What happened to the notion that a piece of writing is self-expression. I remain ignorant to issues I haven't gone through the trouble to educate myself on, I retain a bias against them, and let my instinct guide my judgment - which is seldomly the proper way, considering dissemination of information holds that the most popular opinions will be the most widely available. I am not proud of this ignorance but it is a construction of my identity. I cannot pursue an issue without addressing the fallacy of authority. I hate the tone of authoritiveness in much writing, but when someone tells me of the way it IS, with a tone of humility, I don't question form _as_ much.
Having said this, a person who does not take the pains to educate himself on an issue before expressing an opinion about an issue is a fool.