Fact or Opinion?

[stefanieoshea]

I feel the need to preface this assignment with how the existence of the internet and wiki pages has, in my opinion, blurred what people view as fact or opinion because it is very easy to find facts to back up opinions! I tried to look at each question framed by this skepticism and without the use of Google to see what I could come up with:

1. The deepest part of the ocean according to whom? Are there parts of the ocean that we have yet to explore? I know that there are creatures down there that we have yet to see so maybe there is also a deeper point. I think it has been in my lifetime that we have hit the "bottom" of the ocean again and at one point this statement had a smaller number. This is fact for now, but I think this could change in the future. 

2. Smoking is bad for your health if you have a certain baseline for healthy, but some people may care more about their mental health than their physical health and, as a former smoker, I think that smoking is great for your mental health and studies and advertisements show people who are happy, attractive and having fun smoking, even if they are upping their risk of cardiovascular disease. I think this is an opinion that stems from a vague fact.

3. 85 percent of all cases of lung cancer could be caused by smoking, but this could change any minute. Medical facts change more than my nail polish color! Just since I have been a mother I have read about three million studies about the best place for a child to sleep, all backed up by facts and journals and scholarly reports and not a single one of them agree with each other. Again, a fact for now but probably has changed since I have been typing this.

4. There is an ongoing argument in my house about whether or not I am colorblind, which I know for a fact is not true, but my husband's opinion differs. I have never had it tested, but I can spend an afternoon at the Museum of Fine Art with my husband and see that his opinion of true blue is very different from mine. Are we both correct? Is this perhaps a subjective problem? Is it a problem at all (unless you are a pilot who is not allowed to fly because of the test's determination). I am going to say that this could be a fact, but it depends where the quote came from, because if it came from the O'Shea house, then it is just an opinion.

5. This is obviously an opinion, right? Wrong! What qualifies someone as boring? Can people label themselves as boring and then be told by someone that they are not? Does this make them not-boring? Maybe this statement comes from a test in which a strong sample of Americans was asked whether or not they identify as "boring" with a definition straight out of Webster. Far reaching, but that could perhaps turn this opinion into a fact! 

[mlawes]

Stephanie,

Your reasons for your answers are very interesting. I agree with your preface that some parts of the internet has blurred lines between fact and opinion, however it is also a matter of due diligence. Most people search for something using the internet and take the first response as fact. A critical thinker must fully evaluate ALL parts of a claim using multiple credible sources of information. I think you did an excellent job of this and you have actually sparked my curiosity. I feel like I should go back and research a little more on some of the statements. Your answer to number five is very interesting. I didn't see it that way but now you have me saying, Hmm.

[Lindsay Rachow]

Stefanie - I enjoyed reading your entry and the comic relief was much needed. I like that you did not look at the internet to make conclusions. I was conflicted with this. I decided to use my own personal thoughts and then look at the internet for additional reasoning. I think it's so difficult to use the internet because "what is a trusted site?" I think you added a lot of good points and ways to look at this assignment.

[Elena Romero]

Stefani-I found your response to #5 particularly interesting, especially since I found myself so sure of my response that this was an opinion. After reading what you contributed here, it helped me to see that I responded from my gut, using intuition instead of taking the time to fully evaluate the answer.