Throughout many different circumstances, us high school students face, the casual comeback would be “I’m entitled to my own opinion.” However, the problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing to argue is somehow disrespectful.

A person does not have to believe humans are the cause of global warming, but it is a fact that global warming is in large part caused by human-related activity. Therefore, you are entitled to the facts.

“I think that we are entitled to our own opinion because this way we learn to better our society with the difference in opinion,” senior Marriam Hassan said. “Being able to know different opinions allows us to formulate response to problems by combining everyone’s view points.”

However, where is the line drawn between what people can and can’t say?

“There are times when people should not speak their opinion and should simply keep quiet,” senior Rachel Rutledge said. “Especially when they don’t know all their facts.”

If “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion” just means no-one has the right to stop people thinking and saying whatever they want, then the statement is true, but fairly trivial. No one can stop you saying that vaccines cause autism, no matter how many times that claim has been disproven.

“As Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say but I’ll defend you to the death your right to say it,””senior Alex Peuser said. “I agree with him too, but having an opinion and acting on it are two different things.”

But if ‘entitled to an opinion’ means ‘entitled to have your views treated as serious candidates for the truth’ then it’s pretty clearly false. And this too is a distinction that tends to get blurred.

Don’t ignore the facts because you strongly believe something. Because as Harlan Ellison once said, “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”