In my humble opinion…

[chrispenycate]

Well, no. Humility is not among the qualities I would ascribe to my opinion. Not that it doesn't have other virtues; tenacity, courage (although that last might actually belong to my convictions, that share a flat with him, and could be landing it out) consistency…

I wouldn't go so far as to claim my opinion suffers from overweening pride, but largely because he might get offended, and leave, and I regularly need an opinion; sometimes, convictions just aren't enough. (Not that they would be upset if he went – according to them he squeezes the toothpaste wrong, and leaves plates draining by the sink, never drying them up. But that's their opinion.)

And he can change; or occasionally I can change him (new line of jokes – 'How many {insert profession here} does it take to change an opinion?' 'Just seven; three to ignore the evidence, three to ignore the arguments and one to make a decision on preconceptions.' That makes him easier to live with than some people's 'don't try and confuse me with facts, I know what I believe' models. Well, easier for me, that is; perhaps some people approve of a static, rigid universe, but I missed out when they were distributing the religious fanatic genes.

Which doesn't mean my opinion isn't capable of digging in and maintaining an undefendable outpost, not in the least, but when the writing is finally on the wall he will retreat, pride battered but intact, humility (as always) beyond him.

You may well wonder what these little essays are doing in AW. Perhaps I should be putting them in "Blogs", since I'm not expecting a critique, can't see anyone else attempting the same form of writing exercise, so they're not 'workshop' subjects, and I like getting reactions on them. So I put them here, pending further instructions.

 

[The Judge]

Is anybody's opinion ever humble?

And don't speak to a Judge about convictions...

 

[Nik]

Uh, I thought my teenage scribblings were the best thing since sliced bread until I discovered otherwise...
{FX: Cringe...}

Yeah, well, I binned the equivalent of a novel, but kept the back-story for my Convention arc...

My father gave up reading my weekly New Scientist and monthly Scientific American (Back when latter had Math Puzzles & Diversions, Amateur Scientist column etc etc etc ;-)) because all the old certainties kept getting torn down and re-worked.

FWIW, I remember when the term 'Big Bang' was coined as an insult, and quarks were considered a mathematical convenience akin to 'i', the square root of minus one...

Oh, and there was no practicable way to measure solar neutrinos, surely ?? Finding 2/3 were missing proved that conjecture, didn't it ?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Sounds more like a subject for the Lounge, chris, since it doesn't seem to be specifically about writing.

If is about writing, perhaps you could establish a more direct connection? If you want to keep it general, then I think it needs to be moved.