It has become common, I believe, for people to basically become containers and dispensers of other people's thoughts, ideas, opinions, and arguments.  We allow ourselves to be impressed with the apparent logic and rationale of a position, rather than thinking it through for ourselves, and start parroting the things we have heard even if we have not yet even done the intellectual work to decide if we agree with it or not.  I think this happens a lot more than we might care to admit.  It is like a cheat for seeming like a smart guy; but the problem is, once we espouse such unscrutinized opinions, we become too invested in them to ever re-think them, and we can spend way too long overtly subscribing to ideas we do not actually believe.