Do you know what's dumber than VGT cars?

[onedjyoulike]

People who go online and speak for everyone. You know the people who will leave comments and replies like "Nobody wants this" or "Everyone hates ________ and thinks it's stupid."

A younger me would say "You are the problem." But I have made a commitment to try not to judge people for their opinions and the way they are. Especially people with a lower IQ. Sometimes you can't fix stupid.

But I do have a tip for those of you who choose to speak this way. I heard it in an audiobook I listened to last year about leadership. You can state the same opinion but just add the words "I have an observation..." to the beginning of your statement. People can disagree with your opinion but no one can argue that you have this observation. You will sound a little smarter while not admitting it's an opinion and you are technically not wrong.

The leadership book recommended you go one step further and follow up your statement with "I don't need to be right about this, but I'm just telling you so that we may better understand each other." Not that anyone online cares about that. That recommendation is more for work and personal relationships.

I have an observation that many of you reading this could care less about my excitement for the new VGT cars.

 

[Pigems]

To answer the title question, This Thread. I don’t get it at all.

 

[KinLM]

I have an observation that this thread likely isn’t very long for this world before getting locked.

 

[onedjyoulike]

I have an observation that this thread likely isn’t very long for this world before getting locked.

Can't argue with that. I have no idea what the guidelines are for that.

To answer the title question, This Thread. I don’t get it at all.

The point is to possibly help at least one person sound less stupid when they state their opinions.

 

[MatskiMonk]

But I do have a tip for those of you who choose to speak this way. I heard it in an audiobook I listened to last year about leadership. You can state the same opinion but just add the words "I have an observation..." to the beginning of your statement. People can disagree with your opinion but no one can argue that you have this observation. You will sound a little smarter while not admitting it's an opinion and you are technically not wrong.

I've said something similar in the past. People seem to think that because this is a discussion forum, anything stated is automatically an opinion - I disagree with that, because both facts and opinions are often discussed, as such, I'm generally a lot more accepting of people saying something I disagree with, if they've said something a long the lines of 'In my opinion...'

The thing about specifically saying 'Everybody... ', 'No one' etc... is that, as absolutes, they require only one example to the contrary to be completely wrong. People love hyperbole to try and reinforce their opinions, but such words only undermine their point.

I have zero problem with 'I don't like VGTs, in my opinion they're stupid' for example... but 'VGTs are dumb, nobody likes them', that might convey the same kind of sentiment to some people, but the statements are not the same, one is reasonable, the other isn't.