Sidebar Blog: P.O.V.

Musings, tangents, asides, and the occasional true confession.

Point of view. Everybody has one. Or six.

Nothing’s wrong with that. We’re all entitled to our opinions.

My gripe is with anyone who presents opinion as fact.

Thanks to cable TV and social networking websites, these self-anointed Truth Tellers are everywhere.

They hail from across the political spectrum. Some can barely spell.

But By God, they’re gonna set you straight on a few things.

They will open up the heavens and rain down upon you with the True Facts. They will quote chapter and verse to make their case.

Problem is, the chapter and verse almost always come from someone (or something) else expressing a point of view. Like The Huffington Post, Fox News, The Heritage Foundation, or The Daily Show. Even The Wall Street Journal’s conservative, Murdoch-nurtured roots are showing these days.

The Worst: They will post a link with the comment, “This says it all.” Indeed.

Hey, I’m as guilty as anyone else. I have my opinions. I have my sources. I’m a tree-hugger. I LOVE Mexican Food. I WORSHIP green chilies. I post links.

But now and again I try – Dear God, I REALLY try – to show a little humility and flexibility in my reasoning.

So maybe you don’t care for green chilies. Well, that’s just wrong. Bad example.

I’m sure you follow my reasoning here.

Let’s all quit professing (and pretending) we have the market cornered on The Truth.

Let’s cite our sources and add a little IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) to the arguments we’re so committed to winning. And maybe shut up and listen up to a different P.O.V. once in awhile, as painful as it may be.

Not that you shouldn’t be alert to the warning signs of incoming Opinion-as-Truth.

My advice: Anytime someone starts a subject related to God, politics or food with words like, “Well, everybody knows…” etc., check your BS detector. If it’s not vibrating madly, it’s time to change the batteries.

In My Humble Opinion.