So are ya?

• Do you hyperventilate trying to choose a bottled water?
• Do you let lack of knowledge stop you from opining?
• Have you ever said "I don't know"?

Don't give up! You, and thousands like you can be helped by ... Oops! wrong infomercial!!

Seriously folks. I am just curious how many people see changing one's mind as a virtue. Do we need more people who change their mind, or more certainty and steadfastness?

The previous U.S. presidential election may have won or lost based on accusations of "flip-flopping", e.g. an admission of being for something before being against it. It seems to me that our culture disrespects changing one's mind about issues. Is this as true in other cultures. Has the U.S. taken it too far?

Hint - I think it has gone too far, and a little less certainty and a few more flip-flops would serve us well. Doesn't science discover more about what we don't know than what we do?

What do you think?

I think some political hack invented to term 'flip-flop'. I like to call it evolving or rounding out ones opinions. I'm not even sure I like to use the word opinion (even tho I have on occasion). Opinion sounds too definite for me.

For anyone to think they have reached the pinnacle of knowledge in any given subject seems dangerous to me.

I totally agree ... changing one's opinions should be seen as a virtue. Some people pride themselves in not growing ... it doesn't make sense to me.

But do we agree (or not) that today's culture sees lack of certainty as a strong negative?

Absolutely! I put heavy blame on our educational system for this because of the competitive factor. Loosers are wrong and winners are right.

I agree ... American culture as a whole sees certainty as a good thing.

Although I see it as mostly negative. The reason is that certainty is a psychological state of mind which really has no bearing on really knowing something.

When people ask me "are you certain about that?" I sometimes jokingly respond "Would you like me to be? Sure." It of course doesn't matter if I'm dead wrong.

Another odd thing I've noticed, the less evidence there is for something, the more certain people are about their beliefs about it. Certainty is usually inversely proportional to the evidence!

I agree with rj and yaaarrrggg.

I would like to add that the term "flip-flopping" is very loaded. I don't think it's supposed to be a reference to actually changing your mind, but rather a reference to saying different things just to get people to like you. Being disingenuous is a bad thing, but changing your mind doesn't make you disingenuous.

I change my mind on a continual basis. I rarely come down really hard on issues because I know how hard it is to fully understand any issue. Sometimes people fuss at me for being hard to pin down because of it.

Kerry was specifically accused of voting one way and then another later, on the same issue. It wasn't about him saying different things to different groups. If he was hurt by the accusation (I think he was hurt a lot), it was because he simply changed his mind. Of course it didn't help that he's also extremely boring.

My point is that the general public isn't too good at telling the difference sometimes, and his opponents did a good spin job. Maybe he really changed his mind, but that's not what he was accused of. It's all about perception.

Also, I see "rightness" as a moving target. Therefore if I'm stagnant then I can't possibly be right. Most people in our society view it as a stationary ideal, so once you're right you should just sit there.

I don't think Kerry is boring at all. Many people tune into tone and not substance. He's a politician for god's sake, not an entertainer.

I think the accusations of him being a flip flopper only further cemented the opinions of those who were not going to vote for him anyway.

Bush won the election because people were afraid to change administrations during a war.

What really bugs me about John McCain is he constantly makes to statements that the war was mismanaged from the beginning and he was vocal about it. Yet this man refused to hold this president accountable, by endorsing him. He says Rumsfeld and the administration were responsible but he put party above the lives of our soldiers. Pretty sickening if you ask me.

Kinda happens a lot in this country, doesn't it?

I'm not convinced that Kerry is more idealistic than the average senator, but I could be wrong. But you're right that people pay too much attention to tone and candidate marketing. I'd take boring with good judgment any day over... well you probably know what the other is.


Yeah, McCain drives me crazy. I supported him in 2000, but after Bush slimed him is South Carolina he seemed to learn the wrong lesson from defeat. I think he lost his nerve and admired his conquerors too much, rather than fighting harder the next time. Seems like a bit of the Stockholm Syndrome to me. Not quite a captor, but learning to love an abuser because he's the winner and you feel like a loser. I think McCain wants redemption by winning something, anything, no matter how much he has to sell out.

Good Call

When someone is open minded and objective enough to see an error in their thinking and change it, that's somewhat virtuous.

When someone changes what they say to fit the moment - to gain popularity - that's chickenshit.

Yea, what you said. But, Dude, how can you tell when someone is doing one or the other? You are really, really insightful.

I think it's cool we can cuss here. Chickenshit, lol. I haven't heard that since high school. Chickenshit, chickenshit...Man, that's so funny. Dude, your hilarious! Batman and Robin and now this. I'm going to read all your shit., lol..