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.

  • TʜᴇʀᴀᴘʏGⒶʀʏ@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 days ago

    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

  • ohlaph@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    “I don’t know enough on the topic to have an opinion.”… is what I use. I’ll even use that if I just don’t want to talk about something with someone I know doesn’t know the topic

  • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I have a hell of a lot of respect for people who are forthright and just say “You know, I don’t have a lot of experience regarding <subject>, so I don’t think I can weigh in on that”

    it amazes me how seldom people are brave enough to admit they don’t know something.

  • Zak@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Yes. I think it’s good not to form opinions about subjects you don’t know much about.

    When it comes to voting in an election, it’s possible to make good decisions about candidates without forming opinions about every policy issue. That’s kind of the point of representative democracy.

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    3 days ago

    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.

  • theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    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.

  • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    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.

  • j4k3@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I don’t think it is truly possible to lack an opinion. Indifference is the opposite of caring, and therefore the opposite of both love and hate at the same time. Indifference is an acceptable state of mind, but it is still an opinion. I will postulate, as silly as it is in extreme abstraction, that the opposite of opinion is only possible in death. Existence itself implies a state of awareness and opinion on abstracted levels of consciousness.

  • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 days ago

    For an ordinary citizen, absolutely. Most topics in the world, I have no opinion on, or I have the opinion that there are good points on both sides, or I have the opinion that one side is right about one thing and the other about another, or I have the opinion that one side is mostly right but the other also legitimate.

    Politicians meanwhile are more-or-less required to have opinions about most political matters (or at least be able to say that they stand for them even if they don’t internally hold them). They will have to vote on them after all, and voters expect to know what they’re going to get on nearly all matters.