You can't always tell if it's someone's independent thoughts. You can tell, though, if someone is just following someone else's thoughts.

I used to debate with this woman (Teenage girl when we first started) online all the time. Most of the time, her debates consisted of "Dad said this" (Her father is a preacher) or would consist of what her Christian Proffessor at her Christian College had told her, and occassionally her brother.

There were few times where her argument was one where she actually thought it out rather than asking advice from others then using their opinions, IMO. You could always spot the difference. There was one time she said she decided to oppose gay marriage further because her parents had boycotted a paper announcing gay marriage, and she wanted to follow their "good" example.

However, that time was one part independent thought, and one part non-independent thought, IMO. She had said she felt she wasn't doing enough for "morality".

So yea, I agree, it's not easy to tell a person's thoughts unless they're that person.

Another good question:

How do you know if a person's opinion resulted because they thought it through or because it happens to be the exact opposite of what they were taught?

<font color = lightgreen>A good professor fosters differences of opinion in class and doesn't grade based on ideological leanings. Of course, good professors are more rare than you might think.

[img]graemlins/laugh3.gif[/img] Math/science professors are immune to this--there is only one right answer in math class, regardless of your political views.

You could always claim you were using a Reiman sum to approximate the answer. [img]graemlins/beigesmilewinkgrin.gif[/img] </font>

Agreed! Good Question :D

Thanks.