Controversial Opinions?

[ladypuglover]

I believe redheads can wear pink.

[LynnKaboom]

Yep. I'm not liberal or conservative so hardly anyone agrees with me.

Me too. Liberals hate me for one thing, conservatives hate me for the other.

[dormouse]

I'm an ebil librul atheist, even with some socialist tendencies, but there is one thing people say I'm rather conservative about: to me, children are meant to be raised at home. However, since I'm not a fundy, I don't necessarily mean it has to be the mother: could be the father if he had the least interesting salary/benefits, or even the grandparents if they are retired. What I am against is daycare. Where I live, we have socialized 7$-per-day daycare, and even if it is a good thing for some people (for example, a single mother who works at minimum wage), I personally wouldn't want my future children to be raised by strangers according to values they have learned in government textbooks.

Another things it makes me against (for myself, other people do what they want), is adoption and fertility treatments, but only if the couple has to get into debt and it results in the adopted or IVF-conceived child to have to go to daycare, because both parents have to work to pay the "mortgage" they have on their child. Especially for adopted children, who may have separation anxiety and not understand the difference between daycare and the orphanage. If I ever find out that I am infertile, I will accept my fate and not try to conceive artificially or "buy" a child.

But that is just what I want and don't want for myself, if you got into debt for IVF or adoption, or live in a dual income family and put your child in daycare, I will never judge you, unlike the fundies who think everyone should have the same lifestyle as them or else they will go to hell.

[dormouse]

A co-worker, who also happens to be an ex from long ago, says that everyone who believes in a divine being should be labelled mentally ill. I found that really extreme, but hey, this is a controversial opinion post...

[emmiedahl]

I think infants and toddlers are better off at home if (it's a big if, so don't kill me yet) the home is adequate and the parents have a reasonable knowledge of child development AND the parent at home is happy staying at home. dh and I have tried really hard to work our schedules so kids spend minimal time with babysitters. I think infants do best with a single caregiver dedicating much of their lives to caring for them, and that just isn't possible in most childcare situations.

I also think that preschool beginning at age 3 or 4 should be mandatory, with similar laws regarding homeschooling that apply to older children. Instead of doing academic work, the children should be required to have social interaction with peers, experiences with art and music, and all of the things kids do in a high quality preschool program.

I think our child protective laws should be stricter. I don't think it would mean more children in foster care; most parents would not want their children taken away and would step up their game.

I think school uniforms and single gender schools are a great idea.

I think college should be free for people going into high-demand fields.

I think political candidates should have to do debates hooked up to a lie detector test with the tester giving a thumbs up or down as they speak.

I think evolution and sex education are part of a solid science education and should be taught in all schools, no opting out.

[dianapavelovna]

I believe redheads can wear pink.

I believe they can wear red!

[LynnKaboom]

I think school uniforms and single gender schools are a great idea.

May I ask why? I would have absolutely hated going to an all-girls school, and the reasons are very complicated. To be honest, if I had been forced into a single-gender school I likely would have dropped out.

(I do not actually have a problem with school uniforms).

[emmiedahl]

I guess I should say that they should be an option. Studies have found that girls do better in all girls schools, and I think my boy crazy 9 yo would do better in one. She can't be the only one.

[daharyn]

I believe Israel is an apartheid state, and while I sure as heck don't often open my mouth about that in NYC, I do quietly put my money where my mouth is--I boycott Israeli products and pro-Israel organizations, and I have begun making donations to certain carefully-screened causes in Palestine.

I also believe you can wear white shoes year-round, though...

[LynnKaboom]

I guess I should say that they should be an option. Studies have found that girls do better in all girls schools, and I think my boy crazy 9 yo would do better in one. She can't be the only one.

Ah, OK, that makes more sense. If the student actually wants to go to a single-gender school, then that's fine! Just don't try to make me go. :mrgreen:

And I'm curious, not trying to be obnoxious- could you link me to one of those studies? I kind of want to see for myself, because I know for me it would have had the exact opposite effect. Because I have seen articles asserting the same thing, but they haven't come from reputable sources.

[meda]

I proudly work for a labor union. That represents public employees. Public employees deserve a middle class wage, decent health benefits, and a pension plan that allows them to live with dignity in their old age. I believe all private sector employees deserve this also, and I think it's about time that private sector workers joined unions, formed associations, and started fighting for their rights rather than trying to eliminate the negotiated benefits of others.

"I don't have it, so no one else should either", is Ayn Rand-ian chicken shit.

[demgirl]

I think political candidates should have to do debates hooked up to a lie detector test with the tester giving a thumbs up or down as they speak.

I would totally be for this if lie detector tests didn't have an error rate of almost 50%. Love the idea though.

I'm against book burning, but I'd reconsider for Ayn Rand books.

[emmiedahl]

I've always heard it was more like 5%??? Is that wrong?

