Opinions. We all have them about nearly everything. And we usually have a variety of them. Sometimes we even ask other people for their opinions as well even when we are not sure what we will do with them.
Adding new ones to the existing collection can be useful– provided they don't clash with old ones.
The sound of two opinions clashing can be very disconcerting, causing the sudden onset of existential moodiness and the development of further opinions in a desperate attempt to prop up the existing ones.
In my opinion it seems unlikely there will ever be an opinion shortage as most people have at least one opinion founded in experience plus another four or five on subjects they know nothing about.
This is evident whenever you hear a person watching rugby on TV, offering an armchair opinion on who should coach the All Blacks or a someone telling a pilot how to fly a plane. (I recall a flight where it was announced by the pilot we would be diverting to another airport for safety reasons to comments from some passengers saying they could have landed the plane).
There is certainly no shortage of opinions of all shapes and sizes. If you asked six people why the chicken crossed the road you will get six different opinions on what motivated said chicken and why the odds on being run over by a passing truck carrying eggs is a classic version of what came first the chicken or the eggs.
Opinions are an odd phenomenon. They can form within a complete knowledge vacuum that no facts can ever penetrate, leaving no room for other ideas.
In politics, burning a pile of opinions just adds fuel to the media fire while social media is totally reliant on opinions to generate revenue.
There is a process for pushing opinions up to the top of search ratings and group them together into an echo chamber reverberating with one set of opinions that excludes others.
Some opinions are made in NZ and some are imported from other countries. Some come as kitsets with some assembly required.
The assorted bits of opinions about intolerance, xenophobia and bigotry might initially look daft and relatively harmless but once they are put together can become extremely dangerous.
Working out which opinions are worthy of consideration and which are lies is now a full-time job as "fake news" is now used to covertly subvert all manner of opinions. No sooner has one opinion been touted than another comes along to knock it sideways.
All opinions should be treated with caution.
When we hear a new opinion, we should treat it like a surprise package and immediately check the address to see where it comes from then shake it vigorously to see if it rattles before opening.
I see your point ... Paul Harrion holding a monocular thought to be from World War I. Photo / File
Once it is clear there are no sharp bits check for factual content and instructions for use. If the opinion appears to come from an unknown source it can be binned. This includes gossip.
If the opinion appears to be from someone, who on checking, appears by virtue of their role or experience to have something worthwhile to say then see where that opinion fits alongside a range of other opinions.
This can be difficult as finding good ideas based in sound science requires a bit of scouting and can be hard to understand but the summary is often where to look for core findings.
I found an injured opinion on wellness the other day that had got trampled in the rush towards a celebrity touting some new fad. With a bit of TLC the injured opinion might recover and survive long after the fad as reached its use by date. But that's just my opinion.
•Terry Sarten (aka Tel) is a writer, musician and social worker. Feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz
