I frequently hear people (especially public figures) criticized for “changing their opinions too much.” Obviously, taking on the opinion of whoever you happen to be talking to at the moment is a bad thing, but it’s difficult enough to distinguish between the two at the drop of a hat that I think such criticism is definitely problematic.
Ideally, public figures who changed their minds about something would state that they had done so and explain what information changed their opinion. This would let observers gauge whether the person had really changed their mind or was just saying whatever was most expedient. The problem with this is that it takes a long time, and would ideally involve questioning by others (“You used to say X was good because of Y—do you still believe Y?”). If you’re making speeches where your goal is to say lots of things that make you look good in the amount of time people will listen, you don’t want to spend time on this sort of thing because most of the audience will tune out before they’ve heard you say much that sounded impressive.
Sure. As you say though, that would be a difficult sell.
I think part of the problem is that “they’re changing their opinions too much” is usually a snap judgment. It tends to be applied to everyone that doesn’t have a firmly fixed campaign platform (and isn’t protected by party affiliation).
People who actually sit down and look over the available history tend to, just as a trend, come back with more concrete issues. More along the lines of “this guy’s had a different opinion on foreign policy to go with every speech he’s ever made, and it always lines up with the majority opinion of the audience.”
I frequently hear people (especially public figures) criticized for “changing their opinions too much.” Obviously, taking on the opinion of whoever you happen to be talking to at the moment is a bad thing, but it’s difficult enough to distinguish between the two at the drop of a hat that I think such criticism is definitely problematic.
Ideally, public figures who changed their minds about something would state that they had done so and explain what information changed their opinion. This would let observers gauge whether the person had really changed their mind or was just saying whatever was most expedient. The problem with this is that it takes a long time, and would ideally involve questioning by others (“You used to say X was good because of Y—do you still believe Y?”). If you’re making speeches where your goal is to say lots of things that make you look good in the amount of time people will listen, you don’t want to spend time on this sort of thing because most of the audience will tune out before they’ve heard you say much that sounded impressive.
Sure. As you say though, that would be a difficult sell.
I think part of the problem is that “they’re changing their opinions too much” is usually a snap judgment. It tends to be applied to everyone that doesn’t have a firmly fixed campaign platform (and isn’t protected by party affiliation).
People who actually sit down and look over the available history tend to, just as a trend, come back with more concrete issues. More along the lines of “this guy’s had a different opinion on foreign policy to go with every speech he’s ever made, and it always lines up with the majority opinion of the audience.”