by Michy Lynn

Created on: February 18, 2009

An Opinion Article on Writing About Controversial Subjects

I am a student of human behavior, an observationalist, a people-watcher. I watch human behavior with much interest, and perhaps that's why I majored in psychology and minored in sociology in college.

Psychology is essentially the study of human behavior and chemistry of the individual while sociology looks at the affect of human behavior on society as a whole - to me, both equally fascinating subjects.

I have worked in social services, advocacy, criminal justice, and the corporate world, but alas, my love, my passion and my dream is to write. I write fiction, poetry, articles, what have you. Why do I write? Because I love it. Because I have a passion for it. But more than that, I read, I study, I research - just because I love knowledge and I love observing human behavior - reading and writing can bring those two things together.

However, I mostly write because when I read, I am intrigued by certain topics, read many various opinions and facts on the subject, and then put them all together to form my own opinion, which I then usually have a burning desire to share and discuss it with others. That's why I write many of the articles I have written.

I do my best to back my opinions up with facts and research, but we all know that statistics can be skewed to match just about any opinion on any subject if you want to make them match badly enough. Still, I love the debate. I love the discussion of an issue, when two or more people passionately relay their views to each other, seldom coming to a consensus, but knowing the topic was thoroughly explored and each side of the issue argued well.

It's exhilarating, exciting, and for me, dare I say, fun!

What is not fun is when people cannot keep the focus on the topic at hand and revert to attacking the individual for their opinions. I know many wonderful writers whose opinions on certain subjects I do not agree with, but I respect quality writing and conclusions, even if I disagree with the topics. I also try my best to respect the writer as a person, knowing there is not a single person on this planet with whom I will always agree about every issue.

If you want page views and lots of different readers, one sure fired way to achieve that, regardless of the quality of your writing or the quality of the conclusions you have drawn, is to write about controversial subjects and hold a strong opinion for or against that subject in your writing.

I prefer to take a different tack

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