Unexamined Opinions

The world is full of unexamined opinions. If you doubt this statement, here’s how to prove it to yourself:

Educate yourself deeply on just about any subject, then go engage somebody in a discussion. After that discussion, go have another. And another. And another.

Over the course of these discussions with your friends and family members — maybe even a few neighbors and co-workers — you’ll quickly discover just how common unexamined opinions are. You may even quietly wonder to yourself, “How could these people be so ignorant?!”

The thing is, we all have blind spots at different points in our lives. We’ve accepted certain things as truth — we’ve blindly accepted “the way things are” — without subjecting these assumptions to any kind of rigorous “truth filters.”

• Would you be willing to challenge some of your cherished — but potentially unexamined or under-examined — opinions?

• Would you be willing to read an author who has a contrary opinion?

• Would you be willing to fully investigate a serious issue — reading even those opinions and theories that differ from yours?

I used to be afraid of such mental exercises, but no longer. Over the course of the last 10-plus years, I’ve become willing to examine my beliefs at a very deep level.

Now I relish this kind of self-examination. It challenges me. It pushes me to greater levels of understanding.

But not everybody can tolerate different viewpoints. When I quoted Howard Zinn recently, a disgruntled reader unsubscribed and lashed out at me. He wrote:

I don’t want my box cluttered by someone who appears to think Howard Zinn was a historian. Even liberal historians such as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., have harsh words for him. Marxist historians like Zinn create “false consciousness”, not understanding.

Ignoring the fact that this reader contradicted himself in the span of three sentences and knows nothing of how much history I read, perhaps his criticism of Zinn is legitimate. That is why I still intend to examine his allegations in the near future.

Because I want to know the truth.

I’ve found very few people actually want to know the truth. Many claim they do, but their actions prove them otherwise. They’d rather read gossip mags, watch ESPN, and research their next big purchase.

I’m hoping you’re different.

I’m hoping you have the guts… and the raw mettle… to closely examine your opinions and pursue the truth no matter how much discomfort it causes you. Make this one of your resolutions for the new year.

-Ryan M. Healy