My Thoughts

Opinions are personal, demanding no allegiance to the truth, which is why we bristle if and whenever our opinions are challenged. We adamantly protest our opinion to be truth—and it may very well be—without a spoonful of fact to add to it. Opinions are by nature emotionally charged for we are personally invested, our egos so deeply involved we cannot nor dare not admit to any fault or crack or fissure, contravening truth be damned. Opinions are malleable, but it takes Mjöllnir to reshape them. There is no emotional weight to plain fact or ordinary truth, which is perhaps why so many choose to ignore or deny such bothersome trifles. Opinions take no effort to obtain and are just so much more interesting.

We have become well and truly addicted to opinion; it is the motor that runs our lives and drives our politics. Have a question, there is a poll for that; attend an event, state your opinion; purchase a product, there is a survey to rate customer service, another to rate the product—all before you have had the chance to open the box. The long-running game show, Family Feud, is premised on the opinions of people surveyed. Political popularity is measured by opinion polls as welcome as junk mail and as reliable as grocery checkout scandal sheets; mainstream media no longer report facts but offer non-stop opinion; vote and before the polls are closed, the pollsters are predicting who won, who lost, all by some margin of error, of course. Want to know which way the wind will blow tomorrow, a survey of likely wind-watchers will prognosticate on its direction, speed, and whether it will blow hot or cold.

Note how many times the “experts” utter “In my opinion” or “It is the consensus of opinion” or “according to the opinion of …” When the experts insult you with their opinion, run for your lives. When politicians defer to the opinions of experts, kneel down, confess your sins, and give your soul to God. Wake up America.

Just my thoughts for a Wednesday, for what it is worth.