The Waipukurau Press. Published: MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, AND FRIDAYS. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1930. A DECIDED OPINION

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 128, 3 November 1930, Page 4

The Waipukurau Press. Published: MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, AND FRIDAYS. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1930. A DECIDED OPINION

“The ownership of a decided opinion likes to think that he hammered it out for himself, that it is the fruit of steady, unprejudiced debate, the keystone to a fine structure of connected reasoning,” writes Mr. Arthur Ransome in the Manchester Guardian. /‘One decided opinion is worth a hundred of the other sort. For one thing, it is a great deal easier to get a hearing for it. ‘Nothing moderate,’ says Bacon, ‘is liked by the crowd.’ An opinion moderately held carries the disturbing suggestion that there are two sides to a question, and something still to be said on either. “No wonder the crowd dislike it, preferring always a plain answer to a plain question, black or white, yes or no, rather than any kind of doubtful balancing. The crowd wants a run for its money, and leaves sitters on the fence to wait till it comes back, by which time the fence itself may have rotted away. “The crowd may not agree with a decided opinion, but it would rather be able to say that an

opinion was ,wrong than be left in uncertainty as to whether it was an opinion at all. And in this matter

the crowd is right. The man who holds a decided opinion is a public benefactor even if his opinion is mistaken. He clears the air for his opponents as w r ell as for his allies and’for himself. “Then, too, it is a rare thing to find a man w r ho holds only one decided opinion. One decided opinion gathers others. The man who has got a good grip of one

of these invaluable things has a touch-stone with which to resolve many other questions into opinions similarly decided. “A decided

opinion on some vital matter, religion or politics, is like a dominating piece of furniture in a room. It sets the tone for the rest, like a

piece of Sheraton that makes gimcrackery look out of place beside it. It dictates a style. One or tw’o decided opinions of this kind will make a man rich in views to the end of his life. He applies them to every question that comes up. “It was for the sake of his own mind that Byron liked something craggy in the way of books. It is just this that you find in the man of decided opinions. You talk with him not to change them but to learn and to reinforce the weak points in your own. This is perhaps not so valuable as that far rarer form of talk in which two men, postponing the formation of any opinion as long as they can, set their minds together to colloborate in thinking aloud. “But it is worth a great deal. Talking with a man of down-right convictions, hostile to your own, is like a lively sparring match. You may hit the floor hard and often, but the

, battery you have invited from him leaves you better fitted to defend yourself next time, and far better capable than you were of putting youx’ opinion in such a way that you shall persuade those to adopt it who are still ready to be persuaded.

SOCIALISM IN OUR TIME

What the Independent Labour Party means by “socialism in our time” is explained by Mr. James Maxton, M.P., writing in the New Leader. “The average age of those who are actively participating in politics is somewhere in the forties,”; he says. “We believe that before the man of that age has ended his. life a new social order on different' foundations from the present, with different principles and ideals, can be established and accepted by the people. Such a social order must contain no poverty, no fear of insecurity, no tyranny, no exploitation. These are all negative factors. Positively it must contain abundant supplies of the healthy, material, things for everyone, freedom to a large extent from long hours of labour devoted to the procuring of material things, a population with a real joy, pride, and interest in life, eagerly pursuing knowledge, beauty, and happiness, and endeavouring to rnSSter more fully the mysteries of the universe. This is, roughly, to be achieved in a period of 25 years, but the man, who is 60 now, and has a shorter expectation of life, should

see the foundations of that society clearly, demonstrably, and undeniably established, and should actually see in being the main lines of the new economic structure. This means that, counting from the time when the nation makes up its mind to start the building of the Socialist society, five years is a reasonable time in which to make the essential economic changes, and another 20 years would see the full fruits gathered and the new., ihentality developed.”