[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by mgjim

Got this from the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

1: having legal efficacy or force; especially : executed with the proper legal authority and formalities <a valid contract>
2
a : well-grounded or justifiable : being at once relevant and meaningful <a valid theory>
b : logically correct <a valid argument> <valid inference>
3: appropriate to the end in view : EFFECTIVE <every craft has its own valid methods>
4: conforming to accepted principles of sound biological classification

I have to acknowledge that whatever you believe is what you believe and there isn't anything I, or anyone else, can do about it.

It's just that I don't personally believe that every thought holds equal weight in the grand scheme of things.

For example, the other day, I thought it might be nice if all there weren't any mosquitos. While that might be a good thing for me, it would be a bad thing for other life forms (bats and birds). I concluded that it was a pretty unrealistic and, therefore, a fairly useless thought.

Likewise, if you really believe that inter-racial marriage is a bad thing, you eventually have to come to the conclusion that it's not going to end no matter what you believe. At some point, you've got to stop being against it unless you are an unthinking individual.

Does that answer your question?

mgjim -
i suppose it does...but i still cannot say that i agree with you...most of all re the concept that thoughts have to be assigned a weight - a thought is a thought - it means a lot to some and nothing to another - so what? do you survey people on how much they believe in their thought on a scale of 1 to 10? do you judge people on what you think the weight of their thought is?

i see validity in a more philosophical way rather than a legalese way; and sort of like in debating where something is valid or has more validity if a conclusion cannot be contradicted.

one never has to stop being against something or even in favor of something...they just need to accept the reality that regardless of how they feel about something, others will see it differently.