Buy Truth and Sell It Not

Seems like you could excavate every newspaper office and TV station in the world, dirt piling up to the ceiling, and come up with a tiny handful of truth- multi-faceted, solid and clear. Seems like most people champion every cause that appeals to them, whether those causes are logical and ethical, or not.

Of course, the brain is connected to the emotions. That would be an interesting topic. This post could become extremely scientific and Wait but Whyish. But I can't write like that man, yet, so I'm not going to try.

I just want to say that I believe truth is valuable, and especially in the past year or so, I've learned that it's really, really rare. We're surrounded by so many mud-lies. People are spitting out mud and playing in it and proudly displaying their mud creations. They're missing the truth-diamonds, but mud is just so much easier. And if you're covered in agreeable mud, the other people who are playing in it can't get mad at you.

Yeah, I've had emotional opinions of my own. But when I find out that they're emotional nonsense, I try to get rid of them. I've figured out that it's really important to be informed, up to and including listening to logical, ethical people.

I used to sort of think the opposite. I thought it was a cop-out to say you want to wait before making a judgment. Someone said, "I don't have all the information I need to give an opinion." And I was thinking, "Yeah, sure, you just want to avoid upsetting anyone, you politically correct mudhead."

I didn't get that because honestly, part of me really likes to upset people, whether they're speaking Christianese or Political Correctish. With people I Actually Like, I feel differently, Keep Favor at All Costs, and Avoid Topics of Violent Disagreement. But with people I barely know and don't care to know, it's a lot of fun to affirm the opposite of whatever-it-is that they're saying. I really don't understand people who always want their conversations to be calm and serene, and leap to shore at the first sign of a ripple.

Still, waiting to form an opinion is extremely legitimate, and I'm sure it's Biblical. I think Proverbs has a lot to say about it. An opinion is fragile- you can always change it later. But once you say it out loud, there's a little thing called pride that keeps getting in the way. You couldn't possibly change your opinion when you affirmed that it was the One Truth- that it was the diamond and the person-you-were-speaking-to was simply a mud-filled mud-minded mudslinger. Now, could you?

So you clutch that opinion, hold it tight to your chest while you feel the mud dripping out between your fingers, and you watch the unanticipated sparkle of the Opinion of the person-you-were-speaking-to.

This wasn't meant to be a New Year's Resolution. But it sort of subtly became one. I resolve that this year I shall be- a slow and well-informed Opinionator. Because I want to dabble in diamonds rather than mud lies. Be edifying rather than upsetting. Maybe ask people questions when, after Extreme Informedness, I know that they are playing in mud. Get them to think about it some more. Because I have reluctantly concluded that arguing does Little, If Any, Good.