It seems that over the past couple months or so, I started having and engaging in more political discussions (on account of the presidential election). When you’re in that space, it feels like you need to have an opinion on every little thing. Geopolitics, taxes, financial policy, etc. How important is it to educate myself and ask questions? Do you feel that pressure to have an opinion on everything?
edit: I don’t think this question is about politics, but if it is, I can delete this.
Is it morally wrong to not spend energy forming an opinion even when I have sufficient evidence? I don’t think so. I am entitled to my thoughts, whatever they may be.
About pineapple pizza? Yes. About Nazis? No.
Don’t have an opinion. Have a code of ethics and empathy. That’ll dictate your opinions when they are needed
Yes, not having an option on something is fine. when people push you can always whip out “I don’t know enough about the topic to have an opinion.”
And if you want to fuck with conspiracy wackos you add “So I would just refer to experts on the subject if I wanted to learn about it.”
Also an excellent way to end conversation about a controversial topic when needed.
Yeah, I don’t know about that- that could definitely seem like an invitation to " explain" it to you
I would say it’s better to not have an opinion than to have an uninformed opinion.
Like a kid who has a strong opinion on a food that they’ve never tried. How can you know you don’t like something if you never tried it? Sure.
You could look at the ingredients and if you don’t like anything that goes in it you can assume that you wouldn’t like the end product, but at least some thought went into at that point.
Not having an opinion is MUCH better than sticking to an uninformed opinion with stubborn fervor. Nobody can possibly know everything, so it’s perfectly fine to take time out to research something, or decide that it’s not worth your time and forget about it completely.
I don’t have an opinion about this.
Me neither!
IDK man.
It’s ok to not have an opinion, and also ok to be ambivalent about something.
Your time and attention are not unlimited resources.
I think it’s better to be quiet on a matter you don’t understand.
I got a hell of a lot smarter when I allowed myself to not have opinions on things. Like if a friend asks me if I have heard of [thing], I am nowadays much better at saying “No, I havent, tell me more” or “I’m not sure. It sounds familiar though. Remind me?”. A big part of this is being in spaces where it feels safe enough to be vulnerable in saying “I don’t know”.
I mean, it’s okay to not have positions on a lot of things. People tend to get upset if the position you’re dithering over is whether they or their loved ones deserve to live or have equal human rights. Most other things, honorable people may differ.
How important is it to educate yourself and ask questions?
Very. Everything is political, and ignorance about politics is a luxury. It allows others to make decisions for you, often ones you wouldn’t choose yourself.
I have no strong feelings either way
Of course, it’s okay. Being able to say “I don’t know” is a sign of intelligence in itself.
A huge number of people form opinions based on very limited knowledge, but these opinions then become part of their identity, and they feel compelled to defend them tooth and nail. I think the middle ground here is the idea of “strong opinions, loosely held,” meaning you have an opinion, but you understand it’s based on the best knowledge available at the time. You leave room for new information and allow your opinion to evolve. In fact, most opinions probably should be like that. There are very few views I hold that I feel are almost guaranteed not to change.
The Dunning-Kruger effect plays a big role here. When someone gains a moderate amount of knowledge on a subject, they often feel like they have a good understanding of it. But as they keep learning, they realize just how little they actually know. Uninformed people, by contrast, don’t know what they don’t know. These are the ones who write comments on social media pretending they’ve solved complex issues with simplistic solutions like “just do X,” while completely ignoring all the nuance. When you then try to introduce that nuance, they dig their heels in, taking it as a personal attack rather than a critique of their idea. This happens because they didn’t leave room for new information - they locked in their opinion, made it part of their identity, and threw away the key.
It depends. Of course it’s fine to have no opinion about, say, which sports team should win the big game, because that doesn’t matter. And even on bigger issues like fiscal policy, it’s okay to just admit you don’t know enough about a complicated subject to have an informed opinion. While I do think it’s important to educate yourself as much as you can, no one can reasonably learn everything about everything in order to have all of the right opinions all of the time.
But some issues are both important and clear cut. Like, if someone says they have “no opinion” on whether LGBTQ people deserve equal rights… no, no I will not accept “no opinion” as an answer here. You don’t need to read mountains of theory to disavow bigotry, and if anyone tries to give an excuse for why they won’t, I’ll consider that complicit.
I think it boils down to “No opinion” not meaning “no consequences” or “no responsibility”.
