I wonder if the question is value neutral.
What possible effect do individually expressed opinions have?
I may have rare moments of arrogance but I'd never pretend that
my opinion one way or the other has any real impact on the greater world.
I get one vote just like everyone else.
First time I voted for Trump because he wasn't Hillary.
Next time I'll vote for him because the economy is rocking
(current market flux notwithstanding.)
Isn't that all that matters, regardless my opinion of prosecutions
or pedophiles or chem-trails and Rothchildrens?
Brother, you must be eating your Wheaties, ‘cause I ain’t never seen you write like that.
Frikken way cool
Opinions influence attitudes. Attitudes affect action.
Ever heard the term "mood of the nation"? How does that mood become shaped, if not by "individual expressed opinion". Our posts here matter. Every opinion matters. They can shape, influence, and mold "public opinion". And you must know that public opinion greatly affects a society, especially a representative republic such as we have (or used to).
Why do you think the derp media works so hard to lie to us and "set the narrative"?
This forum is a microcosm of how public opinion is shaped. People are herd animals and if enough individual voices express an opinion, the tendency if for those not-so-independent thinkers to adopt what they feel is the general consensus and prevailing attitude.
So, yes. Individual expressed opinions are very important in a free society. That's why the derps seek to suppress them.
Watch, for example, how opinion is "shaped" here on FR.
Not everybody is a chief.TheWorldNeedsIndiansToo
#BloggerLivesMatter
Just as you hate the blog pimps, I hate the concern trolls who are always complaining that president Trump hasn’t satisfied all their wishes yet - while magically making up crap that ignores the reality of the politics and courts that says he could just snap his fingers and make it happen.....they serve no purpose but to detract from everything President Trump has done and has been doing which is aiding and abetting the left.
Add to that the fact that many of them don’t contribute a cent to FR and their very opinions become suspect...kind of like them bloggers.