By Brianna Austin
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By Brianna Austin
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As
air feeds an inferno so too does innuendo breed a feeding frenzy of
speculation? And just as we gaze upon a fire, we can=t help but be drawn to the sensationalism of good gossip.
Facts? Who needs facts when you have a feeding frenzy? The dangerous thing
about speculation is that like the fire it too spreads quickly and
sometimes out of control. The saga takes on a life of it=s own and opinions are influenced solely by passion,
but in the absence of truth. Sometimes it can cloud the issue until you
forget what the whole thing was originally about. Let
us get back to facts. Last week I was at a bar and got into an interesting
conversation with a girl I had seen around but had never before met. She
said, “An opinion is a statement with the fear of being wrong@. Whenever I would offer my opinion however, she
seemed to be annoyed or amused, I couldn’t tell which. “You, on the
other hand,” she said, “offer
opinions without the fear of being wrong. But, that is not an opinion,
it’s just an observation,” she continued.
Can
an opinion be wrong? Or is an opinion a point of view, based on
circumstantial information (some facts, some not), which is subject to
discussion and debate. To her, if it wasn’t a fact, who cares? Some of
the great philosophers in ancient Greece thought it was everyone=s duty to engage in theories, opinions, and
intellectual debate – the pursuit of higher thought. Some of those
theories -- not facts at the time -- were later proved to be correct and
were the foundation of many great discoveries. At the same time, many
facts commonly accepted throughout history were eventually proved to be
wrong: The world is flat.
Therefore, fact is also a matter of interpretation, isn't it?
I would suggest that someone=s opinion, is
an idea subject to change when circumstances require reconsideration. So
what is fact? The English Thesaurus refers to fact as “information or
truth.” For the sake of argument, lets say fact is indisputable truth.
The next problem we face in getting to the truth, based on facts, is that
sometimes a fact can have different implications when combined with other
relevant information. You can indeed make a statement that on it’s own
is true in fact - yet untrue in its implications. When other truths,
relevant to the situation, are inserted into the story it takes on a new
meaning. Is the telling of only part of the truth the same as telling a
lie? What
motivates people to tell the truth anyway? What motivates people to create
false truths? Is it anger, hate, fear, jealousy, envy? It has been written
that all things stem from fear or love. If that were true it might suggest
that hate emerges from fear. But, fear of what?
Is it the fear of not getting what you want, loosing what you have,
not knowing who you are, or not knowing the heart of someone else? People
lie for all sorts of reasons including, but certainly not limited to,
financial gain, self-protection and jealousy to name a few. But, in
telling the truth, you never have anything to remember. As
always, be happy, be safe, and think pretty!
© 2004 - Brianna Austin - All Rights reserved |
Truth, Fact or Opinion?