Opinions: Everyone Has Them, so Why Not Express Them?

Most people have a lot of opinions. My sister suggested that I compile mine into a book and was, I think, a bit taken aback when I responded by saying that I thought it unlikely that anyone outside my family and close fiends would buy it! After all, they are opinions. Not necessarily facts, not indisputable truths - opinions. Everyone has them, and AC offers a wonderful opportunity to express them.

Recently, I had the experience of having an opinion criticized for not being supported by available evidence. So? My opinions don't require evidence, nor do yours. People may, logically, give them less weight than they would to carefully researched and documented conclusions - but that would be far less entertaining to read and a whole lot less satisfying to write.

Opinions, whether on serious subjects or about matters best characterized as silly or even frivolous are still worth writing as they can be quite entertaining! No, I am not making a case that this particular piece is that - but only that opinions can be. The proof of the pudding is that many CPs get more 'hits' on their unpaid opinion pieces than they do on the pieces determined by AC to be worthy or upfront payment. Interesting. Bonus performance money lives on with or without upfront payment. For more details on this issue, you might want to visit the Forum and read some recent CP submissions on the subject.

I give a good deal of what I write away. I always have. It is a habit that long precedes my involvement with AC. I have written dozens of songs and poems and given them away as gifts. I have no regrets. They were written for a specific person in a specific moment in time - not for profit, but to create a truly personal gift. So it is with my opinion pieces, poems and other submissions deemed unworthy of upfront payments. I feel that they are gifts to those who might enjoy or even benefit somehow from reading them. If they earn Performance Bonus bucks, that's all the batter - but that isn't why I do it.