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Reader question: Please explain “maverick views” in this: “Journalistic ethics suggest that maverick views should be published.” My comments: Maverick views are opinion that is unusual in that it is unconventional and unorthodox. Unconventional? Not conventional, not in accordance with conventional wisdom, the general opinion of what’s wrong and right, dumb or smart. A convention can be a great formal meeting, or an agreement that comes out from such a meeting, hence the concept. Unorthodox? Not Orthodox, i.e. not in accordance with ideas of the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church is officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church, commonly known as the Eastern Orthodox Church. It regards itself as the only true Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles. Hence in common language, being orthodox is synonymous to being official, mainstream, normal, correct, acceptable, etc. Being unorthodox, therefore, is anything but. Maverick, on the other hand, is derived from American cattle owner Samuel Maverick (1803-70), who refused to brand his cattle as other owners did. In the Wild West in those days, cattle were left to graze in the open range. Owners, therefore, rely on branding (burning a mark on the skin of the animal with a brand, a piece of hot iron) to tell ownership. Maverick, a lawyer, would never brand his cattle – at the risk of loss, of course, as fellow ranchers might catch Maverick’s unbranded cattle, put their own branding on the animals and thus claim ownership to them. | 
