Tallieho

Forming Your Own Opinion Is An Art.

Like any artistic platform, there are general guidelines to keep in mind, but there are no laws prohibiting the ill-advised methods. Your mind, after all, is your sanctuary. However, all artists worth their salt ought to know that said guidelines are often the wisest point of reference to start from.
An author may know good and well that the "quotation marks" were specifically designed to imply dialogue being spoken, and yet he/she might decide to use *asterisks* instead. There is no law against this, technically speaking. But that doesn't mean it will convey the author's thoughts any better. If, in his/her opinion, asterisks look better than quotation marks, nothing will stop him/her from using them.
But that author should also understand that changing the rules of the English language based on his/her personal opinion makes his/her literature appear far less professional, resulting in the audience being unable to take them seriously.
Form your own opinions, but choose your battles wisely. When you insist on the small, irrelevant things, you will lose your credibility before you can even communicate the critical things.

It Is A No-Commission Art Form.

So why do so many people adopt opinions from mainstream media? According to the internet, there are a few different definitions of the word "Opinion".

1. "a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge."

2. "the beliefs or views of a large number or majority of people about a particular thing."

3. "an estimation of the quality or worth of someone or something."

4. "a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive."

Apparently, it is perfectly okay, even expected that an opinion will be incorrect. How is that okay? If your opinion is "not necessarily based on fact or knowledge"; how can you claim that that is actually how you feel about it?
Suppose someone told you that, "tamarind is the worst. Don't ever try it." And you believed them, so you never tried it. Then one day, another individual offered you a strange looking seed pod and told you to try the fruit on the inside. The flavor is reminiscent of Warheads candy which (we'll pretend) is your favorite kind of candy. You ask what the fruit is called and they tell you, "it's tamarind."
A lot of the time, we accept ideas presented to us based on who gave us the idea and what we know about that person. We long for acceptance, thus favoring the words of those who we trust and disregarding the words of those who we don't trust. This habit puts a weight on your self esteem, believing that you need to like or dislike certain things so that certain people will like you.
I speak from experience when I tell you; it is so relieving to step out of a debate with the simple phrase, "I lack sufficient data to form an opinion on that."