Opinions and Feelings

Most people use the words opinion and feeling synonymously, but an opinion is not a feeling despite any potential overlap.

Opinions imply being informed, and to be informed one must attempt to understand what’s beyond their own subjective reactions. A feeling, on the other hand, is reflexive and doesn’t need the challenge of intellectual conflict.

Maybe the reason why so many people’s opinions are like assholes is because they think having a feeling about something is enough. The more complicated and nuanced a subject is the less feelings are indicative of knowledge though. Even if one’s feelings are correctly oriented, this doesn’t translate outside of oneself very well. And if we take into account the Dunning-Kruger effect, it’s generally going to be the least informed that are most confidently opinionated. Maybe these are people that simply feel strongly about stuff and maybe we should take their strong feelings as a sign that what we're about to hear lacks insight and originality.