ambivalent, part two

About a month ago I posted on the difference between being ambivalent and being indifferent. I think my description was confusing to a few people, so before I get into today's topic, let me clear this up so that what I say later makes more sense. Someone who is ambivalent toward an issue has not picked a side because he or she sees the validity of both sides. Someone who is indifferent could care less about either side's validity.

A good example might be an outside observer to an argument over whether Captain Kirk or Captain Picard was a better captain. A fan of the original Star Trek and The Next Generation might be ambivalent about the points made about each captain. Someone who is not a fan of either show would indifferently wonder whether people who argue over such topics have a life.

In short, if you're ambivalent you care and if you are indifferent you don't.

Last week one of my coworkers sent me a link to a story about a scandal on the cover of Babytalk magazine. Apparently, the cover picture for the magazine was of a baby being breastfed. There was a significant backlash from some readers over the decision to use that picture.

This got me to thinking about the issue of breastfeeding in public. I don't mention this to stir up a heated discussion on the crimes or merits of it. I mention this because this is just one topic of many where I don't see many people who are ambivalent like me. I can see where people might get offended from a cultural context. I can also see where this is something beautiful that God created to create a bond between baby and mother. There is no point in arguing with someone who has a strong opinion about this because this is not an issue where people will voluntarily choose to see the merits of the opposing view.

There are actually a lot of issues like this that I am very ambivalent about. Yes, there are a lot of issues where I have a strong stance, but there are probably as many where I have so far refused to completely accept either position at the exclusion of the other. A lot of these issues that I am still contemplating are political and cultural issues. My position is not for a lack of caring, but due to the fact that often neither side has completely perfect (or completely erroneous) logic.

I think the reason that I feel somewhat alone in my ambivalence is that the people who get air time are the partisans. Not only that, they are also more likely to want to share their opinions to convert the undecided or opposition. Plus, who wants to waste time listening to you if your strong opinion is that you haven't picked a side?

So, if I don't share my opinion about some issue with you, it could be that I haven't come to a precise conclusion on it yet. That's a good thing. Or maybe it's a bad thing. I don't know for sure. I haven't decided yet.