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While the internet is full of garbage writing, I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right w
by osdiab 7y ago
While the internet is full of garbage writing, I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right way to go. That's a perfectionist attitude that stifles people's ability to explore, experiment, be wrong, learn, improve, and act. Like learning a language, if you never speak it because you're afraid to say something wrong, you'll never learn.
And separately, being enlightened with novel pithy facts isn't the only reason people write things. There's a lot that can't be transmitted in that form, and while I appreciate that style of writing for startup advice or a how-to guide, it's definitely not universally applicable.
- throwawaylolx 7y agoI think an otherwise interesting point is obscured by your construing of a strawman argument: >I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right way to go. That's a perfectionist attitude that stifles people's ability to explore, experiment, be wrong, learn, improve, and act. It is dubious to imply that the author is trying to police what people can say and consequently how they can act: he's explicitly talking about _essays_, a literary form typically used for advancing arguments. By reframing his argument as an attempt at "telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong," you're arguing against a much less interesting argument and sidestepping the central theme of _essays_ altogether. In other words, I think the claim that good essays must not necessarilly show novelty, correctness, strength, and importance is a much more interesting argument, and, against correctness at least, one can probably find intellectual companionship among early 20th century futurists, dadaists, and later on fascists.
- alexandercrohde 7y agoAgree. Also ironic how this is the top-voted comment on an essay that, itself, spends so much time talking about the inevitability of misrepresentation. I could write an essay on that myself.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- injb 7y ago" if you never speak it because you're afraid to say something wrong, you'll never learn" If you're afraid to say your idea because you know (or suspect) that it's wrong, then you have already learned the hardest part of the lesson. Of course, it still remains to find out what the right idea is, but voicing one that you know to be wrong is hardly going to help with that.
- illvm 7y agoThis isn't always true, though. History of full of examples of people returning to "wrong" ideas only to find them not wrong at all.
- friendlybus 7y agoHitting the ball wrong in tennis can be answered by the high school kid with one technique, and by Novak Djokovic with another technique. Novak will have a far more complete, in depth and transcendent answer than someone else, but both are "correct" in that they solve the problem of hitting the ball wrong. Knowing you're wrong is the threshold guardian to the adventure of hitting the mark correctly. I don't know how you embark on that journey without voicing it multiple times to multiple people.
- Swizec 7y agoBest way to learn on the internet is to give the wrong answer and get corrected
- injb 7y agoThat's the best way if you don't know that you're wrong, sure. If you do know, why not just ask what the right answer is?
- jodrellblank 7y ago> why not just ask what the right answer is? “RTFM” “Nobody’s going to do your homework for you” “whathaveyoutried.com”
- 7y ago
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 7y ago>... I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right way to go. I think you're putting words in his mouth. You seem to be reading it as "only write useful things" rather than "how to write usefully." You laid out a number of reasons that writing doesn't need to be useful to others, which is great, but doesn't contradict the essay how you seem to think it does.
- jimbokun 7y ago"I don't feel like telling people that they shouldn't say anything wrong or potentially unimportant is the right way to go." The problem is far too many people err in the opposite direction. I don't see an Internet only consisting of perfectly reasoned and argued content, with everyone else fearfully staying quiet. I see countless comments suggesting the writer didn't take a second to consider contrary viewpoints, or facts that might undermine their argument, or stating things with certainty without regard to whether or not they have a factual basis.
- lliamander 7y agoWriting is hard. for many people, writing anything at all is a struggle. That struggle also can go away with practice. Eventually you get to the point where expressing yourself with the written word becomes very natural. Of the criteria that Paul suggested (true, important, novel, clear) I would say that novice writers should strive to write with just one of those qualities (which can vary from one piece of writing to another). As you achieve fluency and words just flow from the pen (or keyboard) and the focus shifts away from being able to express yourself, you add the other criteria to improve the quality of the ideas you express.
- hinkley 7y agoIt's the sort of advice you get from either a worrier or someone who has already perfected their craft. And in an era where people talk a lot about how others achieve something and then 'close the door behind them', well, this is closing the door behind you, Paul.
- copperx 7y agoYour comment is useful, bold, and correct.