Why..

[Wonderer]

Why do people tend to agree with those who're well respected than the average Joe like me? What I mean is I could say something and everyone would put up a fight disagreeing sayin I was wrong blah blah blah.

 

But if someone who was well-known, well-respected, came and said the same thing people would be like "Hmmm.. you know he's right" and doesn't put up a fight.

 

Why is that? It seems as though when I make an opinion people must put up a fight with me. Why? A while back I stated my opinion on something when coworkers disagreed totally with it. But then someone who has more authroity and well-respected literally said the same thing and everyone listened, was interested, didn't put up a fight, and seemed to agree.

[Tony T]

It may very well be the way you word your opinions. Or you may be too opinionated...having ideas about everything...and people are just sick of it. It may be that the people didn't ask for your opinion. But most likely it's the way you come across. So you might want to review the language you use and not make your opinions too harsh or too black and white.

 

There is also a principle known as "expert from afar" in which the credibility of an individual tends to increase the further he has come to give his counsel or opinions or to the degree of his fame or reputation in the community. In other words, people may give more credibility to the opinions of the mayor of your city or to a well known attorney on whatever matter they speak about. Those people are the fat, dumb and happy who simply give out credibility because the people are so and so, regardless of the bullshxt they may be advancing.

 

Another phenomena is television. People will believe just about anything because it's on television, whether a talk show host says it or it's in a commercial. Several televangelists have gone to jail for defrauding viewers out of millions of dollars in various schemes. Real estate tycoons have been jailed for making wacko claims of vast and sure profits within their infomercials.

 

Humans tend to give that which is set in print or type more credence than if an ordinary person spoke it. That's pretty dangerous in the age of the Internet where anybody can set up a site and say almost anything about anything. Benjamin Franklin used to get into arguments with people, bet money with them, then go home that night and set the information into type and print it. The next day, he would present the printed word backing up what he said and collect on the bet.

 

The point I'm making is that people are somehow impressed by reputation and celebrity and tend to give what they say more credence. Research has also shown that more attractive people tend to get more credibility than lesser attractive people, even when they are totally full of crap.

 

So, what do you do?