Your Opinion: Living in an echo chamber

Nelson Otto

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

I constantly find it ironic how people will write letters to the editor about how other people are living in an echo chamber while they are promoting a book or media publication that supports their own echo chamber. I have noticed there are people, which I usually find have a tendency to be on the left, who believe that if anyone disagrees with them it is because that person is ignorant. Often they find what they consider authoritative figures and cite them or promote themselves as authoritative figures. The reality is that the data, facts and arguments must stand on their own, and authoritative figures are meaningless.

Take Steve Jobs for example. When he started out did he have a Ph.D. in computers? Did this make him any less qualified to design or build a computer system? According to those who believe in authoritative figures, he should be ignored and ridiculed because he did not have the appropriate credentials. Despite the lack of credentials, he designed a computer and operating system that was later duplicated by Microsoft and changed the world. There are just as many people out there with that same drive and a thirst for learning, and while they may not have the approved credentials may be just as knowledgeable or more so than some Ph.D.s.

When it comes to the vaccine it is a personal choice and as we have heard relentlessly for the last several years, "my body, my choice." You have alternatives, if you are terrified of COVID you can choose the vaccine, lock yourself in your home, or keep away from people. On the other hand, you can live dangerously, not take the vaccine and risk being exposed to a virus that most people who get it survive without complications. The choice should be yours and mine and not dictated to us by those who want their will forced upon us.