It’s Okay to Not Have Opinions on Things

Sometimes, we don’t know, and we don’t need to.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

I don’t have an opinion on gun control. As a highly politicized person, this is a rarity for me, but there you have it. I see genuinely good reasons for more than one side of the 2nd Amendment argument as a whole, and I’m just not well-educated enough on the particularities of most gun control policies to have an opinion on them worth sharing.

You know what? That’s fine.

I don’t own a gun. I don’t intend to. I have friends who do. I don’t really care. I have plenty of other issues I do care about, things that feel relevant and essential to my life, places where I believe my voice is needed and of value and I want to be heard. There are also places where I don’t need to be heard.

And that’s okay.

The point of democracy — real democracy, not the oligarchical farce we have today — is to work towards a consensual society by allowing all people to discuss, deliberate and decide on the issues that matter to them. Sometimes, majority rule is required instead of consensus, but collective consent is the goal of a democratic system. The practice of engaging in direct democracy often has a deep impact on our ability and willingness to compromise, take responsibility and be accountable to one another, and…