...5 October 2012, 6.28am AEST No, you’re not entitled to your opinion AUTHOR 1. Patrick Stokes Lecturer in Philosophy at Deakin University DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Patrick Stokes does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations. The ABC’s popular Q And A show revolves around opinion. But not all opinions are of equal value.ABC TV Every year, I try to do at least two things with my students at least once. First, I make a point of addressing them as “philosophers” – a bit cheesy, but hopefully it encourages active learning. Secondly, I say something like this: “I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion.’ Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one to a close. Well, as soon as you walk into this room, it’s no longer true. You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to what you can argue for.” A bit harsh? Perhaps, but philosophy teachers owe it to our students to teach them how to construct and defend an argument – and to recognize when a belief has become indefensible. The problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing to argue is somehow disrespectful. And this attitude feeds, I suggest, into...
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...convention by preceding large statements with phrases such as “Ladies and Gentleman,” this gives the reader the illusion that the writer is presenting a speech to them by including such casual comments. This will help to draw the reader into the text and allow them to view the opinions presented in the text in a more empathetic way. This choice of language would be very successful in convincing readers of the author’s opinions as they are made to feel as if the writer is presenting them with this information personally. The author chooses to use emotive language to help support and emphasise his opinion on whips in horse racing. He achieves this by using very graphic words to instil with the reader how unacceptable the actions of those he opposes are. Use of words such as “barbaric,” and “cruel,” convinces the reader to feel hostility to those who would do such things. This use of emotive language would be very effective in convincing the reader of the writer’s opinion as it creates an emotional appeal to the reader which allows them to respond more empathetically to the ideas that the author represents in the text. The author of this article is able to, through the choice of language to support and emphasise his opinion, achieve the effects of creating a more...
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...Public Statements of Opinion The first amendment protects the right of people to have and share opinions. People speak their minds (unfortunately not always WITH their minds) knowing that the freedom of expressing their beliefs is there. The information gets published and it becomes available to the public through television, radio, internet, etc. and it ranges from sports outcomes to new gossip about the presidential election campaigns. The unfortunate part of all this is figuring out which opinions are worth taking in as reliable and valuable as this bulk of information comes from people from all over the world with different environments and issues that filter their views. Not everyone shares the same views and not all of the important information floating around will ever seem valuable, but people need to get their priorities straight and acknowledge what is really going on. The media is filled with random opinions of random people from random places and random backgrounds. So which ones do you trust? The people with the highest education can be reliable with technical facts, but what about personal views? Do you trust the opinion of a renowned physicist when he makes a comment about a “true” religion? Is a mathematician the best person to comment about how abortion is wrong and that it should be illegal? You have the right to creating your own views and choosing to not believe any other opinions. Everyone is allowed an opinion and the fact that the...
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...FAIRNESS OPINIONS IN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Anil K. Makhija* The Ohio State University Rajesh P. Narayanan Ohio University April 11, 2007 ____________________________________________________________ __________________ Abstract Fairness opinions provided by investment banks advising on mergers and acquisitions have been criticized for being conflicted in aiding bankers further their goal of completing the deal as opposed to aiding boards (and shareholders) by providing an honest appraisal of deal value. We find empirical support for this criticism. We find that shareholders on both sides of the deal, aware of the conflict of interest facing advisors, rationally discount deals where advisors provide fairness opinions. The reputation of the advisor serves to mitigate this discount, while the contingent nature of advisory fees appears to have no impact. We also find support for allegations that fairness opinions are sought by boards for the legal cover they provide against shareholders unhappy with the deal’s terms. JEL Classification: G34, G24 Keywords: Fairness Opinions, Mergers and Acquisitions, Investment Banking ____________________________________________________________ __________________ *Corresponding author: Anil K. Makhija, 700 E. Fisher Hall, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210. Tel: (614) 292-1899. E-Mail: Makhija.1@osu.edu. We are grateful for comments from Angie Low, Brian Nocco, Robert Rosholt, and René Stulz,...
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...Public Opinion Important? During the eighteenth century the notion of the “Public Opinion” arose from the several important historical trends, particularly in growth of literacy, expansion of the merchant classes, the Protestant Reformation, and the circulation of literature enabled by the printing press (Donsbach, 2007). In early years, Public Opinion is mainly use for political purposes. Public Opinion are two different concepts; Public meaning the people or the representation of the whole people. Opinion on the other hand, is distinguishing a matter of judgement based on facts. (Donsbach, 2007). Intertwined with each other, Public Opinion is combined view of a defined population, such as a particular demographic or ethnic group (Davinson, n.d.). Public opinion is important; because it is how regular people can be heard (The Gallup Poll Organization, 2007), in a Democratic country like the Philippines the people is the vital source of power, they are the ones who elect and the one to choose the government body of the country, thus, the opinion of the people is very important in the sense that, in order to be a good and productive government, you should know what the people need, what the people wants and what the people think and judge, for them to know how to act according to what the public perceive. As an individual, I believe that public opinion is important not only for the society but also for each individual that is living in it. Through the opinion of the...
