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> Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. Do you seriously think you can just copy paste a phrase that sounded about right in ce

by jafaku 13y ago

> Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. Do you seriously think you can just copy paste a phrase that sounded about right in certain context and reuse it everywhere?

solarmist 13y ago
It's far more than just a random phrase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor
- jafaku 13y ago
  Oh god. You think I haven't seen this? I swear, the Internet is doomed. All what kids can do now is copy/paste stupid phrases and feel good about it because they are in Wikipedia, and also get approval from other kids who don't know better. "Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory." How's that holding nowadays? What a useful phrase! Besides, there's also this variation: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice." But it doesn't sound as smart to little kids, and it doesn't simplify your life by letting you skip all the thinking, right?
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    When I was younger I was much more confident of my ability to discern other people's motives and make absolutist moral judgments. Now that I'm in my 40s, I've come to realize that many of those youthful judgments were quite mistaken.
anigbrowl 13y ago
I've found it extremely useful advice to live by. It's easy to ascribe wicked motives towards one's antagonists, but doing so leads down a rabbit hole of magical thinking because you really don't know what motivates them in most cases. All sorts of ill-effects can result from people who sincerely believe they're doing the right thing but who have failed to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. It's more productive to address the undesirable outcomes of a policy than it is to demonize the policy makers, unless you have abundant evidence of ill-will.
- Digit-Al 13y ago
  > All sorts of ill-effects can result from people who sincerely believe they're doing the right thing but who have failed to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. Or to put it another way: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

by jafaku 13y ago

> Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity. Do you seriously think you can just copy paste a phrase that sounded about right in certain context and reuse it everywhere?

solarmist 13y ago

It's far more than just a random phrase. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor

jafaku 13y ago
Oh god. You think I haven't seen this? I swear, the Internet is doomed. All what kids can do now is copy/paste stupid phrases and feel good about it because they are in Wikipedia, and also get approval from other kids who don't know better. "Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory." How's that holding nowadays? What a useful phrase! Besides, there's also this variation: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice." But it doesn't sound as smart to little kids, and it doesn't simplify your life by letting you skip all the thinking, right?
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  When I was younger I was much more confident of my ability to discern other people's motives and make absolutist moral judgments. Now that I'm in my 40s, I've come to realize that many of those youthful judgments were quite mistaken.

anigbrowl 13y ago

I've found it extremely useful advice to live by. It's easy to ascribe wicked motives towards one's antagonists, but doing so leads down a rabbit hole of magical thinking because you really don't know what motivates them in most cases. All sorts of ill-effects can result from people who sincerely believe they're doing the right thing but who have failed to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. It's more productive to address the undesirable outcomes of a policy than it is to demonize the policy makers, unless you have abundant evidence of ill-will.

Digit-Al 13y ago
> All sorts of ill-effects can result from people who sincerely believe they're doing the right thing but who have failed to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. Or to put it another way: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.