In the world, there are facts and there are opinions. It is important to know the difference.
A fact is something that has been proven to be true. It is important to understand what this means. This does not mean extremely likely to be true, or that I believe it to be true, it means that it is true.
Observations can be deemed as facts. One has to be careful here in that it is the observation that is true, not what was observed. Observing that the sun came up as a fact means that the person doing the observing saw the sun come up. Whether or not the sun really came up is an opinion. This is a hard concept to grasp sometimes. When thinking about the sun, it is very reasonable to think that the observation and what happened are the same. But if it was a ghost that was observed, then the observation and what was really there might be very different.
With that understanding, when discussing opinion, the first step is to agree on the facts. If one has an understanding of what a fact is, then agreeing on the facts should be straightforward. The hard part is always both parties separating the fact part from the opinion part.
When people are able to do this, we can rationally discuss different opinions. It is in the discussion of opinion that progress is made.
I am a strong proponent of discussion opinion wherever possible. It allows both sides to understand what the facts are and allows both sides to understand how they constructed their opinions. I heard a quote somewhere. I haven’t been able to find it that says ” I am not going to keep my opinion out of it because you are too sensitive”. This might sound crass, but I believe it is important for everyone to learn how to discuss opinions and we won’t learn if we are being protective.