A fence, because I spend a lot of my time on it. Obvioulsy. Image via guzzphoto's Flickr.

I am well aware that in writing this post I am contributing to the very thing that I am criticising. I’m talking about opinions, more specifically why I dislike how the internet has made having one all important.

I have my opinions. Some I have grown up with, others I have developed as an adult and others shift and shape with experience and events. I’m not hugely strident with my opinions. I hate other people ramming their opinions down my throat so why should I do the same? Each to their own. I don’t know that my opinions are right, they are simply my best attempt to make sense of the world around me.

To borrow a phrase from some smooth Channel Four mee-dee-ahh type, my opinions aren’t “crunchy”.  A less flattering way to put it would be “on the fence”.

Let me explain why: in 2001, a college lecturer gave me some words that may be the best (or worst) gift I have ever received:

“Nothing is so black and white that there aren’t shades of grey.”

Ever since, I have decided to try and see everything from all sides. It isn’t easy, in fact it is bloody hard work. It requires thinking; sometimes out loud to my bemused husband or sometimes to myself as I gaze out of a window.

My favourite renaissance dude: Michel de Montaigne. Image via Gerard Van der Leun's Flickr.

Whilst on holiday, I read a quote that made me think back to my old teacher’s phrase:

“Nothing is so firmly believed as that which least is known”

The quote came from the Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne and I found it in the Cadogan Guide to Dordogne and the Lot, in between a thrilling chapter on foie gras production and a list of fine Bordeaux vintages.

Montaigne is considered to be the “father of Modern Skepticism”. He saw doubt and questioning to be good things and was well aware that the world could only be framed by his own perspective. I’ve never considered myself a skeptic, but maybe that’s what I am. I won’t argue that black is white or that the world is flat but I will carry on thinking about things.

The ability to think and form opinions in our own time, free from loud and aggressive tirades  for and against, is something that the internet neglects. Opinion IS NOT everything.

Taking time to reach an opinion or even withholding judgement isn’t weak or cowardly.

To question everything, even yourself, takes guts.

BBxx