at some point — probably during the rise of cancel culture — everyone stopped having opinions and instead started to focus on being correct and “seeking truth”.

here’s why you’re all regarded…

first of all, there’s nothing wrong with opinions. opinions are just facts seen through your personal filter. if you show up the party all facts and no opinions, you’re going to sound like a robot. what’s there to talk about? data? numbers? gross, dude. ew.

the caveat here is that some opinions flat out suck. “opinions cant suck, they’re subjective”. cork it, philosophy 101 student. relax. opinions very much can suck. they’re entitled to be held by their owners, sure, you can believe whatever, but your right to do so says nothing about the quality of those beliefs. some suck.

if you don’t want to be boring, you need opinions. but those opinions shouldn’t suck, so you also need to be well-informed.

now, part 2: facts are dynamic in nature. all of information is, really. so when you say “I have the facts” you better have them as they’re presented on the bleeding edge of the moment. and I don’t mean a study from last month, or last week, or yesterday, because that’s already outdated.

you could of course, instead, say “I have a fact” and then use that fact as a point of leverage in trying to convince someone of your Truth, but, simply put fact != truth. facts and truth have never been the same and they never will be. they’re two categorically different forms, although they are close and intertwined in their nature.

the sky is blue, yes, but the sky is not always blue. the fact the sky is blue cannot be used to indefinitely imply that the sky will always be blue. facts are building blocks, truth is the structure, and like different builders get different results with the same materials, you too shall get different truth from different people even when referencing the same facts.

the Truth, for all intents and purposes, is whatever you can prove. it’s not a dataset of information out there waiting to be discovered and immortalized in some government building somewhere. it’s what you can argue for, and what you can prove in a given moment.

ah, well then, so is this an “anything can be anything as long as I can make a good argument for it” type of moment? no! don’t be an idiot!

in the same way that Beauty and Justice and Honor and Good and Bad things exist, Truth too exists in this realm of, dare I say, forms. to actualize it is a process of molding something from primary principles. you are sculpting. you are using information to whittle away an idea into a fine point. a spear is a weapon, but a weapon is a form. you see the difference? you as the creator are responsible for imbuing something with purpose through your intents during the act of creation.

all this to say, you should have opinions on things. opinions show that you’ve been working. they show you’ve been sculpting. the finer you craft your opinions, the closer you are in touch with the forms. it’s no different than taking brush to canvas, or chisel to marble. you’re simply taking a chunk of material from the Abstractium and using symbols as hammer and chisel to mold it into a sharp idea; an idea that can be used as a tool. and tools help you get things done.