Isnt the secret power of Rationality that it can stand up to review? Religious cults are able to demand extreme loyalty because the people are not presented alternatives and are not able to question the view they are handed. One of our strengths seems to be in discernment and argumentation which naturally leads to fractious in-fighting. What would we call “withholding criticism for the Greater Good”?
The difference is simply in the critic’s motivation: are they trying to improve the situation, or just trying to avoid the expected outcome of agreement? E.g., are you criticizing charities because you want them to do better, or because you don’t want to shell out the money AND don’t want to admit it? (I’m unashamedly in the “I don’t want to send money to Africa and I don’t care if I have a logical reason for it” camp, and so have no need to make up a bunch of reasons it’s bad.)
If the critic were really interested in improvement, they’d be suggesting improvements or better yet, DOING something about improvement.
Isnt the secret power of Rationality that it can stand up to review? Religious cults are able to demand extreme loyalty because the people are not presented alternatives and are not able to question the view they are handed. One of our strengths seems to be in discernment and argumentation which naturally leads to fractious in-fighting. What would we call “withholding criticism for the Greater Good”?
The difference is simply in the critic’s motivation: are they trying to improve the situation, or just trying to avoid the expected outcome of agreement? E.g., are you criticizing charities because you want them to do better, or because you don’t want to shell out the money AND don’t want to admit it? (I’m unashamedly in the “I don’t want to send money to Africa and I don’t care if I have a logical reason for it” camp, and so have no need to make up a bunch of reasons it’s bad.)
If the critic were really interested in improvement, they’d be suggesting improvements or better yet, DOING something about improvement.