Legislative News

Truth

An opinion column by Doug Franzen

Recently, I heard an old song by the British band Dire Straits entitled “Industrial Disease.” What struck me was the lyric … “Now, I go down to Speaker’s Corner, I’m thunderstruck They got free speech tourists, police in trucks Two men say they’re Jesus, one of them must be wrong.”

The lyric, while clever, led me to believe that at least one of the speakers was not telling the truth. Yet, each may have been telling their own perception of the truth—a subjective truth or, perhaps they were selling something. This reminds me of the current state of some people’s speech where opposing points of view tend to claim ownership of the truth and demonize contrary points of view. The song doesn’t say anyone’s lying; just that one purported Jesus was wrong. So who’s right and who’s wrong?

Subjective truth is all around us. It’s confusing and often convoluted. I much prefer objective truth such as the earth is round and revolves around the sun or, women are better in most ways than men (except, of course, at peeing in the snow). Even what we believe to be objective truth can turn out to be wrong, and a better new objective truth takes its place.

Enough sophomoric philosophy. Here are some of my truths. I think they are factual, but some people might disagree:

•Snowmobiling is fun. It gets us outside in winter and, for a few hours, makes us forget about our problems. •Safety should be the number one priority for all snowmobilers. •Snowmobiling is social. Our sport binds families and friends together having fun. •Snowmobiling is uniting. When you are out on the trail, you couldn’t care less about your companions’ political or religious opinions. We are just a motley group of folks doing something we all enjoy. •Snowmobilers are caring and compassionate. If you break down or are injured on the trail, you can count on other snowmobilers to stop and help you. •Snowmobiling is important to the Minnesota economy. Millions upon millions of dollars are generated annually by the jobs, the resorts, the restaurants, and the tourism created by snowmobiling.

Other people may have different truths. Like the song says, I think they are wrong. My critiques of their error are bracketed: •It’s okay to ride off the trail onto somebody’s land because the snow there looks like more fun. (I think most trespassers simply don’t know any better. A few are jerks.) •Riding and drinking alcohol go well together. (Drunk snowmobilers tend to kill themselves and innocents.) •Safety training is for other people, but I don’t need it. (My first snowmobile experience was on an Arctic Cat Jag in Detroit Lakes. My instructions were simple, press all the way down on the throttle and point the sled. Fast and fun! My next time out I totaled a Yamaha Phazer in Two Harbors. I was hurt but through the grace of God, I survived.) •There’s no need to join a club or MnUSA. (The reader is invited to critique this one on your own.)

I think you now have figured out some of my truths. Perhaps you share these truths. Not all people do. Literally, thousands of Minnesotans have never been on a snowmobile and don’t want to. Some misguided souls actually have an intense dislike for what we do. However, every day that we grow our culture of a fun, safe, family sport, every day that we get better sports people and citizens, the number of naysayers grows smaller and smaller. So be kind, be charitable, be the best you that you can be, and snowmobiling will continue to be an essential part of what it means to be a Minnesotan.

That’s just my opinion.

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