Politics tend to produce stupid opinions

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for March 18, 2026)

Everyone has opinions, usually on almost everything. Not all opinions are equally valid, though, and there are good reasons why this is true.

It doesn't bother me when people have opinions which differ from mine, as long as those opinions are based in reality and on facts. What bothers me is when people have different opinions based on superstition, lies, hallucinations, or some combination of all those.

People can look at the same facts and think some of those facts carry more weight than others, and this will cause them to form different opinions. I may disagree because I think other facts are the more important ones. Even when this is the case, I can at least understand why they've reached a different opinion. Opinions based on facts are valid, even when they differ.

People can also use different sets of facts, focusing on some and ignoring others. This doesn't mean they are automatically wrong, but some facts are less relevant than others. You can't debate the relative pros and cons of electric vehicles and petroleum-powered vehicles by pointing out how many of each are blue. Even if it's a fact, it's not relevant to the issue being discussed.

Once a debate becomes emotionally charged, this is the kind of fact people often try to use to prove their point and validate their opinions. I see it all the time when the rights of gun owners are being treated like second-class rights or privileges.

Often, people can't even agree on what the facts are. It seems like this would be easy to settle, but it isn't.

The worst opinions arise when people form their opinions based on things which simply aren't true and can be shown to be untrue. These don't even look like real opinions to me, but look like a display of confusion instead. The people with this sort of opinion are usually the ones most committed to their stance because facts won't sway them.

This is common in what passes for political opinions, especially on the internet. These are the people who are most likely to realize the argument isn't going their way, so they post an insult and block you before you can respond. They are more concerned with feeling right than being correct; with sticking to their opinion rather than with finding out what's true. This is why I am of the opinion that politics makes people stupid.

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PS-
Coincidentally, this was posted the day after I submitted the above column:

link

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