I used to be in debate, where you were assigned an opinion and asked to defend it with ten minutes to prepare. I got used to debating both sides of an argument, and also learned to never believe one side was completely true because I never know what I would be asked to defend.
Last term I was hired to run a community news show, which increased the necessity of me to have a personal opinion. Unlike my debate days, I was no longer told what to think – instead, I was being asked on a weekly basis what it was I thought, with the implicit caveats that my opinion better be moderated, research-based, but still interesting. Without realizing it, I soon began to build for myself a public set of core beliefs from which inoffensive opinions which wouldn’t offend anybody could emerge, and from which there could be no continuity errors. Whether I actually held this opinion was a far secondary concern.
I started to become confused by how I actually felt on topics. I knew what the “right” answer was, but what did I think? What did I think? What did I think?
Whenever I have a complicated relationship with something, I turn to my two most knowledgeable friends, Quora and Reddit. I had two questions, and they had many answers.
This case was no exception. To my question, “Why don’t I have an opinion?”, internet users had the following answers:
Q: Why don’t I have an opinion?
A: Quora
- “Probably because you are not interested in anything…”
- “A person who really cares about the opinion of others is less likely to have an opinion of their own.”
Q: Is there something I can do about not having an opinion?
A: Reddit
“… I’m pretty terrible at providing my opinion/ my perspective of things. But what I’ve noticed is that I can sort of train myself to form opinions before it even comes up in conversation by either bullshitting an opinion or taking the time to think of one.”
As I read these answers, I started to form one of the most real opinions I’ve had in a while. These answers make sense, and I’d be lying if one/ all of them didn’t run through my head at some point, but they are all predicated on the assumption that having an opinion is vital to your base happiness.
Ever write an essay and get coached with the words “pick a side – the worst thing you can do is sit on the fence”? There’s a reason there’s a fence to sit on – oftentimes both sides of the argument are valid. Ever heard the words “hot take” in journalism? Wiki it and you’ll get this definition: “piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing, usually written on tight deadlines with little research or reporting, and even less thought”. Talk is cheap, and choices are easy if your end goal is just to make a choice.
I think we need to challenge the notion that we need to have a ready opinion for everything. Our beliefs are important, but we shouldn’t feel rushed or unprepared if we don’t have a stance on any particular topic. It’s far better to just say “I don’t know” or “I haven’t formed an opinion yet” than to give unfounded or uninformed opinions just because we think others expect us to. To not have an opinion is not somehow shirking our civic duty. In fact, it might be one of the boldest choices we’ve ever made.
Breathe, 