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...citizens. He believed that the knowledge needed to make educated decisions was not easily accessible to the public, and even if it was, the general public was neither interested nor involved in the political process to give a strong opinion. Lippmann portrayed a government that was out of sight, reach, and therefore mind. Since the government may seem hidden or concealed, many fail to see the steps or processes that are involved in policy making. In turn, not being able to fully observe the governmental system would discourage citizens from believing that they are able to have any significant impact as an individual. The idea of not being able to witness or influence an issue in politics will consequently lead to the entire issue being tossed out as something pertinent to an individual, and he or she will not process the idea any further. Even if a person was interested in policy and sought out political truths, Lippmann believed that most citizens were incompetent and that it would be more logical to leave the important decisions not up to an average citizen, but instead an elected official or expert. John Dewey was a Philosopher, Psychologist, and subsequently a teacher. He believed that the lack of success or progress of the public opinion was not due to the incompetence of the citizens, but instead the lack of resources that were provided to the public. John Dewey, being the positive and hopeful person that he was, believed in the possibly of reform, through better education...
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...Public opinion is defined as the views prevalent among the general public. Some researchers asked several different people about the monetary control bill of 1983. Some said they favored the bill, some said they did not. Little did they know that the monetary control bill was actually nonexistent. This is due to public ignorance. Polls have a way of manipulating the answers of people by wording the questions the way they want the answer to go. The questions may focus on one side of an issue at the expense of another. Also, polls are manipulated easily due to not being very educated on the topic and not having a passion for it, as David Moore stated in “The Opinion Makers.” Moore said they weren’t accurate all the time, for example, when they...
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...Judgement The statement I decided to disagree with was under "Judgement" and this statement said "If society believes a behavior or a belief is morally wrong, it is a good idea to adopt and not challenge that belief." I strongly disagree with that. I truthfully believe that if a person has a strong belief on something, they should stay with it. No matter what it is. I don't think anyone should have to change their belief(s) just to fit in with society. It's your belief, therefore anyone else's opinion should be irrelevant. A lot of times with beliefs, you won't be alone with them. There will usually be someone right there with you who believes the same thing or something close enough to your belief. The biggest example that I can think of has to do with sexuality. A lot of people believe it is wrong. A lot more people argued for a long time about gay/bi/lesbian couples getting married. Eventually, thankfully, enough people stood up for themselves. Even more importantly; their beliefs. It's truly amazing to see how people standing up- and enough of them at that- get what they believe. Standing up for yourself is hard. These people went through a lot of work, shame and social problems getting to where they are today. So on June 26, American finally took the first step and made gay marriage legal. Many people probably hate that day, for a number of reasons. But that's okay, cause they aren't involved in it and it isn't tampering with their own personal beliefs. Overall, I do not...
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...means that any individual has his or her own opinions about certain things regardless of being right or wrong. He advances in saying that it is a phenomenon known as “a natural defense mechanism to avoid that cognitive dissonance.” Keohanes explains that in order for a something to “backfire,” an individual whose opinion about a fact is proven wrong he or she gets defensive and believes they’re even more right than they were before. An example he gives of this in his essay is when Keohane describes a situation in which a group of people were asked if they believed there were WMDs in Iraq. Of all those who answered that they believed there was WMDs in Iraq, would not accept that this was in fact a lie and instead believed that there WMDs were in Iraq even more; regardless of the correction. This situation proves the concept of “backfire,” because it demonstrates the idea that the more an individual has to defend their beliefs or opinions, the more they in turn believe it to be true. He implies that people naturally defend themselves and put up that wall is because of their ignorance. Further stating that, “most of us like to believe that our opinions have been formed over time by careful, rational consideration of facts and ideas, and that the decisions based on those opinions, therefore, have the ring of soundness and intelligence.” This is a valid point and is of great importance because as he later states “we often base our opinions on our beliefs, which can have an uneasy relationships...
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...MGMT 591 11/9/2014 Case Study: Building a Coalition Dr. Anne Hallcom Case Study: Building a Coalition for Woodson Foundation The Woodson Foundation, a large nonprofit social service agency, is teaming up with the public school system in Washington, D.C, to improve student outcomes. It appears the schools have problems with truancy, low student performance and crime. The teachers are discouraged to help students due to the disrespect and behavioral issues in the classroom. The turnover rate for the best teachers is high, they tend to leave and go to schools that aren’t as troubled (629). Part 1: Group Development The organization has five stages of group development. In the forming stage they have identified that there is a problem, now the plan is how to drive results. The first stage is bringing the plan forward and forming an executive development team. The team will consist of an HR representative from Woodson, the schools, and the NCPIE. This team’s responsibility is developing an operating plan for improving school performance. It is expected that representatives from both teams participate. Once this stage is finalized they can move on to the storming stage. The storming stage will consist of conflicts. This is an aggressive way to get to know each other a little better. Once the team has gotten over differences they start the norming stage. In this stage they realized although they have differences they still share things in common. The cohesiveness is...
