I may be wrong, but I'm consistently wrong

When you agree with an idea, it is an enlightened observation. When you disagree with it, it is just propaganda.

When I was an editor, I used to write what I though were hard-hitting editorials. I quit when I concluded they rarely changed anybody's opinion but frequently reinforced the biases they already had. I then filled the space with pieces discussing the pros and cons of issues. I thought that would be more helpful, but I found that the readers like children eating. They picked out the parts they liked and ignored the rest.

That experience convinced me that the media would do well to stick to reporting the news and stay away from expressing opinions. The trouble is, that's no fun. It's hard to do a good job of objective reporting. It's a lot more satisfying to set down your opinions and delude yourself that you are doing it so brilliantly that other people will change theirs.

In rare cases it works, but usually not because the idea is expressed so eloquently. Usually, it is because people read or hear something they didn't know. They assume that the source is privy to information they don't have so it must be true. Even then, the information has to fit close enough to the person's own biases to be accepted. Otherwise, it is simply ignored.

In fact, most people pick the papers they buy and the stations to which they listen by how closely they mirror their own thinking. They will tell you that they choose the media because they think it is fairer and more balanced. Often, however, their reasons are just the opposite.

It is much the same way with personal contacts We tend to associate with people who share our views. You will hear people say that they like this or that person in spite of or even because he argues about things. Usually, this means the two favor different baseball teams or disagree about brands of automobiles. If they were at odds over something as fundamental as politics or religion, they probably would not have become friends in the first place.

We tend to gravitate toward people who share our basic values because it is more comfortable to do so, but there are other reasons. When you associate only with people who agree with you, you have a captive audience for your opinions. You can count on their approval of just about everything you say. Where your critics may think you are an uninformed fool, your friends will think you brilliant, not because you are, but because thinking so validates their own views.

If so many people have strong personal opinions, you wonder how the opinion polls keep running into large numbers who say they don't know or are undecided about the question asked. My guess is that most such people just don't want to tell strangers what they think. Either that or they have not had time to process the idea and decide where it fits with the others that the person holds.

One theory for how we form our opinions says that they are forged at an early age, mainly by what our parents believe. I don't agree with this notion, largely because it ignores the generation gap. Many young people form opinions diametrically opposed to those of their parents. Some come to their senses in middle age, but many continue to harbor these contrary views for life. Then, their own children go off in the opposite direction.

I am not suggesting here that nobody ever changes his mind because he has been persuaded by strong arguments to the contrary. Sometimes an opinion formed in ignorance is changed by education. Sometimes an eloquent teacher or a dedicated clergyman can be the molding influence. In most cases, however, people change their views on superficial subjects because they want to fit in and it is easier to conform than to resist. It also is less tiring.

In the end, however, I think most people form their convictions at an early age and pick their friends and associates accordingly. It's more comfortable and closing your mind when you are young saves the trouble of thinking in later life.

Bruce Callander
12 November 2004
 

http://www.cheboygannews.com/articles/2004/11/11/news/opinion/opinion1.txt
 

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