Ask Lemmy

That's a good question. I'd say be aware what you're ignorant about. Most people are ignorant. They have strong opinions about one conflict in the Middle East while they simultaneously ignore ongoing genocides in Africa. And my question is, does it help anyone if we argue with relatives or on the internet? I'd say it's alright to say I don't take sides, it's a shitty situation but not my field of expertise, so I don't have an opinion.

It's rarely a bad thing to be informed about things. And you always need information/education to make good decisions. Especially as a citizen in a democracy, it's your duty to elect your leaders, so you better have some idea about who's going to ruin the country and who's going to make it better. But that doesn't mean you have to know everything. And it also doesn't mean you need to blast your opinion out there.

And it's okay to be tired of US politics. Due to current circumstances. However, it shouldn't be that way. We learn about history and politics (in school) for a good reason. We're a part of the world and a part of what's going on.

Maybe

Of course. It's the default option. No pressure. You decide how important it is to you.

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.

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.

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."

Sometimes it's also, is it really important to know? A lot of things I have complicated opinions of because things are nuanced and complicated in the real world, so for example even if you ask me it's not like I can just be for or against Israel or whatever. And I certainly don't feel like going over it again and again and again as people keep asking about random topics.

I swear americans have this weird thing where everyone needs to have a strong opinion on every topic all the time, and talk about it all the time so they can sus out if you're leaning democrat or republican. It's so weird. I'm not even american, I can't do anything about it! I'll keep my opinions where they belong, in my head, thank you.

It's important to be educated about those topics but I don't feel the need to make it my entire personnality, unlike some people. I have better things to do that actually brings me joy rather than doom and gloom over things I can't do anything about.

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.

NSFW
https://youtu.be/LBBni_-tMNs#t=49s

Moral of the story, if you don't have an opinion, other people will have that opinion for you.

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