Are people more opinionated than before?

[Gunnersaurus]

Do you think people on a whole are more opinionated now. I'm not one of those back in the good old days kind of people but one thing I would say may be worse now is people are more unaccepting of other peoples opinions. I think a lot of it may be social media. I haven't used social media for years. One thing I noticed when a stopped is how much less I cared what other people thought.  Social media is full of people who are so argumentative and it turns people who aren't argumentative into argumentative people I think. 

Obviously there are cases where something is an objective fact and there are certain moral things that I personally think people should defend. What I mean is I don't think people should just tolerate people with racist views for example. I think it's OK not to just except people have a different view in cases like that. 

However a lot of the time people seem to be more self opinionated on things that don't matter. Like what good films or TV shows are etc.

What do you think? Have people always been like that or are we getting worse? 

[Azeem]

Probably not it's just because of social media it feels like it

[Rucksackfranzose]

30 minutes ago, Gunnersaurus said:

Do you think people on a whole are more opinionated now. I'm not one of those back in the good old days kind of people but one thing I would say may be worse now is people are more unaccepting of other peoples opinions. I think a lot of it may be social media. I haven't used social media for years. One thing I noticed when a stopped is how much less I cared what other people thought.  Social media is full of people who are so argumentative and it turns people who aren't argumentative into argumentative people I think. 

Obviously there are cases where something is an objective fact and there are certain moral things that I personally think people should defend. What I mean is I don't think people should just tolerate people with racist views for example. I think it's OK not to just except people have a different view in cases like that. 

However a lot of the time people seem to be more self opinionated on things that don't matter. Like what good films or TV shows are etc.

What do you think? Have people always been like that or are we getting worse? 

It's always been that way. People were never less opionated or more accepting other opinions than today. Only difference is the world wide web made it much easier to make your opinion known to a wider public and to publisize  disagreement with other opinions than it was during my childhood and youth..

Edited September 20 by Rucksackfranzose

[Gunnersaurus]

16 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

It's always been that way. People were never less opionated or more accepting other opinions than today. Only difference is the world wide web made it much easier to make your opinion known to a wider public and to publisize  disagreement with other opinions than it was during my childhood and youth..

Yeah maybe thats true. People do sometimes forget that we have more information available now. My auntie and dad once said that there were hardly ever any murders before. Even though the crime rates tell you per capita there are about the same  amount of murders as  before and there are people that went missing that were never found which is less common with modern technology. So there may have actually been more before.  

A bit of topic but you get my point 

Edited September 20 by Gunnersaurus

[Rucksackfranzose]

22 minutes ago, Gunnersaurus said:

Yeah maybe thats true. People do sometimes forget that we have more information available now. My auntie and dad once said that there were hardly ever any murders before. Even though the crime rates tell you per capita there are about the same  amount of murders as  before and there are people that went missing that were never found which is less common with modern technology. So there may have been more before. 

Well, that's also a question of media-induced hysteria. When my parents were children, Germany in the 4ties shortly after WWII, there were more than a handful villages in Saarland, where it would have been a welcome surprise, if not at least 5 people would have been stabbed to death during fair weekend, nobody batted an eyelid. Nowadays it makes the headlines, if there's a stabbing, even in nobody dies.

Edited September 20 by Rucksackfranzose

[Bluewolf]

52 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

It's always been that way. People were never less opionated or more accepting other opinions than today. Only difference is the world wide web made it much easier to make your opinion known to a wider public and to publisize  disagreement with other opinions than it was during my childhood and youth..

 

42 minutes ago, Gunnersaurus said:

People do sometimes forget that we have more information available now. My auntie and dad once said that there were hardly ever any murders before. Even though the crime rates tell you per capita there are about the same  amount of murders as  before

This is true... When I was growing up as a kid you never heard of anyone getting stabbed or murdered unless it was around close to where you lived and there were a lot of police involved and even the newspapers only tended to put headline serial murders on the front pages for example and it was easy to think you might have been living in better times as a result but crime in all it's forms was still rampant you just didn't hear about it all that much.

These days you couldn't spit anywhere without someone filming it or it making headline news or a talking point... The only opinions you really heard were from your mates on a night out, the school playground or when the neighbours used to gossip about people on their front doorsteps or while they were at the hairdressers meaning opinions were still there but you got them in much smaller servings.. These days with modern media platforms I know what everyone thinks about everyone else in the entire world and that's the difference.. Now it just feels like a tsunami of opinions of which you probably only agree a very small percentage with.. 

[Gunnersaurus]

56 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

 

This is true... When I was growing up as a kid you never heard of anyone getting stabbed or murdered unless it was around close to where you lived and there were a lot of police involved and even the newspapers only tended to put headline serial murders on the front pages for example and it was easy to think you might have been living in better times as a result but crime in all it's forms was still rampant you just didn't hear about it all that much.

These days you couldn't spit anywhere without someone filming it or it making headline news or a talking point... The only opinions you really heard were from your mates on a night out, the school playground or when the neighbours used to gossip about people on their front doorsteps or while they were at the hairdressers meaning opinions were still there but you got them in much smaller servings.. These days with modern media platforms I know what everyone thinks about everyone else in the entire world and that's the difference.. Now it just feels like a tsunami of opinions of which you probably only agree a very small percentage with.. 

