A POPULAR MAXIM suggests that everyone has a right to an opinion. This notion is most vehemently advocated by those who simultaneously disprove it. From where did this absurdity originate? It isn’t written in the stars. It isn’t self-evident. It’s not in the Bible. It’s not in the Constitution — the Bill of Rights guarantees one the freedom to speak, yes, but doesn’t imply that what is said deserves respectful consideration. You can say it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should. In the first place, not everything is subject to opinion. Unadulterated and at sea level, water freezes at 32° Fahrenheit, and boils at 212° Fahrenheit. Those are facts.
Reality exists. Science is real. Evolution, climate change and the spherical shape of the planet, while not really debatable (if by ‘debate’ here we mean argument by qualified parties to determine truth), are still hotly contested in the 21st century by people who apparently lack full and rewarding lives. But truth isn’t subject to religious preference, political party lines or ignorance, willful or otherwise. In the more-or-less words of science fiction madcap and sometime LSD celebrant Philip K. Dick, reality is what remains even after you stop believing in it.
Anytime you see a story or video on social media posted by NASA or concerning space travel, dingbats emerge from wherever they ordinarily lurk and start gibbering about the Moon Landing Hoax. As a friend of mine likes to point out, though, it’s just rocket science. Newtonian physics, nothing fancy.
The first rockets were used in war by the Chinese against the Mongols in 1232. American physicist Robert Goddard patented the multistage rocket in 1914. By 1969 rocket technology was capable of launching ICBMs at targets half a world away and putting satellites into orbit. The main difficulty in the Apollo missions wasn’t getting machinery to and from the moon, it was doing it with live humans attached. It was insanely dangerous and wouldn’t have happened as soon as it did but for the pressure of the Space Race. The solution turned out to be not one primarily of engineering, but one of immense human courage.
It seems these days that people care more about their so-called right to an opinion than they do about being factually accurate. In 2002 72 year-old Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, punched Moon Hoax conspiracy-monger Bart Siebel in the face on camera for calling him a liar and a coward. It was one small punch for man — and it didn’t work, because Siebel remained a bozo afterward. But he wasn’t just calling Aldrin a liar, he was calling the eleven other astronauts who walked on the moon (all better men than he) and 34,000 other NASA employees (and not one whistleblower) who worked on the Apollo missions liars as well. Apparently Buzz felt Mr. Siebel’s ‘right to an opinion’ was in question. So did the court, which later dismissed Siebel’s lawsuit against Aldrin for assault.
Meanwhile, back on earth and forward in time ....
On September 10, 2025 host Lawrence B. Jones proposed jailing (or committing to mental institutions) homeless people who don’t “take the resources that we’re gonna give them.” Brian Kilmeade responded with, “Or involuntary lethal injection. Just kill them.” Jones agreed.
This occurred on a major news network on national television. But hey, everybody has a right to an opinion, right? Well, except Bruce Springsteen, obviously. Have Jones and Kilmeade ever been homeless? Have they ever spoken to a homeless person? Have they ever shared a meal, or played chess with a homeless person? Have they read the decade-long study by the National Law Center on poverty and homelessness? Doubtful.
Do I have a right to an opinion on how much pain is involved in childbirth, or how much discrimination minorities suffer in a white-dominated society, or the merits of Kip Thorne’s paper “Wormholes in Spacetime and their Use for Interstellar Travel”? I certainly do not. I have a right only to informed opinions, if that, and lack the experience, social classification and math for those subjects.
We’re all ignorant in some areas. We might have no particular feelings about certain subjects — corn pudding for example, or knit ties — and that’s okay. Here’s a radical notion: we aren’t obliged to have opinions on everything. Reticence is acceptable, and at times, even preferable. That’s my two cents on the matter, anyway.
