We live in weird times. It seems like now everyone is supposed to have an opinion on everything and expected to express these opinions all the time because they are 'valid'.
But really they're not. When NAFTA was first being discussed someone asked me my opinion on it. I thought it was a ridiculous question. They wanted my opinion on a 900 page piece of legislation that I had never read. Why? My opinion would be meaningless.
I listen to the news in my car to and from work. They present these short little news items that are basically just a string of quotes. They don't do any real research into anything, they just interview. He said this; she said that. The few times I've had some inside knowledge of the real facts of a story, I've been disgusted with the lack of depth and truth in the story as reported. It scares me that all of the news is thoughtless bunk, not just the bits I know about.
And then, of course, the station invites people to call in with their opinions on the lameass piece of fact-free reporting they just aired. And people do. And they're all very sure that they're opinions are important and correct even when they don't have a clue what they're talking about.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-08-18 08:47 pm (UTC)We live in weird times. It seems like now everyone is supposed to have an opinion on everything and expected to express these opinions all the time because they are 'valid'.
But really they're not. When NAFTA was first being discussed someone asked me my opinion on it. I thought it was a ridiculous question. They wanted my opinion on a 900 page piece of legislation that I had never read. Why? My opinion would be meaningless.
I listen to the news in my car to and from work. They present these short little news items that are basically just a string of quotes. They don't do any real research into anything, they just interview. He said this; she said that. The few times I've had some inside knowledge of the real facts of a story, I've been disgusted with the lack of depth and truth in the story as reported. It scares me that all of the news is thoughtless bunk, not just the bits I know about.
And then, of course, the station invites people to call in with their opinions on the lameass piece of fact-free reporting they just aired. And people do. And they're all very sure that they're opinions are important and correct even when they don't have a clue what they're talking about.
It drives me nuts.