This post is also available in: Français Italiano

You know all this talk about doing slowing down? I’m not really that much of a fan. At least not for changemakers, people who want to make the world a better place. They’re the people who need to be fast and productive. When we’re talking about commercial occupations, I’m all in favor of taking it slower. “Speed is irrelevant,” Gandhi said, “if you’re going in the wrong direction.” Good causes, non profit organisations, changemakers, however, are usually going in the right direction. So godspeed to them, and not too much of that slowing down stuff.

However, there’s one area where I usually believe that being fast is almost always wrong: forming opinions. Webforums, social media – where it takes a second to put a comment or a sneer – contribute to “fast opinion”. So it’s time for a new movement: after slow food and slow everything, allow me to introduce slow opinion.

Slow opinionists are aware of the complexity of life and today’s society. That’s why they refuse to form an opinion before they have thought things through and are well informed.

But slow opinion is about more than deep thinking and informing oneself. It’s also about empathy. Slow opinionists wonder: how would it be to be in that person’s shoes? What are the arguments that are important for them? In what position are they? Could they maybe have a good reason to say, write or do this? What, in this discussion do I not know?
An advantage of slow opinion – maybe the biggest one – is that the judging, condemning and offending of others is reduced to a minimum. Slow opinion is to be applied towards almost everything and everybody, including politicians and other celebrities. They are people too.

Slow opinion also implies that there can be respect for the fact that someone does not right away want to take a decision, because they lack information, or have not had time enough to think about the matter. Such a suspension of opinion should not be seen as dragging your feet, weakness or a lack of intelligence, but needs to be interpreted as some sort of maturation process that is necessary to come to a qualitative decision or a sound opinion. Neither can this slowness be seen as unjustified neutrality or the refusal to take a position (even though the latter can be honorable in itself). This also applies when we’re talking about apparently obvious topics. Everyone can think of examples for themselves, but in my circles, for instance, it is obvious to be anti-GMO, to condemn certain political parties and politicians, to be anti-religious, etc. Slow opinion applies to any question to which progressives believe they have already found the answer ages ago, and where it seems a taboo to even dare think about or doubt the question.

Slow opinion also does not equal some things. It’s not the same as endless talking and meeting. And it doesn’t need to be applied in all circumstances. There are moments when a fast opinion is crucial, and it’s the only thing we can do. And I understand there’s places where our passion or expertise will lead us to fast opinion.

Slow opinion has its downsides. The biggest danger is so-called analysis paralysis: thinking too hard, trying to take too many things into account and hence not coming to a conclusion, or only way too late. It’s a great way to annoy people, and it will block or delay every process.

But when slow opinion is done well, it’s great. Imagine that everyone, before saying or writing something, takes slow opinion to heart. Imagine people who, participating in discussions, would not say yes or no too fast. Imagine people who give their emotions the right place, who want to think rationally, objectively, logically before coming to a conclusion. People who want to be informed and who say: “let me think about that, I’ll get back to you”. People who ask: “do you have a good article about that which I can read first?” People who are honest towards themselves and who are willing to change their minds. People who don’t just posit things but also ask questions. And when they do posit things, it would be with an “in my humble opinion” here and there, which is just not for show but heartfelt.

I believe the vegan movement can benefit a lot from slow opinion and deep thinking. It would help us to be less judgmental, of people both on our side as well as the other side of the fence. And it would help avoid the dogma that’s inherent in a big part of our movement and help us be open to new ideas.