We are not talking about no brainers since there is no value there. Chances are you’ve heard or read about something and you feel like that you don’t quite agree with what you’ve been exposed to. To be more specific, you feel like you have something to say against what you’ve seen/heard.
Joyful Digression: Two axioms and one speculation:
Axioms:
- People don’t come up with ideas on their own. People are fed thoughts same way geese are force-fed corn.
- Love and hate are flip sides of the same coin. If you feel like you are against something, you are relevant to what you are opposing.
Speculation:
- You are one of the “people”
End of digression
Layer 1
You have a position. You think what is said does not make sense and you are able to identify its loopholes or provide rationale against it.
Layer 2
You are ignorant of why the statement is made in the first place. I said “Why” but the key point is not even why. They say look what is being said, not who is saying it. This is one of the most misleading statements. At least for modern age (if you ask me it holds for the cave(wo)man too). The key is the audience. It’s not about who is saying it or what is being said. It’s all about for whom it’s being said. The rest is useless meta information in this context.
You don’t have a grasp on who is the audience of the statement that you are opposing and yet you dare opposing it and taking a position. So, you are ignorant.
Layer 3
Once you know the audience, most likely criticizing the statement becomes irrelevant. You know why what is said is said and either you agree with the cause or there is less that you can do to change it. So, if you know, you’ll keep quiet, won’t you? Not necessarily.
