IMHO

Opinions and perceptions are the way many people colour the world we live in. How a person perceives events, people or attitudes profoundly affects their lives. Being opinionated, however, only seems to raise hackles in all those around them, but never in themselves. Most people live comfortably in their opinions. When it comes to the dangers of offering up an uninvited opinion, the only parallel I can draw is going for a leisurely stroll in a minefield while blind-folded. 

To borrow a phrase, opinions are like a nose (or fill in your choice of body parts).... everyone has one.  Quite often they have more than one and in general, people are not shy about disseminating them to anyone who wants to hear them. Sadly enough, they are also imparted to those who don't want to hear them. Many a peaceful family get together have been disrupted with a drunken opinionated rant of one kind or another.

Opinions do not have to be fact based; in fact they rarely are. They can be uninformed, uneducated, unbelievable or unwavering, but yet they are still put out on display and held up as a shiny example. On the other hand, opinions can be well thought out, unimpinged by emotional or moral convictions, well balanced and reasonable in logic for all. Of course, these opinions are about as common as fairy dust.

Even the internet has its IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) which finds its way onto newspaper comment boards and newsgroups. It appears to me that by just prefacing their comments with this acronym it allows the poster a carte blanche opportunity to opine about anything at all. If  you have read any of these, there is rarely anything humble about their opinions.

Historically, Kingston certainly has had a fair amount of raging public opinion. When our present day City Hall was constructed in the 1840's, the general opinion of the day was that it was a little too grand and a lot too expensive to build for such a small town. It was felt that the tax burden would be too much for future generations to handle. Does that sound at all familiar?

It was a huge gamble thinking that by erecting such a grandiose building that the government would decide to stay put and keep the capital here. As we all know, it was decided that Kingston was far too small, not cosmopolitan enough and didn't offer enough amenities for those political folks and off the capital went. Still, in hindsight, imagining Kingston without City Hall and its cupola would be like imagining Paris without the Eiffel Tower. If opinion would have ruled the day and the naysayers won out, then that limestone edifice might never have been constructed.

The list of conflicting opinions on past and present local issues goes on and on.... the Teron Project, Block D, the Hendon Hole, the location of the KRock Centre, the merging of high schools KCVI and QECVI, the third crossing,  right down to today's opposing opinions on high-rises in the centre core of Kingston. We never seem to be running short of expressing conflicting opinions in this town.

Worldwide events, specifically the Brexit Referendum is a perfect example of asking for public opinion, getting it and then asking what the hell were they thinking.  There are historic reasons why the general public is often referred to as the "great unwashed".  Referendums are a wonderful way for the elected politicians to be absolved of any controversial subject and declare that, "the public has spoken". Forgive me, but I thought that was the general underlying principle of elections. We elect people to make informed, educated decisions that affect our future. If every time an important decision is needed to be made and the people we elect to make decisions for us throw it back at us (and at considerable expense) then what is the whole purpose of electing these people in the first place? 

Here in Canada, do we really need the public's input by holding a referendum on changing the electoral process? I would bet the majority of Canadians don't understand or care about the entire process of today's system, let alone giving them two or three other options to chose from.  Just getting them to vote in the first place is a big enough challenge. In the case of the United Kingdom, we have to remember this is the same group of people who voted to name the Arctic research ship, "Boaty McBoatyface".  You leave the economic future of your country in these hands?

A glance south of the border only reinforces where public opinion will get you. While the Democrats have followed along on a predictable path where general opinion seems to have fallen in line with expectations of the party, the Republicans have been asking the same question as the Brits. What the hell were they thinking? The right has spoken and it seems to be in a language that the G.O.P. hasn't translated yet.

Where does this all lead? Everyone is entitled to their opinion just as everyone is free to express their opinion. As George H.W. Bush once said, "I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them". Well, if the past leader of the most powerful nation in the world can't agree with his own opinions, then where does that leave the rest of us? 

Of course you must take note, this is only IMHO.