I marvel at how many "opinion polls" there are on various internet pages, particularly "news" pages.
Do you think the sanctions against Putin are going to work? Do you think Oscar Pistorius is guilty of murder? Do you think terrorism is behind the missing plane? The answers you can choose from are very cut and dry, very black and white. And thousands of people click their "opinions" on these buttons every day. They have strong opinions on these and most other matters.
The sad fact is, of course, they know none of the details (the inside, real facts) of the Ukraine crisis, a murder trial down in South Africa, or a Malaysian flight disappearance. They are simply in their homes in Arkansas or Utah and watching FOX, CNN, MSNBC or the local news (all of which receive their news feeds from one source these days and simply pass on sketchy facts couched in their own opinions and ideologies). The poll clickers don't have a clue about any of these three situations, so why should their "opinion" even count, let alone be registered and reported? Instead they should be clicking on polls that ask if they eat oranges every week, go to baseball games at least once a month, or what they think about their children playing video games 4 hours a day. These are questions they have personal experience about--these are the kind of questions that make their opinions valid.
So, what does THIS have to do with the novels I write? I write novels that introduce ideas that perhaps some people have not thought about, have not taken an opinion poll on, and have not seen covered in their news feeds or on TV. I write novels with the hope of making ordinary folks QUESTION things. Question the news coverage, question the opinions presented as news coverage, question their government, and question the status quo. I want people to explore new concepts via the only real way to learn facts in this world: through their own personal one-on-one experience with their surroundings and the extraordinary laws of the Universe. Not through news feeds and certainly not through opinion polls.
Do you think the sanctions against Putin are going to work? Do you think Oscar Pistorius is guilty of murder? Do you think terrorism is behind the missing plane? The answers you can choose from are very cut and dry, very black and white. And thousands of people click their "opinions" on these buttons every day. They have strong opinions on these and most other matters.
The sad fact is, of course, they know none of the details (the inside, real facts) of the Ukraine crisis, a murder trial down in South Africa, or a Malaysian flight disappearance. They are simply in their homes in Arkansas or Utah and watching FOX, CNN, MSNBC or the local news (all of which receive their news feeds from one source these days and simply pass on sketchy facts couched in their own opinions and ideologies). The poll clickers don't have a clue about any of these three situations, so why should their "opinion" even count, let alone be registered and reported? Instead they should be clicking on polls that ask if they eat oranges every week, go to baseball games at least once a month, or what they think about their children playing video games 4 hours a day. These are questions they have personal experience about--these are the kind of questions that make their opinions valid.
So, what does THIS have to do with the novels I write? I write novels that introduce ideas that perhaps some people have not thought about, have not taken an opinion poll on, and have not seen covered in their news feeds or on TV. I write novels with the hope of making ordinary folks QUESTION things. Question the news coverage, question the opinions presented as news coverage, question their government, and question the status quo. I want people to explore new concepts via the only real way to learn facts in this world: through their own personal one-on-one experience with their surroundings and the extraordinary laws of the Universe. Not through news feeds and certainly not through opinion polls.