Opinions
Humanities 100 Online

I often think it is better not to have an opinion, then to have a certain one that locks the door of my curiosity. At the same time, if I have an opinion, I will want to know how I hold it, loosely or tightly. I am guilty of judging on a superficial basis from a glance or a dramatic example, but I hope I hold these opinions loosely. I am also unshakable in my opinion that experiment and independent confirmation are currently the most valid and reliable methods of knowing. I hold this opinion tightly. So for the most part, when it comes to teaching, I have rather loose to no opinions of students and rather tight to full opinions of what constitutes knowing.

When students exclaim, "I have a right to my opinion," I think they often mean don't oppress me, or don't serve up for public scrutiny that little bit of me left uneaten by my parents, siblings, mates, and bosses. I imagine a futile attempt to stand once more and to say I am different, no matter how silly the opinion sounds in their own ears.

Rights to opinions should not be so dearly bought. Wasn't it our poet laureate that said, "if you whine,  you'll be eaten alive." A self that does not know and pride itself in being unique in experience, without a duplicate, and free has been enslaved, trespassed, possessed, and dominated by someone or something, perhaps a myth. And to be free of this domination, the modern tyrannies of a free world, takes great courage, skepticism, and integrity...not an opinion.

Some opinions simply serve to mask fear, guilt, revenge, and sadness. If we wear them long enough, they become our faces, gestures, postures, tones of voice and gait. Perhaps this is essential. Perhaps the mask is the therapy, the creation of a new self on the ashes of the unsuccessful one.