Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on November 10, 2012, 05:26:48 PM

No, not everyone are qualified to express opinions on everything. Politics is one area where this observation is often forgotten. See http://paulgraham.com/identity.html and the somewhat related http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/.

I beg your pardon, but your argument does not dismiss the fact that every person able to rationally expose his/her thoughts is entitled to offer a political view independent of his/her qualifications:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/

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Before attempting to distinguish and evaluate various constitutions Aristotle considers two questions. First, why does a city-state come into being? He recalls the thesis, defended in Politics I.2, that human beings are by nature political animals, who naturally want to live together. For a further discussion of this topic, see the following supplementary document:

Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on November 10, 2012, 05:26:48 PM

On the contrary, if you didn't choose to disregard my response you'd see it reveals quite a bit about my character. I am not interested in politics. I don't read/watch the news. When people start a heated argument about the latest politics thingy I don't have my own piece of mind I make sure everyone knows, I sit it out hoping the conversation will shift to something I can contribute to. As far as your specific question "regarding the diplomatic relations of Israel with Iran and Palestine", I have very little factual knowledge, not enough to verbally express an opinion, let alone one that is robust to new knowledge. I can't recall much of what I knew or thought because this is not meaningful enough for me to be encoded in memory. Contrary to what you seem to think, the response in my mind to your question wasn't "I believe that X Y Z! But I'm not telling." It's more like reaching into my mind to find something relevant to say and getting only a blank.

Then you are expressing your political view. Lack of interest in politics does not make you unqualified to express your political views. Your willingness to shift the conversation to another subject indicates that you are trying to expose your political thoughts, but in a manner which you judge more consistent to contribute.

I did not disregard your answer. The poor response you provided did not demonstrated your political view. I only noted that you were not expressing what are your thoughts in regard with the question I made.

Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on November 10, 2012, 05:26:48 PM

Sure, if I wanted I guess I could read up on some history and recent developments, analyze the facts and figure out what I think of them. But I have no interest in doing that.

Maybe if you asked some leading questions this would become an aided recall task which is easier.

I have answered your questions to the best of my ability, you are the one who chose to assume I am hiding something. If you want a more detailed response ask a more focused question.

I am sorry for the lack of precision. I was indeed harsh with the questions and I offer my apologies.

Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on November 10, 2012, 05:26:48 PM

Read again. You are not dictating how I should think, you are saying what I think, e.g. "You have an opinion as everyone else", "You are or you not are."

I agree. I indeed said what you think and I am correct. You have an opinion and you expressed very well in the above quotes.

Quote from: Meni Rosenfeld on November 10, 2012, 05:26:48 PM

Religion is about more than a given set of beliefs, there is a strong cultural component. One may respect and be attracted to the culture and tradition regardless of the truth value of the associated beliefs.

If beliefs are all that you are interested in, it is rarely a good idea to be absolutely certain in something of any complexity. A Bayesian assigns a subjective probability p to the truth of any statement. If the statement is "the beliefs associated with religion X are generally true", then theism would be p~1, atheism would be p~0, and any 0
As for me, I don't find the beliefs underlying Judaism to be likely true, but I don't rule out the possibility.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/theism?q=theism

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Definition of theism
noun
[mass noun]
belief in the existence of a god or gods, specifically of a creator who intervenes in the universe.

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/atheism?q=atheism

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Definition of atheism
noun
[mass noun]
disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

If you do not rule out the possibility (p), then you believe (b) that a divine entity exist (1), even if you do not know how to prove the existence of what you perceive:

1 ∈ p ∉ 0

Therefore you are a theist:

p ∈ b ∴ 1 ∃ b