Somehow, coffee has become some sort of status symbol. You hear it frequently from the more rural parts of this country or from those cities in Middle America who have experienced emigration of the more educated because of a lack of job prospects. Country music singers wail about how latte sipping urbanites just don't get the "good life."
The thing is, when a small town in Ohio finds out they're getting a Starbucks, they're excited. They write letters to the editors of their small town newspapers praising the move. They order their caramel mocha mint double latte skim milk with whipped cream with no problem. But they'll continue to refer to the people who live on the coasts as "elitists."
I'm sick of it. People repeat this phrase because they have heard it somewhere else and they don't even know what it means. They use it to refer to people with higher levels of knowledge than them, with higher levels of income than them, with higher levels of education than them, and pretty much anyone who lives in a city on a coast.
The fact is, this whole "I'm entitled to my opinion" mentality in this country is resulting in terrible policy (Exhibit A: George W. Bush) and is partially responsible for the messes we're in right now.
No, all opinions are not equal. People who have read about an issue and have studied it generally are closer to the truth than someone who has not. Seems like a simple concept, doesn't it? For the life of me I can't understand why it is difficult for some people to grasp. Someone who has studied political science knows more about political science than someone who didn't study it. Someone who has studied business concepts knows more about business concepts than someone who hasn't studied it. Someone who has studied climate change knows more about climate change than someone who hasn't studied it.
By study, I don't necessarily mean at a university, though that is a big help. By study, I mean someone who has read about it - and not just read about it in one source but in many sources.
The best example of a wrong opinion is when the media was first covering the Sarah Palin book tour. A reporter asked someone who had been waiting in line for three hours why she liked Palin, and the response was something to the effect of "She's real." The interviewee had some sort of anti-bailout shirt on, and the reporter quoted Palin from November when Palin said she supported the bailout (people "forget" it was Bush who bailed out the banks). The girl did not believe the reporter when she told her Palin had supported the bailouts. This is typical. People believe whatever they want to believe without bothering to look up the facts.
But there are those of us who do know the facts. KNOW the facts. The sky is, in fact, blue on a sunny day. Only a blind person would deny this.
The thing is, when a small town in Ohio finds out they're getting a Starbucks, they're excited. They write letters to the editors of their small town newspapers praising the move. They order their caramel mocha mint double latte skim milk with whipped cream with no problem. But they'll continue to refer to the people who live on the coasts as "elitists."
I'm sick of it. People repeat this phrase because they have heard it somewhere else and they don't even know what it means. They use it to refer to people with higher levels of knowledge than them, with higher levels of income than them, with higher levels of education than them, and pretty much anyone who lives in a city on a coast.
The fact is, this whole "I'm entitled to my opinion" mentality in this country is resulting in terrible policy (Exhibit A: George W. Bush) and is partially responsible for the messes we're in right now.
No, all opinions are not equal. People who have read about an issue and have studied it generally are closer to the truth than someone who has not. Seems like a simple concept, doesn't it? For the life of me I can't understand why it is difficult for some people to grasp. Someone who has studied political science knows more about political science than someone who didn't study it. Someone who has studied business concepts knows more about business concepts than someone who hasn't studied it. Someone who has studied climate change knows more about climate change than someone who hasn't studied it.
By study, I don't necessarily mean at a university, though that is a big help. By study, I mean someone who has read about it - and not just read about it in one source but in many sources.
The best example of a wrong opinion is when the media was first covering the Sarah Palin book tour. A reporter asked someone who had been waiting in line for three hours why she liked Palin, and the response was something to the effect of "She's real." The interviewee had some sort of anti-bailout shirt on, and the reporter quoted Palin from November when Palin said she supported the bailout (people "forget" it was Bush who bailed out the banks). The girl did not believe the reporter when she told her Palin had supported the bailouts. This is typical. People believe whatever they want to believe without bothering to look up the facts.
But there are those of us who do know the facts. KNOW the facts. The sky is, in fact, blue on a sunny day. Only a blind person would deny this.
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