by Mary Wakefield Buxton –
URBANNA —
Aren’t the opinion pages in the Southside Sentinel fun to read? I always read the letters to the editor first and I really enjoy the diverse opinions.
We are fortunate to live in a society that offers diverse opinions. Freedom of speech is guaranteed in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights and protects Americans from persecution and punishment from the government for expressing opinions. It could be the most important freedom we have because we can speak out if we don’t like government and not be whisked away in the night, thrown in jail or worse.
Of course, opinion isn’t necessarily fact, truth or even reality. It’s simply opinion. But isn’t it splendid that we can freely give and take it?
We have to be careful not to abuse it, however, by disrespecting those who express opinions in which we don’t agree. Freedom to express opinions should not include the right to be rude, insulting or publicly put down others. Throwing barbs at others rather than ideas is not expressing opinion, but elementary school playground behavior.
Opinion is diverse simply because it’s based on individual experiences. Our individual experiences confirm we live in a free society. Naturally we have differences of opinions on every subject imaginable simply because — we have different experiences.
Take the law profession — looking at four types of lawyers we can easily see why opinions might dramatically differ:
• One lawyer, a trial attorney in a practice that specializes in winning big rewards for personal injury cases, may have an opinion against government setting a cap on personal injury awards.
• An estate planning lawyer, however, whose main job is to protect clients from over taxation by writing generation skipping trusts might well hold an opinion that government should not levy death taxes on estates.
• A legal-aid lawyer who works to protect low-income clients from eviction or harassment for delinquent payment of bills may well hold an opinion that government should enact more protective legislation for the indigent.
• Finally, consider a lawyer that works for an agency in the federal government. Would it be surprising if such a lawyer would support more government spending to support his/her particular office’s annual budget or even hiring more lawyers?
A person out of work may well have a different opinion on government obligation to the unemployed than a person who had a secure job with full benefits. Or, more recently, a person with a guaranteed paycheck coming in each payday may believe shutting down his community a good idea to offer protection from the COVID-19 virus but someone with no paycheck who must go to his place of work each day to earn money to pay bills might have an entirely different opinion.
I like to read opinion letters and reflect on why that person espouses a particular opinion. There is usually a plausible reason. It’s often related to one’s line of work.
I am always concerned about the movement we call “political correctness.” This is a dangerous threat to freedom of opinion as it is an attempt to come up with an “approved and prescribed” set of views that does not tolerate opposing thought. This trend leads to totalitarianism where everyone is forced to lockstep to the required “dogma of the day.”
I am concerned about Facebook and Twitter controlling and censoring free expression of news and opinion on their Internet systems. I approve the recent anti-trust suit the Department of Justice has filed against Google and hope for more aimed at other giant corporations that are attempting to control individual freedom of expression.
A writer must be free to express ideas and give feedback to the community in which he/she works. It is of great concern that the field of journalism seems to be losing individual thought and is moving toward one way “mandated” thinking.
It’s quite noticeable when an issue comes up many journalists immediately begin using the very same words or expressions as if they have been assigned ideas to express by some higher power. It leaves me feeling very uncomfortable.
Writers ought to do their own thinking and write using their own words. Dogma is poison to a writer.
Imagine what a dull society it would be like if all writers expressed identical thought! One person’s opinion is never “right” or “wrong,” merely related to individual circumstances in life. With tolerance we can learn a lot from each other when we share opinion and experiences — if we can only listen with an open mind.
This is just another reason why America is so great!
© 2020
