Blog #3: Opinions

To put this bluntly...I'm blunt.  In actuality, my middle name might as well be "Blunt."  I prefer for people to not always guess what I am thinking. And that is usually where my opinions and subjectivity come into play.  Is it always a good thing to be blunt when expressing an opinion? Well, in certain situations, no.  However, I do believe there is a difference between being blunt and cruel.

According to self-help author Grahame Cossum's definition of bluntness, ..."being blunt is being able to ask an extremely difficult question, or give an answer someone doesn't want to hear in a a way where dialogue continues, and isn’t closed down. There are always exceptions however, some people will say you are blunt, because they don’t want to hear what you have to say regardless of how it is framed."

Holding on to that thought, lets go back to opinions and subjectivity.  Subjective writing is a type of writing that expresses one's viewpoint, whether it is emotional, judgmental, or a person's direct outlook on a certain stance.  Objective on the other hand is fact-based.  When writing about rhetorical situations, especially in blogging, writing subjectively is beneficial.  It allows the author to express their opinion in a way that may convince his/her audience what they want them to believe.  At times, the subjective writing can be backed up with objective data and research.

I think writing op/eds in a blunt, yet open-minded manner, is what some op/ed writers are drawn too.  A reader should desire to hear about the author's perspective, and sometimes a writer needs to be somewhat blunt to do so. Nevertheless, one may need to keep in mind (including me), that it is more valuable to have the mentality of I will persuade you rather than I will tell you.  Because in the end, the goal is persuasion.  

Something that may be taken from a subjective standpoint is art and music.  One may look at a piece of art, feel a spark and think "this masterpiece is stunning."  Another may look at the same piece of art, not have any emotional reaction and think "this bores me."  The same is with music (which is a type of art, in my opinion). One may listen to a song and feel a wave of emotional energy in the depths of their soul, and maybe even become lost in time. Another may point out that the song gives them a headache.
This is subjective.  

Here is a piece of artwork I saw in 2018 at the Serenity Gathering Festival.  To some, it is simply a painting of a pregnant woman in a bathtub.  But for me, when I first saw this painting, I was wonderstruck and blown away. I studied the painting and felt emotionally connected to it, overwhelmed with awe and curiosity.  I truly think it's remarkable.
After speaking to the artist, I come to find out that the woman in the painting is his wife who was in labor at the time.  He mentioned that he could never understand the feeling of a woman in labor, nor never fully understand what his wife was experiencing. But instead of trying to understand, he decided to paint his perception.

My feeling toward this painting is subjective.  I could write a blog about why I love it, and try and persuade you to love it too. I could also write a blog or an op/ed on current rhetorical situations such as the new-age wave of feminism, the current blackface debate, the U.S. government shutdown, and various other controversies.  Either way, op/eds are a fabulous tool to trigger beliefs and maybe even mold change.