Analysis or Opinion?

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

So, is that your analysis? Or is that your opinion?

We’ve entered an age when we seem to have conflated the two together. This is most evident in the mainstream media - where you’re either Left or Right, wrong or right, up or down, etc. But it’s not just the mainstream media, it’s as true in so much of our professional and personal lives as well.

This is how we need to be. This is how we need to think. This is how we need to act. 

Plenty of “musts” and “need to’s” - to the point where we often can’t tell if we’re truly analyzing or opinionating. The thing is (to state the obvious), they’re not the same thing and it’s dangerous to think otherwise. 

Which is not to say we’re not entitled to our opinions, or that our personal views won’t ultimately stand the test of time. They might. But when we’re making our case, we’d do better to recognize the difference, be honest about it and let the facts or the data speak for themselves. To do anything else doesn’t help us, not in the long run.

This plays out in two ways.

First, we need to be clear-cut and honest when we’re putting forward our ideas. Here is the data. Here are the facts. Here is how I’ve tied the two together and extrapolated and interpreted and applied my thinking to come to this conclusion. And this is why I think you should buy into my point of view. Be serious, so that you might yourself be taken seriously. 

At the same time, we also need to be open to the alternate point of view. There may well be a case to be heard there. And when we listen, we should assess: is this factual or a point of view? Is this a specific or generalizable reality or is it an interpretation? What is the worldview that accompanies this perspective? We’re then in a better position to accept or reject that point of view, because it is done on the basis of fact. 

Or if it is opinion, then at least we can be honest about where and how we are placing our bets.