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.
Personally, I think that, when it comes to “important” stuff, having an individual or group whose opinion you trust based on other aligned values is sufficient.
E.g., if you’re not sure how to feel about furries, but you respect the consensus of the queer community, you can look to them to decide how to ensure your actions/words align with your values
This is basically the whole point of electing representatives. It’s not your job to have an opinion on every single thing- we hire people with whom our values (ideally) align, and it becomes their job to have all those opinions
This works similarly in elections. Many people don’t have the time, energy, and/or capacity to sit down and learn about each proposed amendment/etc, so different groups publish their recommendations
I think it is fine to not have an opinion on an issue.
Context really matters I don’t have an opinion on a lot of sports due to disinterest while other people make their opinions on sports their personality. But there are some things that people should have opinions on even if that opinion is ‘leave it to the experts’.
Having an opinion that is terrible might be worse than not having an opinion at all. For example, not having an opinion about other races would be better than having racist opinions.
I think what you are really asking is if people should have opinions about the things that affect them. Yes, they should have opinions about those things.
It’s fine to not have an opinion. It’s even fine to have an opinion and keep it to yourself. No-one has the right to an argument with you, after all.
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.
On something, yeah. On everything? No.
About pineapple pizza? Yes. About Nazis? No.
You need to have an opinion on everything that ever happened. Every forgotten Canadian drama series, every city in the Dominican Republic, every American football player. If you don’t you are failing to appreciate the world in all its glory and will go to hell as a consequence.
Deciding to ignore something that causes people to suffer because it doesn’t affect you is wrong. Not having a set opinion on how to fix it is perfectly normal. Not everyone can understand the details enough to form an informed opinion. Just don’t decide something isn’t a problem because one group says it’s not without real evidence, especially if they’re the ones who created and/or benefit from the problem.
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”.
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.
Imo it’s perfectly fine not to have an opinion on something so long as you don’t weigh in on it, much like how you shouldn’t complain about which candidate got elected if you didn’t vote.
Relevant Key & Peele: That One Friend Who Makes Everything Awkward.
I guess so, maybe. I don’t know, whatever.
I think it’s better to be quiet on a matter you don’t understand.
