So Many Opinions!

Dear Rabbi and Susan,

I saw a trending story that a woman booked her executive boss on a flight with a 4-hour layover because of a company policy that employees must take the cheapest flight available. Her boss was not amused.

It wasn’t clear if she was fired or not, but it sounds like as a result, their policy was changed to “a flight that makes sense, taking cost into account.”

What got my attention were the comments. They fluctuated between, “It’s high time someone stuck it to the execs who get big money for doing nothing” and “Sour grapes. Of course, different employees are treated differently. Work hard and you’ll get to be higher on the totem pole.”

Do you think that company policies should be the same for everyone?

Nettie P.

Dear Nettie,

We’re going to answer this question in two parts. Next week, we’ll tackle the direct answer to your question. This week, we want to focus on your reading comments on trending stories.

Sometimes, ideas morph into parodies of themselves. So, putting a child safety cap on a bottle of medicine meant for a toddler’s ear infection seemed a relatively simple way to stop the child from accidentally taking a potentially dangerous overdose. Then the caps started appearing everywhere, including on medicines meant for arthritis, rendering the contents unavailable to most of the patients for whom it was intended. Warning labels proliferate in the most ridiculous places, such as on the doors of most hotels in CA threatening you that entering includes a risk to your health.

The comments section in newspapers and magazines used to present opinions, additions, and corrections to articles. Some were more interesting than the original articles themselves. There are online forums (such as this one) where that tradition continues. In general, comments on trending stories do not fall into that category.

We shall now talk to ourselves as much as to you.

The comments section on trending news and on many podcasts, news stories, blogs, etc., frequently mirror the quicksand pits that bad guys used to sink into in children’s cartoons. One foot goes in and before you know it, you are covered head to toe and drowning. While there is an occasional worthwhile comment or even a gem, you need to slog through mire, becoming covered in filth, to see it. Too frequently, those writing fall into the furious, uninformed, and pathetic category. Do we really want to spend so much of our limited time on earth absorbing that dross?

Furthermore, reading other people’s opinions stops us from taking a moment to decide what we think. How much better to formulate our own ideas and then, if appropriate, discuss them with trusted family and friends. That is a growth opportunity with the immeasurable bonus of building relationships. Alternatively, we might decide that the topic isn’t worthy of more of our time.

In conclusion, Nettie, our guess is that there were quite a few curse words and CAPITAL LETTERS in the comments. The section provides a skewed picture of your fellow world inhabitants, leading to pessimism and anxiety. Viewing those every once in a while might be beneficial in reminding us how much work we have to do to ensure that civilization stays afloat, but for the most part, it is harmful.

Now that we have dealt with the medium, we hope to get to the message next week.

Elevate your reading,

Rabbi Daniel and Susan Lapin

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