Why subjectivity matters, a note on the importance of qualification

It is okay to have biases, just as long as we are aware they exist. Opinions are valuable contributions, but they must be preceded by qualifications. We must know from which context the opinion is coming. Omniscience is not a realistic human quality. Nobody writes with the absolute truth at his or her back. Further, outside information is important for content, but it only stretches to the margins of its source, or the reference points of its reader.

We all need to do a better job of qualifying ourselves. Age, upbringing, ideology, the certain magazines or websites we read, or even our daily preferences all impact the words and ideas we report, or how we respond.

For me, I’m 23 years old. I live in a humble neighborhood in Washington D.C. I vote Democratic. I listen to Radiohead everyday. I follow sports closely, especially the NBA and American football. I have a conviction that human beings all possess equal abilities, irregardless of everything. I’ve lived in every part of the U.S., and I have friends of every type. I also think it reflects cowardice to comment alone, without putting forth articles. Which returns us to subjectivity.

Not in all instances is subjectivity beneficial. Sometimes, it is best for information to be presented cleanly. Of course, this is not how we most often receive it. Although there are no grand conspiracies to deliver slanted news coverage, it does get delivered that way for numerous reasons, most of them incidental. But, in editorial writing, opinions are foundational.

Editorializing says that it is impossible to make a truly objective statement, so we should instead put forward our opinions, with candor. But, the first rule of editorializing is that the author must qualify him or herself. This way an article is presented and interpreted in a suitable context.

Okay, I get it. You don’t want to disclose too much for fear of muqaburat. But, if we don’t have even a general outline of qualifications, meaning region, background, biases, then the authority of the information will always be in question.

Those of us with courage enough to write for public view deserve better than skepticism or indifference. We should be read. And criticized, appropriately. Given our diverse backgrounds, though, it is imperative that our readership knows who we are. Without qualification, they’re just empty words.

About the author

Ethan Lazuk

Born in Montana in 1989, I attended high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and college at The University of Montana, from which I recently earned a Bachelor's degree in Central and Southwest Asian Studies. I currently live in Washington D.C.
Although American English is my first language, I also have an intermediate/advanced knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic, with some Lebanese and Gulf vocabulary, as well as a basic knowledge of Farsi-Persian. My academic areas of interest include Cultural Anthropology, Islamic Studies, and Environmental and Human Geography. In 2010, I was a summer intern with the Department of Defense, working on Ft. McNair Army Base in the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Additionally, I have traveled in Istanbul, Turkey, and lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.


I am a third-generation American of Polish descent. My great-grandparents fled Eastern Europe during the Bolshevik Revolution and entered the United States through Ellis Island. Today, my parents and sister live in Colorado, where they are surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I am also happily married to the love of my life named Dania. Originally from al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia, she came to the United States two years ago as an exchange student. She is a practicing Muslim. But I am a searcher who finds beauty in all religions, and therefore I do not belong to any one religion in particular. But her and I having different religious beliefs has not negatively affected our marriage. In fact, it has brought us closer together. We respectfully embrace our differences, while cherishing our infinite similarities. If being in an inter-faith marriage has taught me one thing, it is that religious differences are not a cause for division, but for collaboration.

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