The Fact Is...

It is probably not a fact.

Opinion: a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Fact: a thing that is known or proved to be true.

Thirty years ago, it was possible to go an entire daylight hour without receiving input from other people. It was easier to freely think back then. It was simpler to form an opinion without the influence of everyone else’s opinion. Today that’s not quite so easy. From the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep you are filtering thousands and thousands of opinions on everything from politics, health, education, fashion, food/diet, child-rearing, and more. Television, social media, email, radio, books, magazines, blogs; it’s all opinion. Even when you shop online, retailers suggest other things that you might like to buy. Yes, Amazon has an opinion for you too!

Our brains spend the entire day flushing out opinions from others. In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s we were not so inundated with everyone/everything offering opinions on everything.? Through television programing, we had some opinions on a few things. But there were not a lot of stations, and back then, journalists were journalists, not news anchors, armchair bloggers, and citizen contributors. In the old days, if you wanted an opinion, you wrote to Dear Abby, and you would get one. Now, opinions are shoved in our faces all day, every day, whether or not we ask.

Here are some thoughts on how to think clearly and freely in an ocean of opinion:

Remain Contrarian – It’s difficult to know who or what to believe. Contrarians are those who reject all popular opinions. This is a safe starting point for the world we live in today since almost nothing you hear on a daily basis will be objective and unbiased. It is safe to assume that nothing you hear on TV, social media, or from the general population is a fact, and thus don't believe it as gospel without first doing your own research.

Source the Opinion – When you are curious to know or understand something, source any opinions you receive. If you listen to a news report, figure out where they are getting the information. Keep digging. If they reference a study, go find the study. Keep digging. If you cannot trace someone’s opinion back to objective or unbiased information substantiated by a minimum of two credible sources, discard it, and go find better information.?

Red Flags – When anyone sources a statistic, like 93% of people do not trust the news, the hair on your neck should stand up. How many people were polled? Where were they polled? Why was the poll taken? Who collected the results? How long ago was the poll taken??The same statistics and data can be chopped up, manipulated, and managed to win either side of any argument, period. For a great book on this subject, check out Charles Seif’s book Proofiness.

Disguised Opinions – This is the sneakiest and most dangerous of all. ?Sometimes when an opinion is given, the giver of the opinion will disguise it as a fact. Facts have proof. Solid, verifiable proof, is the only difference between a fact and an opinion. Like 4+4=8. It can be proven. If someone offers you a fact, ask for the proof. Request the printout of the proof, study, data, that proves the fact. What you may find is that the proof behind the “fact” is nothing more than opinion, thereby turning the fact as presented into opinion.

Remember, It’s an Opinion – Perhaps the greatest rule of thumb for navigating the sea of opinions each day is to simply remember that you are in a sea of opinions. Do not take stock, and more importantly, do not base decisions for you, your loved ones, or your business on those opinions. The result could be devastating. Instead, just recognize opinions for what they are, someone else's judgment which is not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. Start there, and then work your way towards finding the truth and objectivity, or lack of it, that lives in the shadow of the thousands of messages presented to you each day.