I am entitled to my opinion
In logic, I am entitled to my opinion is an informal fallacy where someone rejects arguments against them by claiming the right to hold certain views.[1][2] This bad argument is sometimes used to defend false and harmful beliefs for political reasons, like Holocaust denial[3][4] and Holodomor denial.[5][6]
Issues
[change | change source]Whether someone is able to believe something has nothing to do with whether his or her view is true.[7] The truth of something that a person says is separate from that person's legal or moral rights to say or believe that thing.
Academic views
[change | change source]Philosopher Patrick Stokes described the expression as problematic because "it is often used to defend factually indefensible positions" or to imply "an equal right to be heard on a matter in which only one of the two parties has the relevant expertise".[8]
In the field of journalism, many professors use a metaphor about reporting the weather to teach about this fallacy. The ethics of journalism tends to say that it it is important to check the facts, rather than simply to report different opinions.[9] A journalist from NBC shares this metaphor like this:[10]
Our job is not to report both sides. One side says it’s raining and the other side says it is not raining. Our job is to look out the window.
This metaphor shows an example of why the "I am entitled to my opinion" fallacy is a bad argument. Both people in the metaphor might believe they are correct, and both people might be allowed to say what they think the weather is, but that does not change what the actual weather outside is.
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ Whyte, Jamie (2004). "The Right to Your Opinion". Crimes Against Logic. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 1–10. ISBN 0-07-144643-5.
- ↑ Whyte, Jamie (August 9, 2004). "Sorry, but you are not entitled to your opinion". The Times. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Alt URL
- ↑ "Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion". International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Retrieved October 17, 2024. Distortion of the Holocaust refers, inter alia, to:
- Intentional efforts to excuse or minimize the the Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators and allies of Nazi Germany
- Gross minimization of the number of the victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to reliable sources
- Attempts to blame the Jews for causing their own genocide
- Statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event. Those statements are not Holocaust denial but are closely connected to it as a radical form of antisemitism. They may suggest that the Holocaust did not go far enough in accomplishing its goal of "the Final Solution of the Jewish Question"
- Attempts to blur the responsibility for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic groups
- ↑
- "Holocaust Denial and Distortion on Social Media". World Jewish Congress (WJC). Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- "Holocaust denial / distortion". American Jewish Committee (AJC). Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- "Holocaust Denial and Distortion". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- "What you need to know about UNESCO's teachers guide and lesson activities to counter Holocaust denial and distortion". UNESCO. January 23, 2025. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- UNESCO; Nathalie Rücker (January 27, 2025). "Countering Holocaust Denial and Distortion: A Guide for Teachers" (PDF). Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- "Holocaust distortion more dangerous than outright denial, warns departing IHRA chief". The Times of Israel. January 29, 2025. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
- ↑
- "Holodomor – Denial and Silences". HREC Education. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- "Call to Action: Holodomor Denial by University of Alberta Lecturer". Ukrainian Canadian Congress. November 27, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- "Jason Kenney denounces 'useful idiots' amid uproar over university lecturer's Holodomor denial". National Post. November 29, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
Holodomor refers to the famine in Ukraine that killed millions of people in 1932–33, a genocide recognized by the Canadian Parliament and provinces
- Labine, Jeff (December 2, 2019). "'We were just hurt': Ukrainian students call for UofA to fire lecturer who denied Holodomor". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
- "Western Influence in the Cover-up of the Holodomor". CUNY Academic Works. 2020. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ↑ * Dobczansky, Jurij (2009). "Affirmation and Denial: Holodomor-related Resources Recently Acquired by the Library of Congress". Holodomor Studies. 1 (2 [Summer-Autumn 2009]): 155–164. Archived from the original on 2024-08-19. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
- Tabarovsky, Izabella (October 23, 2020). "How 'The New York Times' Helped Hide Stalin's Mass Murders in Ukraine". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- Taylor, S.J. (October 29, 2020). Stalin's Apologist: Walter Duranty - "The New York Times's" Man in Moscow. ISBN 9780197536520. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- "'The New York Times' can't shake the cloud over a 90-year-old Pulitzer Prize". NPR. May 8, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
- Prown, Henry H. (March 2, 2025). "'Every rotten slander': Holodomor denial and the origins of the American popular front". Politics, Religion & Ideology. doi:10.1080/21567689.2025.2470722. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
- ↑ Deleuze, Gilles (1994) [1968]. "The Image of Thought". Difference and Repetition. Paul Patton (trans.). New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 129–167 (130). ISBN 0-231-08159-6.
- ↑ Stokes, Patrick (4 October 2012). "No, you're not entitled to your opinion". The Conversation. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
- ↑ "SPJ's Code of Ethics". Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ↑ "Quote Origin: If One Person Says It's Raining and Another Says It's Not Raining Then the Journalist Should Look Out the Window and Report the Truth – Quote Investigator®". 2023-11-14. Retrieved 2025-03-24.