I was arguing with AB, my gourmet friend, about meat, of all
\nthings.<\/p>\n
He said Ruth Chris porterhouse steak is the best meat money can
\nbuy.<\/p>\n
I said I preferred the chopped liver at my local deli.<\/p>\n
“But steak is better than chopped liver!” AB said as if
\nproclaiming the gospel truth. Perhaps you agree with him. I
\nthink most people do.<\/p>\n
But the fact remains: AB should not have said steak is better
\nthan chopped liver. What he should have said was: “I like steak
\nbetter than chopped liver.” Because food preferences are just
\nthat – preferences, not facts.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, too many of us defend matters of opinion as
\nvehemently as if they were commandments etched in stone. This is
\nespecially true in political arguments between liberals and
\nconservatives. Just listen to Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage.<\/p>\n
How about you?<\/p>\n
Do you have a burning urge to prove to others that you are right
\nall the time?<\/p>\n
Perhaps you should not.<\/p>\n
Having strongly held opinions is one thing … but being overly
\nmilitant in defending them is something else.<\/p>\n
Humans have always been contentious by nature.<\/p>\n
Now the Internet has become a breeding ground for displaying
\nunstinting bickering and argument for all to see.<\/p>\n
The next time you’re about to foam at the mouth because you
\ndisagree with something someone said online or elsewhere, take a
\nbreath … and ask yourself why it’s so important for you to argue
\nwith the other guy.<\/p>\n
A lot of folks I encounter would say that the reason is simple:
\nthey know they are right and feel obliged to correct the other
\nperson’s misinformation.<\/p>\n
The problem is that often, when we think we are right, that is
\nonly our opinion … and it is not a fact – like steak vs. chopped
\nliver.<\/p>\n
For what it’s worth to you, I follow a different approach,
\nespecially in business: It is based on the understanding that I
\nam not always right and in fact am often wrong.<\/p>\n
The result is an open-mindedness to other opinions and differing
\nideas many people sometimes lack. <\/p>\n
This flexibility of thought was developed based on my 3+ decades
\nin direct mail copywriting. <\/p>\n
Being a direct response copywriter is a humbling experience, for
\nthe following reason: there are times when a mailing you think
\nof as a sure winner bombs, and conversely, when the mailing you
\ndon’t have much confidence in turns out to be a home run. <\/p>\n
This goes to show that our opinions are only that – opinions –
\nand are often rendered inconsequential by the reality of actual
\nfacts.<\/p>\n
According to an old maxim, the only two things that are certain
\nin this world are death and taxes.<\/p>\n
I’m not sure the list of what is certain is quite that limited.<\/p>\n
But the list of things that are matters of opinion – and not<\/p>\n
matters of absolute fact – is probably much larger than most<\/p>\n
people think. <\/p>\n
At least, that’s my opinion. What do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was arguing with AB, my gourmet friend, about meat, of all things. He said Ruth Chris porterhouse steak is the best meat money can buy. I said I preferred the chopped liver at my local deli. “But steak is better than chopped liver!” AB said as if proclaiming the gospel truth. Perhaps you agree […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}