An opinion can become part of someone’s income before becoming part of their identity.

Views can be acquired for reasons that have nothing to do with conviction. Someone takes a position because it is the job, the beat, the side they were hired to argue, and after enough repetition it hardens into something they would defend at a family dinner. The sequence runs the wrong way round: the payment came first and the belief grew to fit it.

Weighing what someone says, look at what would happen to them if they changed their mind. And check your own positions for the same shape, especially the ones you are known for, since being known for a view is its own payment.