I'm sure someone famous has already spoken eloquently on this matter, but it's a grand shame that so many smart people hold their opinions back because they don't feel they know enough.
Maybe my view of the world has become too cynical. I have some friends on FB who are extremely liberal, and they frequently share pages from obviously biased sources. (If I had to estimate my political stance, I would say that I'm slightly left of Libertarian.) This sort of tactic is aggravating to me since it often spreads unreliable or inaccurate information.
It does depend on the topic being discussed, too. I would never expect someone to withhold their opinion on general social issues. I only find it frustrating when it comes to specific policies or factually-based concepts that are often far more complex than a person is willing to give credit for. The giant company and bank bailouts, for example. Making the correct decision there is an incredibly complex problem, but people love to simplify it.
For what it's worth, I agree that it is a shame when people who know more don't contribute. At the very least, if you're certain that you're more educated on a topic than someone else, it would do the world good to bring them up to speed.
Man, what if like atomic theory was just made up too? What if the world really was just put here by God? Then all the science we've been taught in our lives would be the work of the devil trying to make us all nihilists. Wow!
No but seriously even if climate change were bullshit it'd be nice to get rid of car exhaust. That's reason enough for me to jump on the climate change bandwagon.
lol I hope my comment didn't make me sound like a nihilist. As far as I know, there are still a nontrivial number of scientists who are skeptical about climate change--which I think is healthy--but if most institutions are on board then that's good enough for me to believe. So in that sense I do stand by the statement that
technically it's on faith, but in a way that I think is reasonable.
