Sometimes, is better to shut up

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Abstract

ne was to find information about a certain topic directly from “experts” being interviewed on television or writing books and editorials in newspapers, nowadays we are flooded with information coming from “laypeople”. As noble as it is, the aim to give a voice to the voiceless and provide everyone with a platform to express themselves, there is clearly a downside to it.What bugs me is that nowadays, everybody wants to be an expert, and everybody wants to have an opinion on literally everything and be heard. I will now give you a vital piece of information that might surprise you:If you do not have an opinion on a certain subject, if you do not have knowledge of a certain subject, no one, literally no one, will arrest you, it is not illegal not to have an opinion.Now, I am a strong supporter of Freedom of Speech and have been very vocal about it in the last few years, but I must warn you: The right to Freedom of Speech grants you another right, namely the right to look like an idiot.If you want to talk about the conflict in Ukraine, but cannot even point out where it is on the map, if you want to talk about COVID-19, but cannot even spell the word virology, if you want

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to talk about American Football, but do not know what a quarterback is, and if you want to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but do not know what is the Gaza Strip, believe me, is better to shut up.Time helped me understand that in the world, the individuals who know the most tend towards silence, realizing that the more knowledge they acquire on a certain subject, the more questions arise, leaving them baffled at the paradox of learning a lot but seeing the truth getting further and further away. On the contrary, the less the people know, the more vocal they are on sensitive subjects.<h2 id="e63e">So believe me, if in doubt, just shut up. It’s free, legal, and most importantly, risk-free.</h2>Thank you, Dear Reader. Subscribe to get notified whenever I publish something new! You can support my work in different ways, subscribing to my <a href="http://patreon.com/GiovanniFoglia">Patreon</a> or even just with a <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/giovannifov">coffee</a>. It means a lot.<h1 id="6ad0">Giovanni Foglia</h1><figure id="48d0"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*uk3DoJrSZj03fDlvPY_miw.jpeg"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></article></body>

Sometimes, is better to shut up.

Image generated with Adobe Firefly

The world is in turmoil.

The apparent peace and calmness of the last decade has been shattered very rapidly by a series of tragic events in rapid succession. First, the biggest pandemic in the last 100 years killing millions of people worldwide; then the ensuing conflict in Ukraine and the ever-raging battle between Israel and Palestine, which became more vivid recently following the actions of Hamas on the 7th of October 2023. This series of events, other than bringing destruction and suffering, led the general population to raise some questions, which generally led to debates and disagreements.

The rise of social media in the years following the 2010s gave the opportunity to everyone to let their voice be heard by everyone, something that prior to that was generally reserved for pubs or chats with friends; people always had their opinions, but they would largely remain private.

The result?

If before the social media era, one was to find information about a certain topic directly from “experts” being interviewed on television or writing books and editorials in newspapers, nowadays we are flooded with information coming from “laypeople”. As noble as it is, the aim to give a voice to the voiceless and provide everyone with a platform to express themselves, there is clearly a downside to it.

What bugs me is that nowadays, everybody wants to be an expert, and everybody wants to have an opinion on literally everything and be heard. I will now give you a vital piece of information that might surprise you:

If you do not have an opinion on a certain subject, if you do not have knowledge of a certain subject, no one, literally no one, will arrest you, it is not illegal not to have an opinion.

Now, I am a strong supporter of Freedom of Speech and have been very vocal about it in the last few years, but I must warn you: The right to Freedom of Speech grants you another right, namely the right to look like an idiot.

If you want to talk about the conflict in Ukraine, but cannot even point out where it is on the map, if you want to talk about COVID-19, but cannot even spell the word virology, if you want to talk about American Football, but do not know what a quarterback is, and if you want to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but do not know what is the Gaza Strip, believe me, is better to shut up.

Time helped me understand that in the world, the individuals who know the most tend towards silence, realizing that the more knowledge they acquire on a certain subject, the more questions arise, leaving them baffled at the paradox of learning a lot but seeing the truth getting further and further away. On the contrary, the less the people know, the more vocal they are on sensitive subjects.