Facts and Opinion Are Not Interchangeable

How did we become a nation that behaves as if facts and opinions are interchangeable? All too often, in this age of instant comunication and access to facts, our policies and beliefs are governed not by hard, empirical evidence, but by what we feel to be true. A good example of this phenomenon occurred on this siterecently in a thread about a footpath being built through the wetlands. One poster wrote that code-talkers were used in World War I. Another poster disputed this because he/she felt the first poster was incorrect. Rather than doing a simple search, which any child capable of spelling now can do, the second poster implied that the first poster was lying. This type of interaction is repeated daily on internet forums and discussion programs. Our "leaders" from both parties formulate laws and policy based on opinion polls and cold hard cash, rather than what is good for the country. Are greed and unenlightened self-interest truly foundations on which to build a stable and secure nation? Or are we blithely running, eyes gleefully closed, towards our own demise?