Opinions are like shoes

If Frank Tilton’s writings are anything, they are eclectic. Much like his life experiences. Much like his education. Much like the books he reads, the music he chooses, the ideas in his cranium.

Meet Frank Tilton.

Hence this column, as opinion pieces, reflect my own views. You are welcome to disagree. Still, keep this in mind. There is opinion and there is informed opinion. The distinction matters.

This is the page where you the reader find what the author wants you to know about himself. Typically, you’ll see Ph.D., Dissertation, a list of books and articles published, and a list of  emberships in professional organizations. Some of which they’ve actually attended within the past fifteen years. All this so you’ll know you really ought to read what they have to say. I don’t mean to belittle anyone here.

If they walk the walk of what they talk and talk, fine. They might be worth attending to. Some are. But, I, too, have Curriculum Vitae. And here they are (notice the plural):

• grocery clerk (long before items were “scanned”)
• chicken farm ranch hand (or was that chicken ranch farm hand?)
• filling-station attendant (when window washing and a check of the oil was standard service)
• gold mine dynamiter’s assistant
• gold ore crusher operator
• backwoods firewood splitter
• rattlesnake exterminator (self-defense only)
• telephone solicitor (lasted only one-day, detested it)
• UPS route driver
• typist for an Italian attorney (when keyboards were mechanical not electrical, and there was no spellcheck)
• Air Force Morse radio operator
• sports writer, sports editor, news writer, newspaper editor
• Air Force historian (real books, some classified)
• public affairs officer, USAF (24-year USAF career)
• college instructor, English and Journalism
• assistant professor teaching international officers
• teacher, 9th grade English and middle school
• German, 19 years
• husband, father, grandfather …. whoa!
• resident of California, Colorado, Montana, upstate New York, downstate Texas, Nebraska, Indiana, Virginia and a few other places such as Italy, Germany (both sides of the Iron Curtain), Libya (before Kaddafi), Egypt, Greenland, and oh my, the memory fades.
• All right! I’ll fess up. Yes, I’ve also garnered one Bachelor’s degree in English, another in German, a Master of Science in radio-television, and state teaching certification for English, German, and Journalism, all at the secondary level.
• And, no. I do not have a Ph.D. I needed some time in there for rattlesnake exterminating, firewood splitting, and those pesky little wads for the dynamiting.

Frank Tilton

Opinions are like shoes. Some shoes are stylish and colorful but aren’t die sort of footwear you’d want to walk a mile in. Others are of quality leather and crafted for support and comfort, and, yes, for walking far more than a mile. I could set this up as a quality vs. style dichotomy, but truth be told, both have their place and time. Stylish wins with formal attire; support and comfort win for day-to-day and distance.

So it is with opinion. Some gets by just fine in stand-alone mode, like stylish shoes. Some needs quality support to gain credibility. In my Preface I made the statement: There is opinion and there is informed opinion. I wasn’t just being loftily academic. There is a difference. And the distinction is important.

Consider this:
George says: Best car on the planet, that Chevy Camaro.
Phillip asks: Really? Have you ever driven one?
George says: Not yet. But that’s a really hot car!

Now consider this:
Al says: Best car on the planet, that Chevy Camaro.
Fritz asks: Really? Have you ever driven one?
Al says: This is my third one. Been driving these for 20 years. I’ve had over a 100,000 miles behind the wheel of each one. Terrific car!
Okay. No contest, right?
Al has given us an informed opinion. George not so much. So, if you apply this model to your listening and reading skills, you’ll have little trouble recognizing which opinion you find more credible. True with Camaros. True with politics. But not so true with soda pop.

Soda pop brings us to another variety of opinion – personal preference. Like die stylish shoes, personal preference has its time and its place. Your friend likes Coca Cola. You’d rather drink Pepsi. You can imagine the conversation, right? You and your friend could debate all day, but chances are at the grocer you’d both buy die product you prefer. It’s a matter of taste. Personal preference. But not always! It’s possible your beverage choice is based upon informed opinion. For example, if your concern is caffeine, you might choose either Coca Cola (39 mg) or Pepsi (38mg) over Mountain Dew (54mg). If sugar content is important to you, you’d likely select, Coca Cola (44g) or Pepsi (41g) over Mountain Dew (46g). A little more research might lead you to shop for a diet soda. The point remains; informed opinion is one thing, and personal preference is another.

With examples like Camaros and Colas it may seem of little importance to you, this matter of opinion whether informed or otherwise. Not so! In today’s world of misinformation, disinformation, media manipulation and downright skulduggery much is at stake. That’s why it is critical to recognize opinion in all of its forms. For a prime example of informed opinion, go to the article About those Democrats.

Any statement positing what is good, better, or best, (or any synonym of these) is opinion. Likewise, the word will. Will is future tense, and neither you nor I know factually what will happen tomorrow much less ten-minutes from now. Should, must, and ought are words of advice, hence opinion. Many adjectives – especially those ending with -able, -ible or -less – are opinion words.

Finally, let’s go back in history, to a time when folks could disagree with civility. A decade or so before or after the American Civil War, there was a British essayist by the name of John Stuart Mill. This fellow wrote a piece called On Liberty. He offered some advice I wish we’d heed these days. He wrote:

• Opinions ought never to be suppressed.
• There are three sorts of beliefs (opinions) that can be had—wholly false, partly true, and wholly true—all of which benefit the common good.
• If an opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true.
• Though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth.
• Since the general or prevailing opinion on an)’ subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by die collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being  supplied.

Even if an opinion be true, it must be vigorously and earnestly contested (in the interest of it being accepted and understood) so as not to be lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect. (I have ever so slightly edited this last point to modernize it a bit without losing the intent.)

Today’s college and university campuses would surely benefit (yes, this is an opinion – mine) by returning to Mill’s recognition of the value of hearing-out opinions, even, or especially, those with which one might disagree. Such civil listening, however, is not much in evidence at this time.