Facile to the extent that it doesn’t acknowledge the nuance of withholding judgement. One does not have to pretend at virtue for demanding a higher standard of rigor before committing to one position or another. This is especially true nowadays, when it is quick and cheap to track down the strongest arguments for, or against, any position and exceedingly difficult to thoroughly debunk them; when misinformation is everywhere and having domain specific expertise doesn’t protect a source from bias.
The sort of pretention you’re describing is contemptible, but—unless I’m misunderstanding something—not for the sake of withholding judgement. I cannot help but feel that, in most of the situations you’ve described, there is an implication that the authoritative party is not only negligent, but aware of that negligence. This adds an element of deliberate cognitive dissonance to the list of recriminations against such an actor. Together they make a much more convincing reason to despise your hypothetical fence-sitter than their withholding judgement or the presumption that they’re posturing.
You seem to have a problem with feigning neutrality as a trendy means of signaling sophistication, but what you’ve written here reads to me as more of a criticism against ever thinking better of yourself for withholding judgement. Perhaps I’m misreading, but I don’t think that was your intention. Assigning a confidence rating to your position is often a difficult evaluation, especially given a contentious topic, and withholding judgement is (probably) often the proper course of action. Shouldn’t it should be fine to feel virtuous for withholding judgement when you’ve honestly judged it to be proper?
Facile to the extent that it doesn’t acknowledge the nuance of withholding judgement. One does not have to pretend at virtue for demanding a higher standard of rigor before committing to one position or another. This is especially true nowadays, when it is quick and cheap to track down the strongest arguments for, or against, any position and exceedingly difficult to thoroughly debunk them; when misinformation is everywhere and having domain specific expertise doesn’t protect a source from bias.
The sort of pretention you’re describing is contemptible, but—unless I’m misunderstanding something—not for the sake of withholding judgement. I cannot help but feel that, in most of the situations you’ve described, there is an implication that the authoritative party is not only negligent, but aware of that negligence. This adds an element of deliberate cognitive dissonance to the list of recriminations against such an actor. Together they make a much more convincing reason to despise your hypothetical fence-sitter than their withholding judgement or the presumption that they’re posturing.
You seem to have a problem with feigning neutrality as a trendy means of signaling sophistication, but what you’ve written here reads to me as more of a criticism against ever thinking better of yourself for withholding judgement. Perhaps I’m misreading, but I don’t think that was your intention. Assigning a confidence rating to your position is often a difficult evaluation, especially given a contentious topic, and withholding judgement is (probably) often the proper course of action. Shouldn’t it should be fine to feel virtuous for withholding judgement when you’ve honestly judged it to be proper?