As I note below, it almost feels like an established idiom to me, but I’m on the fringe of the human distribution, so I’d recommend you look for more corroboration.
First, when you have a disagreement, people are likely to interpret what you say in a poor light.
I’d add that the people on Less Wrong are highly unrepresentative of most people. We like to think, we like to argue, we like to discuss ideas, we like intellectual back and forth. Most people just aren’t like that, and particularly not with people like us.
Maybe most people feel threatened when asked to justify their beliefs. Because they can’t do it. Because they can’t separate a judgment on their ideas from a judgment on themselves—can’t separate the sin from the sinner. Others are simply authoritarian types, and believe their higher status makes it rude and impertinent to question their beliefs.
We have a “find the truth” mentality. I don’t think most people are like that. Ideas are signaling. To ask people to explain is to threaten to expose them as intellectual frauds. They don’t share that value, but they feel the threat, knowing that others do, and in particular, you do.
I’m massively generalizing, and probably overstating the case, but I think there is truth in what I’m saying.
Some people just don’t have the relationship to ideas that you do. And whether someone does or doesn’t, they’ll be hypervigilant to threat from your comments in the context of a disagreement. If it can be interpreted in a negative light, it likely will be.
As I note below, it almost feels like an established idiom to me, but I’m on the fringe of the human distribution, so I’d recommend you look for more corroboration.
First, when you have a disagreement, people are likely to interpret what you say in a poor light.
I’d add that the people on Less Wrong are highly unrepresentative of most people. We like to think, we like to argue, we like to discuss ideas, we like intellectual back and forth. Most people just aren’t like that, and particularly not with people like us.
Maybe most people feel threatened when asked to justify their beliefs. Because they can’t do it. Because they can’t separate a judgment on their ideas from a judgment on themselves—can’t separate the sin from the sinner. Others are simply authoritarian types, and believe their higher status makes it rude and impertinent to question their beliefs.
We have a “find the truth” mentality. I don’t think most people are like that. Ideas are signaling. To ask people to explain is to threaten to expose them as intellectual frauds. They don’t share that value, but they feel the threat, knowing that others do, and in particular, you do.
I’m massively generalizing, and probably overstating the case, but I think there is truth in what I’m saying.
Some people just don’t have the relationship to ideas that you do. And whether someone does or doesn’t, they’ll be hypervigilant to threat from your comments in the context of a disagreement. If it can be interpreted in a negative light, it likely will be.