[Austin]

I proudly work for a labor union. That represents public employees. Public employees deserve a middle class wage, decent health benefits, and a pension plan that allows them to live with dignity in their old age. I believe all private sector employees deserve this also, and I think it's about time that private sector workers joined unions, formed associations, and started fighting for their rights rather than trying to eliminate the negotiated benefits of others.

"I don't have it, so no one else should either", is Ayn Rand-ian chicken shit.

This is the flip side of the coin which says, "I've got mine, so screw you!"

I can't stand either attitude and find it disturbing when I come across people like this IRL. Which seems to be more and more these days b/c of the emergence of the tea party (not that all tea party people feel this way, but it seems that many do).

[demgirl]

I've always heard it was more like 5%??? Is that wrong?

It really depends on who you ask. Major proponents of the polygraph will tell you "only" 5% -- which is way too high of an error rate to ever be used in criminal investigations, in my opinion because you get false readings in one of 20 people. Major opponents will tell you that it only works in about 25% of cases. In my Evidence class I read a 1997 study that found an error rate of 42%, which I tend to believe given that it was an unbiased study with sound methodology. I think the general consensus among scientists is anywhere from 30 to 50% error rate -- regardless, high. It's also fairly easy to beat a lie detector test -- it's all about biorhythms. If you can control your breathing, heart rate and temperature, as well as your muscle tension, then it won't pick up the deception. Not everyone can control those things, but there's a whole area of cognitive behavioral therapy that teaches you exactly how to do them. Plus, in a high tension situation where things might get more stressful as the lights come on, the heat raises under the lights, the questions throw you, people coughing, laughing, clapping, etc. the results are even more likely to be skewed. All the major scientific organizations have lobbied against the use of polygraphs or at least seriously questioned their value/likelihood to to affect a major portion of innocent people tested, such as the National Academy of Sciences.

Whew. Yikes! Didn't mean to go off about the polygraph. It just upsets me, because it's use as an "investigative technique" (it's not allowed for trial) has ruined lots of innocent people's lives b/c they live under a cloud of suspicion until the real culprit is caught.

OTOH, it might be worth false positive reads just to see the polliticians sweat. My real concern is that there would be a significant number of false negatives, which would make people believe that politician was telling the truth -- and that would be in no way assured, but it would be "proof"... which makes it all the more likely that politician would get away with murder (figurative murder... well, sometimes literal).

[nuri]

I proudly work for a labor union. That represents public employees. Public employees deserve a middle class wage, decent health benefits, and a pension plan that allows them to live with dignity in their old age. I believe all private sector employees deserve this also, and I think it's about time that private sector workers joined unions, formed associations, and started fighting for their rights rather than trying to eliminate the negotiated benefits of others.

"I don't have it, so no one else should either", is Ayn Rand-ian chicken shit.

I am working my first major job since I was 16 where I wasn't part of the union, and its the first time I've felt that it's okay to be without one, that I'm not going to get screwed over. I would unionize in a heartbeat.

[The Archivist]

Yes, I have opinions that are considered pretty extreme. And I will try my damnedest not to get into them here! :)

[keeperrox]

Also: I believe declawing should be illegal.

+1

[slh12280]

Wow! I am enjoying these responses. I am probably more right wing than most here so I obviously have very different views. I will say that I think drug testing for getting or maintaining a job is fair and not a violation of privacy. I do recognize that there are problems with it. This is all in theory. ;)

[DamnPrecious]

I believe redheads can wear pink.

Blaspheme :o

[Crackedeggs]

Hell yes.

I don't fit on either side of the aisle, politically. I think pot, guns, and prostitution should be legal, but I often wonder if advertising of any product should be allowed.

I dislike the public school system as it stands, but think free cyber-schooling at home or in the schools should be available to all - and I do mean ALL from comprehension age to grave.

I don't care for the way they are globalizing the world economically, on the backs of the working American ( Hey, I'm in Customer Service, I'm allowed to have that opinion! ) but if you are getting picked on by "whitey" because of your skin color or nationality, I'll be the first one to fight for you in a block argument, IRL.

I think women should have the option to do whatever they want with their lives, but if I see a man with children refusing to work full time, I think he's an asshole. ( Now, some families, the woman makes so much that the husband can be a SAHdad, thats fine)

I can't stand the way modern youth are breaking down the barriers of fidelity in their relationships. (at least this is what I see around here, and in my life back east)

Yes. Declawing should be outlawed. I'd also like to see certain veterinary meds made available to the public cheaply and without prescription... we can diagnose our own yeast infections, I think we can tell what fleas, ear mites, mange, and colds look like in our animals. I don't think it should cost us $500 to have a sick, elderly pet put to sleep, and I think we should be allowed to do that in the peace and familiar surroundings of our own homes for them, for a nominal cost for the drugs.

I think every household should be allowed to keep chickens, renters, city dwellers, or no. Just take care of them.

I think all cities should have garden plots available for all households to use to grow veggies. Thats more important than a dozen baseball diamonds that sit unused most of the time.

