Something Has Been Bothering Me....

Well, I guess with that teaser title I have awakened the snoop in you (and me)  that likes to get into someone else's head and know what they are REALLY THINKING. Well, here you go.  With the arrival of the So-Called Social Network (among other things)...humankind has been asked...or should I say allowed to give their opinion on anything and everything no matter how ignorant or uninformed they are about something, and then somehow all these responses get treated equally.  For example, a local television station now asks during its newscast, "Let us know what you think about THUS AND SUCH." At the end of the broadcast they say, 62 percent of you believe this and 38 percent of you believe that. What nonsense! Let's look at one I have been hearing people venture opinion on....Should we cut US Aid to Egypt?  Go ahead and ask a bunch of people. You'll get some percentage saying yes, another percentage saying no, hopefully you will get some who say, "I am not in a position to really venture an opinion on that.  I really need to hear from people who are experts in US Foreign Aid Policy and History, as well as Egyptian History, Politics, Sociology, Economics (to just list a few)...and hear detailed discussions from informed people, then perhaps draw I might be in any way qualified to venture an opinion. In many things no one can be sure (even those with years of learning and experience....but to ask any  man/woman on the street is unforgivable.  It tells that man/woman on the street that what they have to say is equally valid to people who have watched and studied such matters for decade.  What if we did this with medical treatment? (Well, actually, now that I think of it, some people do.) You get stupid, uninformed answers like "Oh my Great Aunt Mabel had that done and she died during the procedure....tranlation YOU WILL DIE IF YOU DO THIS. Or My Great Aunt Mabel had this done and she lived to be 110.....translation YOU WILL LIVE TO BE 110 IF YOU DO THIS. We need to stop venturing opinions and drawing conclusions on things we know almost nothing about. We can try give the odds like ITS LIKELY, OR  PERHAPS HIGHLY UNLIKELY CHANCE THIS OR THAT WILL HAPPEN. But things that are nearly impossible happen all the time in life, and things that seem like sure bets, can be eradicated  in their tracks without warning. Life is a crap shoot in all matters to a greater or lesser degree.  You will win some and you will lose some. I can say it will be HIGHLY LIKELY THAT YOU WILL LOSE SOME THAT SEEMED INEVITABLE, AND YOU WILL WIN SOME THAT YOU NEVER ON EARTH CONSIDERED POSSIBLE. Remember the inverse is true too. So I say, look at the odds, consider the possible outcomes, and then place your bet if you are the Betting Kind.