We live in a time when people seem to be more concerned about the volume of their opinion than the quality of their opinion.
Years ago I started to get annoyed with local news broadcasts. Particularly when they would do "public opion" segments, taking camera crews on the streets to get opinions of random people on various topics. My annoyance was that with a microphone shoved in their face, people would just throw around opinions that they had probably given very little thought to, not to mention if they were even qualified to give any reasonable opinion on the topic. Their ignorance gets broadcast to infect the masses.
Likewise the media publishes public opinion polls on topics like:
- Should Iran be allowed to develop a nuclear program?
- Do you agree with the President's ecomonic program?
- Should the US remain active in the United Nations?
I wish these same polls would offer a response of "I don't think I am qualified to comment on that subject".
I don't mean to sound elitist. I am only criticizing lazy or devisive opinions. Of course, ideas can also be useless if they are too elaborate. I try to keep my articles concise, yet thorough. "Think B4 Speak" is simply an appeal for people to at least make a reasonable attempt to consider an issue before voicing an opinion on it. Likewise, let's not adopt political propoganda without objective consideration. Too many people think that it is a necessity to have and voice an opinion on all topics. I would like to point out that "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable and respectable position to take, until you've had some time to offer a thoughtful opinion. We all enjoy freedeom of speech. Let's also enjoy the occassional freedom to not speak, until we think.
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