George Burns once said he thought it too bad that the people who know how to run the government are so busy driving cabs and cutting hair. His point is well taken, as the deluge of public opinion on government, politics and world events have made separating fact from feelings a near impossibility. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is letting it be known.
Where once news commentary was relegated to a three-minute segment at the end of a broadcast, it now has become the main attraction; hours and hours of opinion dotted occasionally with something called “news.”
It is certain that opinion has been around forever. A person’s opinion of an issue, in large measure, shapes how that persons thinks and reacts to issues, problems and life in general. Now, I‘m sure knowing what you believe is healthy, and in many ways separates humans from other animals, but something has changed in the way opinion is shared. Where once it was with discretion and usually offered by invitation only, opinions today are imposed with no holds barred or permission asked. They gush from television, radio and print like a fire hydrant jetting water. Even now the weather channel promotes certain views on global warming. That was at one time my “safe channel” for watching un-opinioned programming. I’ve since changed channels to the continuous fireplace burning on our local community station. Opinion is taking over the world as everyone in the media business have opinions to promote.
Our problem today is what Robert Frost so adequately said: “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t and the other half who have something to say and keep on saying it”. What we hear today on the news and opinion stations is not “news” or “conversation”, but monologues that say nothing or the same thing over and over.
The use of experts on the news channel is a little over stroked. Who are these guys and what makes them experts? I once heard a good definition of an expert, “A little squirt under pressure” or “Anybody with a brief case fifty miles away from home”. It has been said that “sound is more manageable than silence”.
So, while I’m at it here are five (or so) of my choice opinions:
1) I think we wash cloths to much
2) I think atheism is far better for Christianity than TBN
3) I think the insurance industry is one of the biggest scams in history
4) I think Elvis is really dead
5) I believe passing kidney stones is worse than giving childbirth
6) I believe I should keep my opinions to myself.
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