About

Welcome to Opinion Seed everyone!

My name is Filipe and this is my new blog. Its concept is simple: a platform for Opinion pieces.

We are living in the advent of social media; with that comes tremendous potential but also a growing structural problem: short-form opinions. The issue with Facebook, Twitter, etc. is not everyone having a voice; I firmly believe in the power of the chaotic order of all citizens to generate relevant knowledge, instead of the over-the-top institutionalization of society and trusting only on pre-selected groups of individuals to be your source of wisdom. That being said, social media is also a lure for trigger-happy headlines and content that, by being pushed to respond to a demanding zeitgeist, end up in empty vessels that dangerously sail towards the triangle of demagogy, rhetoric and falsehood. I, also, have fallen victim to that trap.

That’s why I am starting Opinion Seed. A trusting repository of analyses of different products and events. With the added personal benefit of giving me the opportunity to get my feet wet on a type of writing that I really like to do, but rarely adventure on.

This blog has no schedules or fixed themes. Its existence is enough reminder to keep my writing flow in check. Every time I consume a cultural product like a book, a movie or a videogame and have strong feelings that want to express, Opinion Seed will serve as a recipient. If I am confident about a socio-political issue and want to add to the discourse, OS is also a place for those discussions. Brief analyses of movie trailers I am hyped about, sports talk, or even snippets of the fictional stories I am writing on my free time, all are topics to be covered in this blog. Some texts will be in English, others in Portuguese.

Notwithstanding, the majority of the coverage will be about Cultural products. It’s the area I’m more passionate about, ergo, the one I’m more comfortable writing about. Its structuring will be very intuitive and consumer-friendly. Before all the specialists give their awards, I will write spoiler-free reviews; after the Oscars season and whatnot, if a certain movie, game, etc. is still in my mind, I will write an in-depth analysis where I address spoilers, themes and contributions of that product to its genre.

Reviews will be scored on a scale of 1 to 5, and I don’t intend to get much more granular in the quantification department. I never created art; so, it would be disingenuous on my part to try and mathematize a lot that type of product. On the other hand, if I am coming forward to analyze something that is being sold for money, I should have the courage to grade it before my signature. Paraphrasing the comedian Bill Burr: “Stubbing your toe and Hitler are both ‘thumbs down’ on the reviewer-scale, but we all know it’s possible to be more granular.”

Finally, I just want to add that Opinion Seed, despite being an individual endeavor, is an open platform. Comments in each discussion thread are encouraged, as well as suggestions about the general format and evolution of the blog. Additionally, other fellow writers who want to see their work published on the blog, feel free to send an e-mail to opinionseedblog@gmail.com.

I hope that this blog will allow me to contribute to a better, long-form and non-reactionary discourse on the internet, where arguments are constructed to serve the reader and not an agenda. At the same time, I want Opinion Seed to be a place where I will learn a lot from my readers and, in the end, we can all become more knowledgeable, tolerant and eclectic citizens.