On a scale of 1 (not bad) to 10 (bad bad bad), how bad is it to criticize bad ideas held by nice people?

Answer 1

about 5!

Answer 2

1.

You do no one a favor by withholding from him an unpleasant truth. Your only obligation is to do your homework and marshall your evidence sufficiently that you can convince a reasonable person. You're obligated only to offer an erring person a chance to see the truth. You're not responsible if he/she doesn't take that chance.

Sometimes a whole lot of nice people have bad ideas which they believe to be good ideas. They think that the ideas are bad because everybody says so, most importantly the good looking actors and trusted authority figures on TV say so.

But you've actually examined the evidence, and you KNOW that the ideas are bad ideas and that what "everybody says" is simply an incorrect view that originally came from false propaganda.

Now: how do you give the reasonable people in that crowd of nice people a chance to see the lies and to recognize the truth? Remember: they might get mad at you if you try to teach things that are in conflict with their beliefs. Their attitude is that you're no better than they are, so your opinion can't possibly be better than their opinion is, and since they are many and you are few they can "outvote" you about what the truth is.

But truth isn't democratic. How do you get past their muley stubborness in order to teach them something important?

Answer 3

Well personally I believe it is not all bad to criticize an idea or opinion, criticize dictionary definition 2 says "To judge the merits and faults of; analyze and evaluate" I think those are things of high merit, things that we should all be doing. But sadly what happens is not an evaluation or an analysis of a subject, but a belittling of the person's believe. I is getting harder and harder to just have a "friendly debate" especially on line, it just turns into name calling or belittling of the others opinion and thoughts.

Answer 4

never criticize, not even in a positive way.
if you do it in a Bab way, you will be hated.
If you do it in a positive way, you will not be listened to, and people will call you nosy. you only can do it, if you have a position that is higher, than the other guy, if you are a boss, a teacher,a dad,a mother, a big brother or a good friend, a very good friend
be care full you may get a Punch on the nose.

Answer 5

Depends on whether or not you are friends with the person. For example I am a democrat with liberal social ideas. A number of my friends are republicans with very conservative social ideas. They think I'm an ignoramus when it comes to politics and I think they are even stupider than they think I am when it comes to politics. I know we both think that, but because there are so many other things I like about these people - and presumably they me - we just choose not to talk about it. SO I would say its probably a 10 if you're friends. Agree to disagree and leave it alone...afterall, you're the one who said they are nice people.

Answer 6

1. It is NEVER "bad" to criticize the bad ideas of anyone! It is all about how you get your point across so you don't look like a bad guy shooting down their bad ideas. Done right, they may actually learn something from your ideas.

Answer 7

Speaking as a long time critic of bad ideas I would have to ask you: how many friends do you want? You are NOT going to change their minds and they will think you rude, obnoxious, eccentric, mean, or often all of the above and crazy...

Now if they ask you for your opinion,welllll, that means that all the same rules apply BUT they did ask...

Answer 8

If you are asked to Criticize. 1.
To criticize because you are mean.10.

Answer 9

It depends on whether or not you use tact when critizing. If that's the case then I would rate it as a 1..otherwise a 5+.

Answer 10

Speak the truth in love. No need to go around offending. Depends on what it is. Just be kind.