Opinion

You may well think that I am very opinionated. You would be right, I am. Over the 14 years I have been posting Blogs, "Senile Sealion" has become a commentary on the world today as I see it. Since I am not yet at the stage of senility when I talk to myself, this is my outlet. In the absence of a husband to bore with my opinions, I put them into print & publish them. Over the years my audience has grown from a handful of noble friends to a high of approx 6,500 in a week. So someone somewhere is interested.

But what is an opinion? Its a belief, perspective, judgement, sentiment, thought, attitude, feeling, conviction....  We are all allowed to have opinions, a right to freedom of expression, on anything. Free speech is important. But are we also allowed to voice those that are derogatory or offensive to others? No, unlawful harassment or unlawful incitement to hatred or violence, for example, does not constitute free speech within the law and is not protected.

I try to be careful what I write & what I say. I have no wish to offend. The difficulty is that speech or the written word are both open to misinterpretation. For example, however careful I am with emails or texts, sometimes what I mean is interpreted differently by whoever reads it. I cannot be responsible for the thought processes of my reader, or listener. They may be emotional or irrational or suffering from some sort of mental disturbance. They may just have a different perspective. I know what I mean, but they can read or hear it completely differently. That's life. It's out of my control.

So I am concerned to see the trend, in the press & media, to speculate wildly, to voice unsubstantiated opinions without any evidential context, to react over emotionally to situations, to not be balanced. It's even worse than that because we have become the post truth era, where half truths & lies are routinely published without challenge. 

The big problem is you can't know what someone is going to say until they say it. You do know what people have said before & can anticipate their opinions though. You also do know what someone has written before. So surely the public need to be informed if an opinion is questionable.

Humans are very diverse. Our intelligence varies hugely.

 

The press & media are there to inform, accurately. But they can manipulate & influence opinion. It is important that we all realise that & each take steps to verify that what we are reading or hearing is accurate. Unless we do we will forfeit democracy & choice. We need to be selective about the voices we listen to. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/public-opinion/Mass-media-and-social-media