Remember that, smart alecks!
Some more of my core guiding principles around this idea:
Truth and fact are two sides of the same coin.
They are interconnected but not interchangeable.
On a similar note:
Truth is complex and often paradoxical.
If you think you can lay it out in black and white terms, sorry bud â you donât have a handle on it. The capacity to hold space for seemingly conflicting ideas is essential. That means letting go of the idea that your truth is the truth.
Critique something/someone only from a place of understanding
^ did a whole rec on this. To add to it: if you spend a lot of time criticizing those who you disagree with, whose benefit is it for? Mainly itâs a signifier to those who you do agree with that youâre part of the same in-group. Thatâs fine and it has its place, but constructively challenging the views and behaviors of those within your own community (including yourself!) is much more valuable.
And on that note:
Understanding â condoning
Most people skip the work of trying to truly understand because theyâre afraid theyâll seem complicit. Say someone commits a violent crime. Trying to understand the familial, socioeconomic, and systemic circumstances that factored in â developing empathy for this person â does not mean you condone the behavior or that you care any less for the victim of their crime. You are not doing any good to the cause of peace of justice or whatever you claim to stand for by refusing to understand people (however fucked up and misguided they may be).
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Ok thatâs long enough, maybe Iâll drop some fun ones in another post lol bye
Jul 17, 2024
Related Recs
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A brief anecdote to preface this (skip to get straight to the philosophy):
Today a team member and I (building a business) met with an expert in his respective field to ask some questions. After a little explanatory back-and-forth, it was clear he had a complete lack of knowledge of our sector, and had only understood the description of our project on a superficial level. Nonetheless, he proceeded to spend most of the time âpushing backâ, and therefore was unable to offer much insight that we could use.
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Critique/judgment without understanding is invalid â period. This is confusing to some critics/would-be critics/people because they conflate the accumulation of knowledge with the skill of understanding. Letâs say youâre a music critic â you know lots of stuff about many kinds of music, many eras, etc. One day something comes along your desk, you pop it on, and it sounds a bit odd. Youâve never heard of the artist before⊠it sounds vaguely similar to something you know of â sure, letâs compare it to that, I guess. In this moment, you may not realize that you have a blindspot. Maybe you donât yet understand the cultural or aesthetic movement this piece of music is born from because it doesnât overlap with your breadth of knowledge (even if itâs very wide). Your prior knowledge may inform your ability to understand, but it doesnât replace it. A real critic will take the time, as their duty, to understand as best they can before they make any critique. Anyone else isnât a real critic.
This goes for everything and everyone, not just professional or expert criticism. Itâs true on an individual level, a social/cultural level, a political level, etc.
Now especially, everyoneâs a critic â and thatâs both great and terrible/terrifying. Criticism/judgment are perfectly valid and useful forms of human expression if and only if you seek to understand beforehand.
So, we can think about that from the perspective of giving criticism and, of course, receiving it. Being open to criticism is a massively important quality to develop, but if someone hasnât made an effort to understand you/your idea, their critiques can go into the trash can. đź
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Jun 4, 2024
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I am able to see everything as multifaceted. I know there are more than two sides to the same coin, and I believe things shouldnât be approached as they appear.
being able to recognize this has made me a more understanding person. Iâm still a hater to my core, and I still make snap judgements about people cutting me off in traffic or being rude to me in the grocery store and the like, but as someone who works in customer service, it has helped me not take everything so personally. Someone snapping at me, or asking a lot of questions that may seem obvious isnât necessarily a pock on their character. Someone may be having a bad day, or is really tired, or high, or just hasnât been here and they are overwhelmed because everything is new and different. I am also able to avoid spiraling about my personal relationships because it really is not about me all the time. And even if/when it is about me, it most likely not malicious. A lot of people have anxieties they donât recognize actively, but they still act on them. And that is okay. We are all people, we all fuck up, and we all keep living.
Mar 6, 2025
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It really cheeses me off when people think they know what others are thinking or what makes them tick or what their motivations are for something.
Recently heard someone say, "Oh the whole reason 'Brad' did good at [this thing] is because he got social validation from his success."
And I said, "Oh really, did Brad tell you that?"
And of course the answer was no, Brad never said that. It was just a great big assumption about Brad's motivesâand a negative assumption at that.
You contain multitudes. I contain multitudes. We contain multitudes.
We are right now the living, breathing, growing sum of a trillion different factors. It is far more interesting and fulfilling to be curious and ask and be surprised than to project our narrow, limited assumptions on others.
(apparently this is a bit of a theme for me today since I already posted about it in another form)
And if you find yourself mind reading and assuming and putting others in a box, then you know what, no worries! Me too sometimes. But let's not stay there.
Oct 19, 2024
Top Recs from @solomonki
Recently passed a couple license plates with these dealership names on them.
Lexus of Glendale
Nissan of Orange
Beautiful!
Apr 18, 2024
Today was Bat Appreciation Day. If you havenât done so already, now is the time to appreciate bats. Iâve made it pretty easy with this collage of a few fav bat pics â please enjoy đ
Apr 18, 2025
to reveal a new bird. looks like we have a beautiful osprey for July!
Jul 1, 2024