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.
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.