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Hmm. http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html seems relevant here: When you find something you can't say, what do you do with it?
by sillysaurusx 6y ago
Hmm. http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html http://www.paulgraham.com/say.html seems relevant here:
When you find something you can't say, what do you do with it? My advice is, don't say it. Or at least, pick your battles.
Suppose in the future there is a movement to ban the color yellow. Proposals to paint anything yellow are denounced as "yellowist", as is anyone suspected of liking the color. People who like orange are tolerated but viewed with suspicion. Suppose you realize there is nothing wrong with yellow. If you go around saying this, you'll be denounced as a yellowist too, and you'll find yourself having a lot of arguments with anti-yellowists. If your aim in life is to rehabilitate the color yellow, that may be what you want. But if you're mostly interested in other questions, being labelled as a yellowist will just be a distraction. Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot.
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The most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want. And if you feel you have to say everything you think, it may inhibit you from thinking improper thoughts. I think it's better to follow the opposite policy. Draw a sharp line between your thoughts and your speech. Inside your head, anything is allowed. Within my head I make a point of encouraging the most outrageous thoughts I can imagine. But, as in a secret society, nothing that happens within the building should be told to outsiders. The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club.
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When Milton was going to visit Italy in the 1630s, Sir Henry Wootton, who had been ambassador to Venice, told him his motto should be "i pensieri stretti & il viso sciolto." Closed thoughts and an open face. Smile at everyone, and don't tell them what you're thinking. This was wise advice. Milton was an argumentative fellow, and the Inquisition was a bit restive at that time. But I think the difference between Milton's situation and ours is only a matter of degree. Every era has its heresies, and if you don't get imprisoned for them you will at least get in enough trouble that it becomes a complete distraction.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Udik 6y ago> The most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want. [...] Draw a sharp line between your thoughts and your speech While this is wise life advice, it's also an invitation to hypocrisy. A collective hypocrisy in which everyone might think one way and speak another. And sometimes this will have consequences: will you defend from public lynching the one who said what everybody thinks? Will you betray yourself when you thought you were in a safe context, only for your words to be reported and used against you?
- chrisco255 6y agoGenerally, the number of people that will stand up to a crowd or a mob and hold their own is dismally small. It goes against your own raw survival instincts to be accepted by the tribe (we are social creatures by nature) and sets your body into fight mode. I think pg is off on this particular essay. You may want to pick your battles, but you still have to have battles to win the war. You can't hide in your basement. You can't risk nothing.