How relevant are opinions here?

Question

And isn't there something better you could be doing - than trying to shift some of the most entrenched political opinions and philosophies on the planet, or getting three thumbs up from your buddies and feeling chuffed ?

And if this place makes about as much sense as talking to a cat - in terms of getting a message across or actually learning anything (we all know the opinions and arguements by now surely). and if people only believe what they want too believe - whats the point?

No-one is listening.

Answer 1

you have more chance of being heard here than in parliament
so why not be here, at least here you meet the occasional non brainwashed on this site, in parliament they are all brainwashed.

Answer 2

At the moment, I have no point. I am in here making fun of politicians and cops. But..I have another use for this forum.

I am in college working on a mathematics degree. During the school season, I ask questions in the mathematics/science forum. Not only do I get a bump here and there on the hw, I also get a thorugh explanation of relevant concepts. Usually, in a bit diffrenet way than the Professor presents it.

I agree with you. This forum is useless..But there are others on Yahoo! Answers that serve a genuine purpose.

Answer 3

One has to take into consideration when reading and posting that most of the answers in the Politics forum are opinion, and nothing else. There are times- between flamewars and obvious political posturing- when a real gem floats to the surface. I disagree that nobody is listening, although I will agree that most of the time most people's minds are not changed from their original viewpoint. Be that as it may, I find it fun, enlightening (now and then), and a way to voice one's opinions.

Answer 4

Its a place to air your opinions and maybe some people are open to others opinions. There are a lot of rude and self-centred people on here but they are not all like that. You never know how you might affect things or how you might be affected. It depends on what you are here for.....if you think it is so irrelevant maybe you should do something else.

Answer 5

You may be interested in putting local issues to the vote at the site mentioned below.

Answer 6

Short answer, "opinions" should be COMPLETELY irrelevent in a "Questions and Answers" format, unless the person rendering it is a recognized expert in the field in which he or she is rendering that opinion.

Long answer: People are more afraid today than they have ever been in the history of American "civilization". That fear translates into hate, but there are so many targets hateful, fearful people may no longer vent their anger upon. To hate another race makes you socially unacceptable, to hate another gender the same. All we have left is religion and politics (and of course, health issues, like tobacco smoking, it causes cancer, even in those who don't smoke themselves, but these same people so against polluting the environment with cigarette smoke, are more than willing to continue to drive millions and millions of cars, spewing MANY more lethal toxins into the air we breathe, than cigarettes do. I'm against smoking now, I smoked Marlboros for 21 years, but let's get some perspective. If you drive a car with an internal combustion engine, you are responsible for MUCH more pollution than a non-driving smoker is.) Since health has its own Y/A section, we here are stuck with Politics.

When Newsgroups were bigger, back when people only had 1200 baud modems, you would get groups who would spew the most vile crap at each other over some completely irrelevent topic, like which host was better on MST3K, Joel Hodgson or Mike Nelson? This one nonsense issue turned into an almost Civil War-like division of people who liked one but hated the other, almost totally drawn into, "if they first saw MST3K with Joel, they liked Joel better" and vice versa for Mike..
Now, in the Politics section of Y/A, at best, rather than facts, legitimate source links and (honest) statistics for answers, we get innuendo, name-calling, hate and rabid bigotry lamely trying to disguise itself as legitimate endeavors to educate themselves.

At worst, you get immature foolishness for questions, in a pathetic attempt to get some quick, albeit cheap, attention. This is the best reason to have a "Block User" feature and I thank Yahoo everyday for it. Now we just need a "Completely Ignore" option, to weed out all the self serving propaganda from those whose minds arent even attempting to see the other side of a given issue.

Answer 7

98% partisan insults and banter.
2% voice of people who actually care.

Actually outside the politacal forum, I've learned some very useful things I never new.

Answer 8

I've learned a few things here. And it's interesting to read others views when they have something original to say.

So, what are you doing here? I guess, as you say, you don't have anything better to do.

Answer 9

People are interested in what other people think.
That is what channels the thought process and opens up stimulating communication.
It is important.

Answer 10

No one is listening because there is no sound. I think it good that people write about their opinions. They do it anonymously. Now we can see how truly whacked out some people are.