Today's Stockers are "Gassers"

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

...Jeff Burk's Op Ed piece...

I believe that portion of the original post isolated above captures the whole basis of this issue. The nature of editorial writing is that, in order to maintain one's place in the pantheon of soothsayers, the writer has to say something (really, just say anything) or the space on the page will be filled with some other writer's opinion.

Sadly, a great deal of the societal confusion and controversy prevalent in the culture of the current era is that too many people are unable to differentiate opinion from news. Mr. Burk's role is to keep the pot stirred and people coming back. Op-ed writers are challenged to keep a portion of the population up on the chip all the time. Reader counts equate to advertising cash. It's only dangerous when a significant portion of the readership interprets "opinion" as "fact" or one writer's opinion as a prevailing sentiment.

c