{"id":7858,"date":"2013-12-19T11:34:01","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T15:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=7858"},"modified":"2013-12-19T11:34:01","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T15:34:01","slug":"against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html","title":{"rendered":"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I think about this quote a lot:<\/p>\n

There was one thing [Sontag] said that I didn\u2019t understand at all until many years later. She said that she \u2018hated opinions\u2019 and that she\u2019d rather not have them. I thought she was being like [host] Victor [Bockris] in contrarian incitement. I took it for granted so completely that opinions defined a person, that one was the sum of one\u2019s opinions and that the point was to have interesting ones, that I could only think she meant something else, like prejudices\u2019 rather than opinions. Wasn\u2019t her whole identity the opinions she spun out in her essays? No, she meant opinions, and that lately she\u2019d been thinking that she wrote the essays to get rid of them, to make \u2018space for other things.\u2019 In a way, I was right, because opinions will solidify into prejudices that substitute for perception. Over the years I\u2019ve come to realize that once arrived at, opinions dry up and die, and you have to sweep them away, like she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(found it here<\/a>\u2013do a ctrl-F for \u201cSontag\u201d)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing [Sontag] said that I didn\u2019t understand at all until many years later. She said that she \u2018hated opinions\u2019 and that she\u2019d rather not have them. I thought she was being like [host] Victor [Bockris] in contrarian incitement. I took it for granted so completely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[307],"class_list":["post-7858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-obsessed","tag-meta-pharisaism"],"yoast_head":"\nAgainst Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing said that I didn't understand at all until many years later. She said that she 'hated opinions' and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing said that I didn't understand at all until many years later. She said that she 'hated opinions' and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-19T15:34:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eve Tushnet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html\",\"name\":\"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-19T15:34:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-12-19T15:34:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\"},\"description\":\"I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing said that I didn't understand at all until many years later. She said that she 'hated opinions' and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"description\":\"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415\",\"name\":\"Eve Tushnet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eve Tushnet\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell","description":"I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing said that I didn't understand at all until many years later. She said that she 'hated opinions' and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell","og_description":"I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing said that I didn't understand at all until many years later. She said that she 'hated opinions' and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html","og_site_name":"Eve Tushnet","article_published_time":"2013-12-19T15:34:01+00:00","author":"Eve Tushnet","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eve Tushnet","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html","name":"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-19T15:34:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-19T15:34:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415"},"description":"I think about this quote a lot: There was one thing said that I didn't understand at all until many years later. She said that she 'hated opinions' and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2013\/12\/against-opinions-wisdom-from-susan-sontag-and-richard-hell.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Against Opinions: Wisdom from Susan Sontag and Richard Hell"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/","name":"Eve Tushnet","description":"Conservatism reborn in twisted sisterhood","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/ca04686b93c92257f019070302a23415","name":"Eve Tushnet","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be87ff28da150cb07788911c22e42ae2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eve Tushnet"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/author\/evetushnet"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}