Opinion vs. Bias/Zeal
 

I have a relatively simple question.

Where is the line between having an opinion and being biased/zealous?

Where does thinking what you want end and forcefully acting what you want begin?

Really. We hear in the media a lot about protestors, and how many turn violent. We hear that countries are opening war on each other due to conflicting beliefs. We hear about gay-bashings because of someone's opinion against homo-sexuality.

I simply want to know where the line stands.

At what point are you past merely having an opinion?

When can someone really be said to be zealous for a cause, and biased against opposite opinions?

I think that you are biased if you hold a strong opinion on a subject or have a personal attachment to it. For example gays have a bias when it comes to diascussing gay marriage. Conservatives and people against gay marriage have a bias too. If somebody really doesn't care about the outcome they can be unbiased.

Zealous in my opinion is when you have such a strong belief in something that you will fight for it's truth. Crusaders had a religious zeal when the went to war. And many soldiers have a zeal foe the beliefs thier country supports.

Agreed. On both points. An opinion is usally a more passive then a bias or a person with Zeal. For example, I remember our History class had a debate about Israel. Of couse the Muslims and Jews in the class interjected their religious and racial concepts on the subject (though many tried to be as secular as possible).

A bias is what you are inclined to believe when you first entertain a subject.

Having a bias is fine as long as, after thorough research, you find the truth, no matter which side it falls.

But being biased is believing in something (as opposed to 'thinking') no matter how much scientific evidence discounts it.

but there is an important difference between having a bias and displaying it. you can have a bias but still fairly present both sides of an issue. true, it is hard to do without letting your own opinion shine through, but it is possible.

i would consider a biased comment one that presents only or overwhelmingly the opinions and/or facts that favor the commentors opinion.

also note that zeal isnt always a bad thing. i for example, have a zealous hatred against such evil people as pedophiles and rapists and such. (yes i recognize that this would be considered as bias....but who cares? its still right

i don't think a "bias" qualifies as right or wrong. not morally, at least. it's a matter or preference or opinion.

if my father is a soldier. i may be biased to "support the troops" and see the positive effects of war.

if my father was killed by a soldier, i would probably be biased to hate all soldiers and despise all war, etc.

which is right? killing is wrong, war is bad, but soldiers by and large are good people and my father, in this hypothetical situation, is good. so it's a matter of opinion.

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apply that on a large scale and you have a cultural bias - something sociologists study. As westerners we are biased to dislike certain things like pedophilia, eating insects, and human sacrifice. other cultures in different places and time don't have these biases. even western culture allowed for pedophilia 500 years ago (Juliet was 13, was attempted to be married off to a 50 year old?). certain asian cultures eat insects (great source of protein) and aren't disgusted by it. and some cultures see human sacrifice as a means to an end.

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this doesn't mean that i am a relativist and believe that all ideas are equal. i am very much a man of my culture and i try to be a man of the times. this means that i think pedophilia is wrong, human sacrifice is wrong, eating insects is disgusting (but intellectually i can't deny its purpose).

Personally I am of the belief that the difference is in the context and actions that stem from the belief. Such as an opinion is a conclusion drawn from personal belief and ( wishfully) from fact. An opinion is a passive belief, whereas a bias is a belief that may have been drawn from other factors that gets in the way of any other possible judgement such as:
And zeal is when the belief or bias takes over your life and you cannot stand to have anyone see you as wrong. Such as with many " Bible Thumpin" christians they personally believe that you are wrong and they let that affect their relationship with you often attempting to force you to agree or convert to their belief.

( disclaimer this post is soley my opinion and not an attack on any belief, I have chosen one extreme example and I mean no offence to any who read it or follow said belief.)

I believe that this is stated incorrectly. A zealous person knows they are correct in their belief. They can't stand to see that no one else understands this "truth", and as such, they will either set out to make people "understand" or they try to profit from it personally.
This, while it may be a zealousness, is not really a very good explanation into the reasoning of a Christian trying to convert people. Let me put it another way...If you somehow found out that an entire city was going to be destroyed if you didn't convince the people to leave it in time, would you try to convince them? Men who do things such as that are called heroes, yet they too are zealous. Zealous in their belief that human life is worth saving, but zealots all the same. So, the next time that you start to berate someone for being a zealot, first think: Are they really trying to force something on me, or are they trying to save me from myself or others? Zealousness is not always a bad thing.

The main point I'm trying to make is this:
Whether or not someone is zealous, is not really an issue, since everyone is zealous about something, although they may not know themselves this is the case. The real issue, is whether or not the means through which they express and defend their beliefs is a morally sound means.

I will return to my lurking once more.

Well, to all intents and purposes I agree with Elminster.

However, the one thing I really disagree with is that zeal is trying to make people see the "truth." From what I've seen, zeal all too often turns out to be someone forcing someone to see the "truth" and trying to punish them if they don't.

Buuut, that's just my two cents based on what I've seen/experienced.

Once again, as I always say, everything is a matter of opinion.

The terms that were coined as per topic are just representations of one's "severity" of said opinions.

Call things what you will, all are the same in my eyes.

All else I will say is that those that are zealous are fools. ^_^ And if you think all are zealous in one such thing or another, Elminster, you are both correct and incorrect.

Bah, enough of my ponderous wandering thoughts slapped onto my keyboard.

Confucious say each man has his ideas on things.

'nuff said.