Believe It or Not!—A New Kind of Opinion Column

The weekly column for critical thinkers

What if you could challenge your beliefs every week?

Welcome to Believe It or Not!, my new weekly column. It’s the first opinion piece column where the writer voluntarily ignores their own opinion.

Every Sunday, I’ll pick a hot topic—whether it’s foreign policy, culture wars, or economic reform—and present the strongest possible argument for one side of the debate, even if it’s far from my own.

This column isn’t about being a devil’s advocate or sowing confusion for its own sake. It’s about rising above the echo chambers and polarization that dominate today’s discourse.

“I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do.” Charlie Munger

How It Works

Every week, I’ll choose a topic making headlines and pick a viewpoint to explore.

I’ll have 700 words to present the most robust argument for that position, backed by research and careful thought. I might spend one week arguing about immigration reform from a libertarian angle and the next discussing state rights from a progressive viewpoint.

It will be a swinging pendulum of perspectives on all the most important issues.

Some weeks, I’ll feel deeply uncomfortable defending an idea that clashes with my core beliefs. Other weeks, I might uncover truths that challenge my convictions.

Our collective challenge is to rise above our own beliefs. Not only do I have to accept the merit in another worldview, but I have to argue that merit as best I can. It’s going to be a real change in personal growth.

This exercise isn’t about abandoning my values—or convincing you to abandon yours. It’s about staying open to new ideas and resisting the temptation to see the world in absolutes.

“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.” George Eliot

Why It Matters

How many Democrats listen to Fox News? How many Republicans watch MSNBC in the morning? How many people would think less of a friend for their political position without even hearing them out?

I’m guilty of this; most of us are.

Algorithms are trained to deliver what we like, and that’s generally a ‘slam dunk’ for the side we already believe in. It’s just more fun to have our opinion confirmed than to hear it challenged. We want information from experts we already like and opinions from commentators who vote the same as us.

How many people who despise Charlie Kirk have listened to more than an hour of his work? How many people who denigrate the Green Party have listened to Jill Stein in interviews? How many Trump voters talked with an open mind to a Harris supporter and vice versa?

Not nearly enough.

But what if we broke free of those bubbles? What if we trained ourselves to think critically, to truly understand the arguments we disagree with instead of dismissing them out of hand?

What to Expect

This journey won’t be easy. Some weeks, the column will resonate with you. Other weeks, it might challenge your deeply held beliefs—or outright annoy you.

But that’s the beauty of it. Every article will provoke thought, spark conversations, and, hopefully, help us all see the bigger picture.

To be clear, my goal isn’t to present “both sides” as morally equivalent or to excuse harmful ideas. It’s to explore the reasoning behind them and highlight the strengths in arguments we might otherwise outright dismiss.

Look, there will be times when I’ll feel like giving up, times when the arguments I force myself to make will feel alien or even repugnant. But I’m committed to the journey—and I hope you are too.

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” Stephen Hawking

So here’s my promise to you. Every week, I’ll step outside my comfort zone and do my best to illuminate a new perspective. And in return, I hope you’ll approach each column with an open mind and a critical eye.

Let’s challenge our biases, embrace complexity, and rediscover the nuance in political issues.

Yours critically,
Leonard
The Biased Journalist