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...In a world where teenagers are often cast aside as rebellious, disrespectful people who can’t do anything beneficial, media seems like the one place that we’re heard. Our generation lives in the age of technology and the avenues through which our opinions can be expressed are becoming greater each and every day. The media is one of the most influential ways to make a difference, and there truly is a way for everyone to express their feelings. There’s art, literature, videos, photography, giving each person a way to be artistically heard. Media gives an individual who may feel like a speck in the world, a bullhorn so they can be heard by millions. Media doesn’t just reach to the people who it was originally directed to, it can reach to many different groups of people and eventually the world, making it an empowering way for your opinion to be heard. It seems like whenever there is a political debate or the news is on, issues regarding schools are constantly brought up. School reform is something that our government is always trying to regulate, but are these politicians always the best qualified to make the decisions about schools? Students are never asked their opinions on the reforms and laws that are directly impacting their education and consequently their lives. Documentaries are frequently made regarding issues in schools, but they are from the point of view of people not directly involved in the issue, giving it an outside clear view on what the issue truly...
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...Some people say that the Internet provides people with a lot of valuable information. Others think access to so much information creates problems. Which view do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. There is no doubt that the Internet is one of the greatest humankind's inventions of the last century. It is fast and easy way to get a lot of valuable information. However, some people believe that the Internet creates many problems. From my point of view I think that the Internet brings us advantages as well as disadvantages. First of all, I think that the Internet brings us many benefits. People can have access to the latest news, weather, traffic, bid-and-asked quotations, etc. Another important benefit is that the Internet is a great means of communication. A few years ago it was rather difficult to imagine that it would be possible to communicate with people from all around the world. Students have the opportunity to speak to the professors from prestigious universities, ask their opinions and extend their range of interests. People have the opportunity to communicate with the people from other countries, find out their customs, traditions and even visit each other. I think that the Internet makes our world smaller and friendlier. We' ve got the chance to learn more about the world's history, our forefathers and gain more knowledge. From the other hand, many questions and difficulties arose with the appearance of the Internet. For example...
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...MKT420 HW1 Article Summary Omar Salim AL-Ghamdi 201182370 The article: Why Customer Satisfaction Still Matters How attitudes, opinions and beliefs come together to form the basis for brand loyalty Perhaps the most disruptive of ideas to hit the market research community in the past several years has been the notion of ditching the long relied upon “customer satisfaction” model that researchers have leaned so heavily upon for years. A wave of recent methodological research has suggested that our five-point, Likert-scaled question “How satisfied were you with your experience?” no longer cuts it. It just doesn’t do an adequate job of predicting future customer spend. This attack has principally been led by proponents of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) method, which argues that it’s not satisfaction that matters, but rather, loyalty. According to studies by NPS architect Satmetrix, utilizing the assigned loyalty metric of how likely a customer is to recommend a brand or product produces predictive models that do a significantly stronger job of forecasting future brand spend than simply asking how satisfied customers were with their experience. As they rightfully argue, plenty of customers will leave a store completely satisfied with their experience, yet remain entirely unlikely to return based upon an abundance of variables that satisfaction models can’t account for. This results in retailers and service providers who sit befuddled in conference rooms across...
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...Initiator/Contributor Contributes ideas and suggestions; proposes solutions and decisions; proposes new ideas or states old ideas in a novel fashion. 2. Information Seeker Asks for clarification of comments in terms of their factual adequacy; asks for information or facts relevant to the problem; suggests information is needed before making decisions. 3. Information Giver Offers facts or generalizations that may relate to the group’s task. 4. Opinion Seeker Asks for clarification of opinions made by other members of the group and asks how people in the group feel. 5. Opinion Giver States beliefs or opinions having to do with suggestions made; indicates what the group’s attitude should be. 6. Elaborator/Clarifier Elaborates ideas and other contributions; offers rationales for suggestions; tries to deduce how an idea or suggestion would work if adopted by the group. 7. Coordinator Clarifies the relationships among information, opinions, and ideas or suggests an integration of the information, opinions, and ideas of subgroups. 8. Diagnostician Indicates what the problems are. 9. Orienter/Summarizer Summarizes what has taken place; points out departures from agreed-on goals; tries to bring the group back to the central issues; raises questions about the direction in which the group is heading. 10. Energizer Prods the group to action. 11. Procedure Developer Handles routine tasks such as seating arrangements, obtaining...
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...use this system to see where they all stand on the verdict. The old man decides to state his individuality because these factors: his beliefs, values and morals. This man has a belief that you cannot just send a young man off to possibly die without having talked about it first. He also made this decision based on the context on the situation. He knew some of the people in the room would be too scared to voice their own opinion. Others people’s belief though in the room are not in the right place. Some are more worried about a baseball game or money. Others are basing some things off their background such as the one of the other older gentlemen and his issues with his children. Their background experiences all reflect their actions and attitudes during the whole movie. This was also due to the perception of the situation they were in. Their attitudes and values were also a big influence on them during the movie. The old man that first voted not guilty was definitely a leader. He also had very high self-esteem because he was not afraid to voice his opinion. Many people went through intrapersonal communication during the movie, because of the examples and flaws the old man was sending to them to receive. Throughout the whole movie there is a lot of interaction between most of the characters that are strong from the beginning. One man, after another vote, changed his decision...
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