Everyday Canvas

Opinion Markets and Ebola

I don’t think anyone has enough evidence either way on Ebola. It can be like other so-called epidemics that erased themselves before touching us or it can be the second plague. The worst scenario will happen if the virus turns into an airborne one. At the moment, it seems to be bad enough, since a medical caregiver has contracted it. As for me, all I know is what I hear on the news, which loves to excite and titillate the public. With this little, uncertain knowledge, forming a passable opinion is impossible for me; thus, I can’t write anymore on this subject.

So, I am jumping to another subject on which I have at least half an opinion:

Opinion Writing

It seems with the onset of internet, opinion writing has become the norm. Opinion writing is an elementary type of argument writing in which the writers express their opinions and preferences. Sounds like exactly what the Internet needs, right? Another place for people you don’t know to chew the fat on anything and everything. Still, I applaud the practice, which gives everyone a voice, honoring free speech as never before.

On the other hand, too many voices make cacophony, producing writing without enough reasonableness or evidence. This leads to broken friendships among people sometimes, like getting unfriended in FB.

On the plus side, writing one’s opinions and getting good at it may lead to finer writing and even to a new vocation as an editorial and opinion journalist. Some papers are now running more editorials and columns online and launching more opinion-driven blogs. Most have shifted away from the celebrated task of newspapers, the goal of influencing public opinion, and instead, they seek to start and provoke excited conversations online.

Professional opinion pieces may target a certain audience or not, but they still need a defined point of view, a clear point to make with some substance in the text, and hopefully, a strong distinctive writer’s voice. Better yet, they are shorter, 750-800 words, a much lesser word count for the journalist. There is even an Association of Opinion Journalists since 2012.

My fear is, in the future, we may have to contend with journalists’ opinions instead of the regular news, which can become an epidemic as deadly as Ebola.

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Prompt: Ebola. Thoughts?