You're entitled to your own facts, but not your own opinions

The Colbert Report is in its second week of reruns. For over a week now, I’ve had to think about the news. A couple times I tried to watch The O’Reilly Factor, because Bill O’Reilly is also pretty good at telling me my opinions, but his show is in reruns, too. I’ve had to come up with my own opinions about the issues of the day, and I’ve got to tell you – I’m tired.

I mean, sure, I can go over to Daily Kos and let them tell me what to think. The people over there will do it, for sure, and in a very forceful manner. Or, I could head on over to TekJansen.com, where the members can relate to what I'm going through, and they can talk to me in that same snarky way that Colbert talks to me. But all that’s keeping that group together is the Report (and Tek, of course), and they don’t have any strong unifying opinions about current events. They won’t come to any consensus, and they won’t tell me what to think.

It’s hard, watching the news and reading the papers. I sometimes don’t know which stories are important. Should I pay the most attention to the one about John Snow leaving his job, or to the one about the woman who attacked her husband with a can of bug spray? And should I be glad that Snow is leaving, or do I want him to stay? Should I be on the lookout for criminals with bug spray, or should I buy a can for myself? I just don’t know.

I’ve still got a few days before I’ll feel at ease in the world, knowing that I will have my opinions told to me. I won’t feel comfortable again until Monday, when The Colbert Report is back on the air. Until then, I will try to avoid the news. I will try to avoid anything that causes any sort of conflict for me, something that would require me to come up with my own views of the world. Because that is just too difficult.