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Why? I really dislike bandwagon jumpers;

Those who jump in on a conversation midway when a news report/story/scandal/debate is being explained and then they suddenly just start being one sided agreeing with the speaker, usually never adding valuable context to the dialogue, just opinionated negative statements. 

They hear a newspaper headline, a scrolling 15 word text alert on the tv, or a mention on the radio and then they think they're experts on the situation to a point where they can immediately start to dish blame/criticism.

In Ben Casnocha's recent blog post about watching a recent online interview he stated, "Whether you agree or disagree isn't the point and don't interpret this as an endorsement of Chomsky's views. I don't have opinions on these issues until I become more informed." 

I love this statement - "I don't have opinions on these issues until I become more informed." It's not ignorance on his part [he didn't go out of his way to not know], he simply didn't know enough the ongoing situation and to his credit, he wants to make an informed opinion at a later time when he has better context, facts and understanding of what's going on. 

I think we should all take this conscious effort to not make uninformed or silly remarks about something we know little about or just one side of. While at the same time I don't believe we need to be top experts in a discipline/field/subject area to make an informed opinion; we should bite our tongues more often 'till we actually have a clue. 

It's hard to resist jumping on the bandwagon. Media outlets obviously have bias and want higher viewer ratings - they're going to frame a story so that it is controversial and newsworthy. Another thing that makes it hard to resist being a band wagon jumper is we often get that question, "So Ryan, what do you think about those budget cuts that will shorten the school day?". It's extremely easy to say, "Ya Steve, that's horrible. I can't believe what the selectmen were thinking. How can they take away educating our children?" 

Instead you could say, "You know Steve, its a very important matter that we need to address. I personally don't know enough details about the decision but let me get back to you with my thoughts when I know a little more about both sides of the story."

Don't be a bandwagon jumper - just an individual who chooses to make informed opinion at the right time.

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I'll admit I'm a bandwagon jumper sometimes when it comes to playoff sports; Bruins and Red Sox. Very little attention is paid to them during the regular season :)