism and Hinduism teach the value of charity and good deeds through the concept of karma and the hope of attaining either a higher reincarnation (Hinduism) or Nirvana (Buddhism). How are any of those principles bad?

It is my opinion, finally, that atheists who vehemently oppose all religion, even the concept of religion, are immensely stupid. They claim that a vital part of human history and culture that's been around since the days of ancient Greece, and before, is pointless and shouldn't exist, and that millions of rational, educated people are idiots simply because they happen to share a similar belief structure with such oddities as extremists and born-again Christians. In all honesty, these sort of militant atheists are no better, and often worse, than religions extremists. You are entitled to your opinions, and I to mine, and my opinion is that those of you who fit this description are raving idiots.

I completely agree! (except with being an atheist, I consider myself an apatheist just because it means no-one lumps me in with the internet atheists you're talking about)

edit: my controversial opinion is that marijuana should remain illegal

 

[Frozengale]

If every human being died, it would only be a good thing. I include myself in that.

Please contest this opinion, as I would love to change it.

Can I try?

If every human being died, there would be noone left to classify that as good.

Excellent point - touché. I shall attempt to rephrase to account for the problem of observation.

If there were no human beings, the world would not be in such a sorry state.

Depending on the state of space travel in humanity's future - provided we don't obliterate ourselves too soon - you can replace the word 'world' with 'galaxy' or 'universe'. Humanity is capable of some wonderful things. But for every one shining act, there's a hundred people ready to kill and steal just to get themselves ahead.

Well I mean what is to say what a sorry state is? You seem to think that one state of being for a planet is better then another. There are planets that are basically nothing more then toxic spheres of gas that can't sustain life and will eventually disappear into particles spread out across the universe. Is that planet any less sorry then the planet we have right now or that we might create someday. I assume you believe in some form of environmentalism and that we have a responsibility to the planet. But really when people talk about a responsibility to the planet what they really mean is a responsibility to keep the planet as close to the same as possible.

We change our environment just like any other creature, and yes this has consequences. But every creature that every lived changed their environment to some extent, there are probably species of plants, animals, and microbes that we will never see because a beaver decided to build a dam, a lizard decided to attack a bird, or a cow decided to eat some grass. We do change our environment in drastic ways compared to some animals, but who is to say what is a sorry state then any other. Eventually Earth will become a desecrated husk swallowed by an expanding sun. Would you say that is a sorry state? I would call it a different state then we are used to, but not any more sorry then the state it's in now.

If Earth one day had an amazingly devastating volcanic event with eruptions all around the globe at once, followed by earthquakes world wide, People might say that this is a sorry state for the planet. But the Planet has other ideas, just because it's different doesn't make it bad. It means it's bad for us and many forms of life, but that doesn't mean it's bad for the planet. I don't think humanity should ever assume they know what is good for the Universe.

 

[Rocking Thunder]

I think strict secularism should be enforced, I believe in the <a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemalist_ideology>Kemalist ideology . Removing the effect of religion on governance is a great idea, and enforcing this kind of strict secularism has effectively removed the social conservative, which is great for progress. It leaves the middle and the liberal, exactly where I think things should be. Now I am not saying that social conservatives are bad people, or are wrong, but ultimately, they only slow eventualities. Conservatives now hold the same view of liberals twenty years ago, and twenty years ago, they held the same view of liberals forty years back. The pattern has gone on for most of history, although at different rates of change. Now I am not insulting social conservatives, or religion, or anything like that, but I think that is how the world can move forward at a quick enough pace for people.