Also like I said you have the unsolved disappearances. Now with all the modern technology and cameras it's easier to find a body. Also there are rapes and sexual assaults which weren't reported because it was so hard to prove a lot of women didn't bother. I think the way it's reported is not right personally. Youngsters get told there this terrible generation because no one has checked the facts. And also it can lead to racism as people blame ethnic minorities because they aren't aware that the murder rate hasn't gone significantly up like they think 

[Dr. Gonzo]

5 hours ago, Azeem said:

Probably not it's just because of social media it feels like it

Yeah, this. I don't think people being opinionated is very new. But people being able to type up their opinion, click a button, and have their views out for millions of people around the world to see is relatively new.

I do think a lot of people have the idea that their opinions are so important that they must be shared with the world - and I'm not sure if that's new or not tbh.

[Rucksackfranzose]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah, this. I don't think people being opinionated is very new. But people being able to type up their opinion, click a button, and have their views out for millions of people around the world to see is relatively new.

I do think a lot of people have the idea that their opinions are so important that they must be shared with the world - and I'm not sure if that's new or not tbh.

As someone with more life experience it absolutely isn't. Why do you think Speaker's Corner has been a thing for such a long time?

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

As someone with more life experience it absolutely isn't. Why do you think Speaker's Corner has been a thing for such a long time?

I assumed that was just a MI5 operation to make sure the most opinionated loonies could meet up in one place so it would be easy to monitor them 

[MUFC]

Regarding the comparison of murders, how far back are we going. Generally, just pre-Internet boom days?

[Rucksackfranzose]

3 minutes ago, MUFC said:

Regarding the comparison of murders, how far back are we going. Generally, just pre-Internet boom days?

Doesn't matter, we can even go back to the 16th century and the percentage of murdered persons in a society stays pretty constant.

[Gunnersaurus]

2 hours ago, MUFC said:

Regarding the comparison of murders, how far back are we going. Generally, just pre-Internet boom days?

Well the stats are available. My original point was that my auntie and dad and probably other older people think there were hardly any murders when they were young but it's not true 

[Harry]

15 hours ago, Gunnersaurus said:

Do you think people on a whole are more opinionated now. I'm not one of those back in the good old days kind of people but one thing I would say may be worse now is people are more unaccepting of other peoples opinions. I think a lot of it may be social media. I haven't used social media for years. One thing I noticed when a stopped is how much less I cared what other people thought.  Social media is full of people who are so argumentative and it turns people who aren't argumentative into argumentative people I think. 

Obviously there are cases where something is an objective fact and there are certain moral things that I personally think people should defend. What I mean is I don't think people should just tolerate people with racist views for example. I think it's OK not to just except people have a different view in cases like that. 

However a lot of the time people seem to be more self opinionated on things that don't matter. Like what good films or TV shows are etc.

What do you think? Have people always been like that or are we getting worse? 

I think people are less opinionated tbh. Think about how much people used to gossip about things that are just accepted today. A gay person. An affair. Marrying a person of a different race. Not going to church 

The overwhelming majority of people were judgy and opinionated about everything. 

Whilst the woke movement has flipped that on its head and is mostly just as dumb I think overall there is less opinion in our everyday world, if not the same amount.

[CaaC (John)+]

3 hours ago, Harry said:

I'm not one of those back in the good old days kind of people but one thing I would say may be worse now is people are more unaccepting of other peoples opinions.

Going back to the good old days, in my time after WWll, rationing was still going on in the early & late 50s but where we lived was a very close-knit community, not many people had phones, there were no mobiles or internet but we all watched out for each other.

Your opinions were normally aired out in the local boozer or club over a pint, nowadays opinions are given out over the net, mobile or phone and then maybe clubs & pubs.

We had no phone but if the next-door neighbour wanted a natter with my mum she would knock on the lounge wall with whatever and my mum would go outside and have a natter over the fence, normally it was to do with a bit of gossip heard or to borrow some milk or tea etc.

[nudge]

1 minute ago, CaaC (John) said:

Going back to the good old days, in my time after WW11

World War 11? Damn John, you're quite a survivor!  

[nudge]

As for the topic: people are people, it's always been the same. As many already said, today it is simply easier to let those opinions known to others via social media and the internet in general

[CaaC (John)+]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

World War 11? Damn John, you're quite a survivor!  

Sure am, born in 49, and Blue Wolf was born just after...somewhere? 

[nudge]

Just now, CaaC (John) said:

Sure am, born in 49, and Blue Wolf was born just after...somewhere? 

I think it flew over your head...  World War ELEVEN

[CaaC (John)+]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

I think it flew over your head...  World War ELEVEN

Check that post again, I spotted my mistake and corrected it and you posted the old WW11 bit  

[nudge]

1 minute ago, CaaC (John) said:

Check that post again, I spotted my mistake and corrected it and you posted the old WW11 bit  

Too late now, I caught it 

[CaaC (John)+]

I'm trying to think of all the social Network places if you can call them that...

Facebook, Twitter, Instergram...

How many are there 

[nudge]

4 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

I'm trying to think of all the social Network places if you can call them that...

Facebook, Twitter, Instergram...

How many are there 

Too many...

 

Some of those are more than just social networking platforms, but still, they all provide a place for people to spout their bullshit...

[CaaC (John)+]

I never heard a lot of them 

Facebook - 3.06 billion FFS 

[Stan]

On 20/09/2024 at 16:42, Gunnersaurus said:

However a lot of the time people seem to be more self opinionated on things that don't matter. Like what good films or TV shows are etc.

 

a) 'self-opinionated'? What's this mean? Isn't this the same for everyone's opinion . 

b) as for not mattering, maybe it does when it comes to debating certain shows, or how they're made, or the cast, or production and cinematography etc

 

Gonna go with what @Azeem and @nudge have stated - everyone's always had an opinion, there are just more ways of airing it these days. Whether that's for better or worse is another debate...