OPINION VS PREJUDICE

  

These two might appear confusing however, if you study both of them rather closely, you would see the difference set before your very eyes.

OPINION is a judgement based on a FACT. 

Either positive or negative.

Take note that you cannot just make any random judgements and call it OPINION. Remember that you can freely call it an opinion if you based it on a FACT. That means you must have read enough, heard enough and seen enough.

Therefore, a FACT is essential when formulating an OPINION.

The fact that plastic has been produced massively everyday for our daily use could lead to an opinion that plastic could be man’s subtle instrument in destroying the earth. The word subtle is used because plastic does not really present itself naturally as a threat but a useful thing. It is how man dispose of it that may directly affect the earth.

PREJUDICE is a half-baked opinion based on insufficient or unexamined evidence. 

• It is mostly negative.
• It is also a preconceived mindset that leads to the impartial judgement of ideas or people. So, if we put it in the perspective of a trial, a prejudiced judge already has determined the outcome before even looking at the evidence. That is because he/she already has that impartial way of thinking towards a specific incident, person, idea and the like.
• It is tempting however, to call our judgement an opinion but take into consideration that if you do not have valid information to support your claim, then you are merely presenting a prejudice. A PREJUDICED person already has a judgement before the evidence should have been taken close examination.

This figure shows that JUDGEMENT is common between prejudice and opinion. It also shows that prejudice is merely composed of judgement as it is not necessarily a concrete opinion since it is not based on evidence rather an individual’s pre-conception. An opinion is crafted after getting facts while a prejudice has been formed regardless of the facts.

The fact that plastic has been produced massively everyday for our daily use could lead to an opinion that plastic could be man’s subtle instrument in destroying the earth. The word subtle is used because plastic does not really present itself naturally as a threat but a useful thing. It is how man dispose of it that may directly affect the earth.

PREJUDICE is a half-baked opinion based on insufficient or unexamined evidence. 

• It is mostly negative.
• It is also a preconceived mindset that leads to the impartial judgment of ideas or people. So, if we put it in the perspective of a trial, a prejudiced judge already has determined the outcome before even looking at the evidence. That is because he/she already has that impartial way of thinking towards a specific incident, person, idea and the like.
• It is tempting however, to call our judgment an opinion but take into consideration that if you do not have valid information to support your claim, then you are merely presenting a prejudice. A PREJUDICED person already has a judgment before the evidence should have been taken close examination.

This figure shows that JUDGMENT is common between prejudice and opinion. It also shows that prejudice is merely composed of judgment as it is not necessarily a concrete opinion since it is not based on evidence rather an individual’s pre-conception. An opinion is crafted after getting facts while a prejudice has been formed regardless of the facts.

Saying that man only exists to destroy the earth is prejudice as it indicates the speaker's angst towards man and how people are so mindless of the environment that they care less of what might happen to it. The speaker is generalizing what all men are and thus is already closed minded about what other good things man has done over the millennium.