This "you have to have been in a war to have an opinion on war" is a non-sequitur.
But it is an extremely commonly used one. It's time to just say, "No, I don't have to have participated in the horror of war or to have personally been victimized by it to know more than enough about it to have valid opinions about it."
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Humans are profoundly adept at abstract thinking.
And we do not have to be certified, credentialed experts to learn enough about 99% of the things we encounter in life to form rational opinions about them.
This "you have to have been in a war to have an opinion on war" is a non-sequitur.
But it is an extremely commonly used one. It's time to just say, "No, I don't have to have participated in the horror of war or to have personally been victimized by it to know more than enough about it to have valid opinions about it."
---
Humans are profoundly adept at abstract thinking.
And we do not have to be certified, credentialed experts to learn enough about 99% of the things we encounter in life to form rational opinions about them.