I'll ask my friends occasionally, "Why you believe that?", and I'm amazed when I realize that beyond a few brief soundbites, there's no real foundation beneath their viewpoints.
I was at an event recently, and after it, I was talking to someone who expressed the viewpoint that "the GPL is evil." When I asked why that was the case, he said that he's heard bad things it's done. We talked a bit about what the GPL does, and at the end he said that I was convincing him.
But when he later said "I'm not a fan of Microsoft because they're evil", I knew to just discount his opinion, even though I don't love the company either. If you're knowingly basing your opinion on hearsay without any details, why should I keep engaging you?
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I was at an event recently, and after it, I was talking to someone who expressed the viewpoint that "the GPL is evil." When I asked why that was the case, he said that he's heard bad things it's done. We talked a bit about what the GPL does, and at the end he said that I was convincing him.
But when he later said "I'm not a fan of Microsoft because they're evil", I knew to just discount his opinion, even though I don't love the company either. If you're knowingly basing your opinion on hearsay without any details, why should I keep engaging you?