I believe in healthcare for all. I also believe that, if you are getting it free, you should do some kind of service work, as you are physically able, a couple days a month at least. My daughter is on the state plan, but I also work and pay a primary carrier so I have a right to have both opinions.

Give me back my trans fats and my psuedophed, damn it. I don't have high cholesterol and I don't make meth, so stop treating me like I do.

[mirele]

Controversial opinions:

I'm pretty militant on the notion of free speech, with one exception: child porn is RIGHT OUT, because it does not involve consenting adults. Consequently, this means tolerating speech--books--movies--TV shows--I virulently disagree with.

Tax the churches. I don't buy the argument that churches give back enough in exchange for all the benefits that they get from the tax exemption, especially megachurches where you have no idea what's being taken in and who's getting paid as well as that large tax-exempt organization based in Salt Lake City that hasn't published audited balance sheets for 50 years.

No declawing animals. My boyfriend found a declawed kitty who had been dumped in his apartment parking lot. After a lot of agonizing by him (as he had a mild allergy to cat dander), he finally adopted her and she was part of his life for eight wonderful years. He loved Hey Guy and Hey Guy was absolutely devoted to him. But I always felt terrible for her that she didn't have the claws my kitties had, it really cut down on her pleasure in life, not being able to claw and hold stuff.

I think the Republican party has gone off the deep end. The CRAZY deep end.

I don't have an opinion on gun control except to say that I think the NRA is crazy.

I think there should be universal health care.

I believe the housing market won't recover until there's cramdown, which is basically rewriting mortgages to more accurately reflect the value of the homes the mortgages are on. Since I'm currently sitting in a house that is worth less than 30% of the value of the mortgage, yes, that'd benefit me. However, one of the geniuses of the American way of life is our relative ability to be able to move from one place to another, and if you've got a mortgage on a house you can't sell for love or money, your mobility is seriously impaired. I should note that I work for a very large financial institution and am well aware that cramdown would adversely affect the bottom line.

Yeah, and I want my Sudafed back again, dammit. End this failed War on Some Drugs...we need to think of creative ways to deal with the drug situation. I'd love to tell druggie-Americans to get high on US made stuff, because our craving for the illegal imported stuff is causing unbelievably serious problems south of the border. And as someone who lives not far from that border, I don't like that the drug war is slopping over into my back yard.

I'm anti-death penalty. Lock 'em up, throw away the key. The death penalty is a cop out. Plus we have had too many problems with cases unraveling years later.

Trying to think of other controversial opinions not mentioned...Oh yeah, I think the USA is well down the road to being a has-been empire, overextended everywhere, like Rome was in the 3rd century, Spain in the 18th, Britain in the early 20th, etc., etc. The sun is setting on the American empire, and we're sliding down to second- or third-class irrelevance. On our way to that status, we're squandering our wealth on Wars Everywhere.

Oh yeah, I'm so very, very, very disappointed in Obama. He's not getting one red cent from me ever again.

ETA: FIREWORKS STANDS. I hate them. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE. I don't like that they're around, I don't want them here, I want them gone. It's tinder-dry, the state's already gone up in smoke, but good god, our legislature is f*cking stupid.

[Olivia]

Oh, I have one that should be controversial around here: I believe our prisons should be safe. There are always going to be gangs and whatnot in the prisons, and that has to be managed but just pragmatically, is not going to be eliminated. But prisoners shouldn't have to live in fear of physical or sexual abuse from other inmates or guards -- no matter what their crimes. We're a civilized society, or at least we should try to be, and that means that when we make these people dependent on us by imprisoning them we owe them some degree of physical protection (though not comfort).

And I believe that no matter what their crime is. It doesn't matter what they *deserve*, it's morally repugnant to me to turn our backs on the rape or torture of anyone we've taken responsibility for as a society.

[LynnKaboom]

Yes, PLEASE give me back my pseudophed. It is literally the only thing that actually works when I get a cold, so now what am I supposed to do? Go on vacation to Canada every time I get sick?

[nuri]

Oh, I have one that should be controversial around here: I believe our prisons should be safe. There are always going to be gangs and whatnot in the prisons, and that has to be managed but just pragmatically, is not going to be eliminated. But prisoners shouldn't have to live in fear of physical or sexual abuse from other inmates or guards -- no matter what their crimes. We're a civilized society, or at least we should try to be, and that means that when we make these people dependent on us by imprisoning them we owe them some degree of physical protection (though not comfort).

And I believe that no matter what their crime is. It doesn't matter what they *deserve*, it's morally repugnant to me to turn our backs on the rape or torture of anyone we've taken responsibility for as a society.

100% in agreement, seriously. I can't believe we joke about this, where in any other context, it would be a horrifying statement to wish abuse upon someone.

I believe our prison system is beyond eff'ed up, and more interested in harming the prisoner rather than rehabilitating as many as possible.