Seven Tiers of Opinion

The Seven Tiers of Opinion. We are pelted by opinions on all networks, particularly cable networks. But your opinion and mine have little impact. To make it to a network appearance, you must have a credential, or several. It seems that any credential will do, provided you have the right opinion, matching the right network. I currently see all sorts. Let’s make a list of just seven tiers of opinion.

Of course, the opinions of those at the top of the hierarchy gain the preferred coverage. These include former secretaries, chiefs of staff, former ambassadors, and generals at the top of the command chain. Also, there is a plethora of CEO's, former and current. All have some level of achievement. Such players have opinions worthy of a listen, if only a quick one.
Then comes the second tier. These include talk show hosts. Always articulate, they have a near poetic ability to express opinions. They are often pejorative for some side of the issue at hand. Yet, they have thought through the issues within their sphere of long rehearsed impressions.
The third tier includes lower-ranking retired military officers with "military and defense" opinions, non-commissioned officers that appeal to a select audience, usually based on strength moves, and senior advisors to this or that federal agency but always available. This group always has strong opinions, spoken with strong views, yet with only little wisdom, unless it resonates with listener personal opinions.
A fourth tier includes current and former police officials, expostulating on their views of crime and usually the lack of or inappropriateness of law enforcement.
The fifth tier, and very limited, consists of the clergy or otherwise religious leader advising us on their views of spiritual issues. Remarkably, some or our notables or celebrities, not regular people, have Tweeted and otherwise how they have found the importance of spiritual or religious needs. Also in this tier are the climate-change and otherwise “green” advocates offering facts and other views on how the planet is being destroyed by anthropogenic causes.
The sixth tier includes a large group of academics often speaking with loud and lordly authority, which in their views must be accepted because, well, they are the intellegentsia and therefore they must be correct. So, you must believe. Academic authority has been deprecated now for decades, it being understood to be highly dependent on various intellectual yet impractical and unproven models. (Consider the French intellectuals prior to WWII.)
Finally, there is a large group of experts, of all stripes, telling us of how our country is slowly being destroyed by its lack of observance and rectitude of racist, gender, and religious prejudice.

With seven tiers of opinion, we are pelted 24/7. Forget actual news. Forget the facts. Demagogue the past. Demagogue the now. Demagogue the future. On the networks, your future seems linked with a massive infusion of opinion. The message, not the truth, now reign. But…

To my view, many if not most people, have developed an intuition about opinion and a semi-cynical view of it all. They seem to have an internal compass of what to accept, but more importantly what to reject.

I have long said that for any intelligence level, there is a Ph.D. program for you. The only requirement is that you can write a complete sentence. In many cases, one can contract online services for a thesis and escape this small requirement. Some of these folks wind up as legitimate commentators on TV.

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I. I. Introduction. Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II. ...

The Lemming Instinct

In certain vital domains, a pervasive mediocrity among practitioners can stifle genuine advancement. When the intellectual output of a field is predominantly average, it inevitably produces research of corresponding quality. Nevertheless, some of these ideas, by sheer chance or perhaps through effective dissemination, will inevitably gain traction. A significant number of scholars and researchers will gravitate towards these trends, contributing to and propagating further work along these established lines. Such a trajectory allows an initially flawed concept to ascend to the status of mainstream orthodoxy. However, over an extended period, these prevailing ideas invariably fail to withstand rigorous scrutiny; they are ultimately and conclusively disproven. The disheartening pattern then reveals itself: rather than genuine progress, an equally unvalidated or incorrect idea often supplants the discredited one, swiftly establishing its own dominance. This cycle perpetuates, ensurin...

Principles of Insufficiency and Sufficiency

The principles we use but don't know it. 1. Introduction . Every field, scientific or otherwise, rests on foundational principles—think buoyancy, behavior, or democracy. Here, we explore a unique subset: principles modified by "insufficiency" and "sufficiency." While you may never have heard of them, you use them often. These terms frame principles that blend theory, practicality, and aspiration, by offering distinct perspectives. Insufficiency often implies inaction unless justified, while sufficiency suggests something exists or must be done. We’ll examine key examples and introduce a new principle with potential significance. As a principle of principles of these is that something or some action is not done enough while others may be done too much. The first six (§2-6) of our principles are in the literature, and you can easily search them online. The others are relatively new, but fit the concepts in the real world. At times, these pri...

First Blog

Search This Blog