Merlin Mann “The Philosopher” on Hypocrisy
Everybody gets so obsessed with this hypocrisy stuff like it’s some kind of holy grail to like not be a hypocrite…but life is complicated! — 37:55 min into The Conversation podcast Episode 5 with Dan Benjamin
I’ve always struggled with the degree in which most people I meet strive for political correctness! Why couldn’t you just say what you think even if it contradicts with what is generally accepted? Life is indeed complicated and no one is immune, we’re all bound to change our positions on things in life before even realizing it! So don’t worry too much about hypocrisy and give yourself a chance to evolve:
I think there is so much that we do. We’re so arrogant about our intelligence and all this thinking that we do that we can talk ourselves into rationalizing almost anything. And then you know the duka part of this I think, is where you get so attached to your own reason why/how you are…that you get so worried about people seeing you as anything else. You can’t evolve, you can’t change, you can’t be wrong, you can’t apologize, you can’t improve, you can’t contradict yourself! You know? And to me, I cannot imagine living that way today. You know? If I sweated hypocrisy and sweated what everybody thought of me, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. I would just sit around trying to manage my image. And uh…God! That just sounds like a horrible life to me. — 30:46 min into The Pipeline podcast Episode 7 with Dan Benjamin
I think this is the single most underrated reason why we humans haven’t evolved with greater efficiency. We must allow people the mental freedom to be wrong. The easier this becomes the more people will dare to be unique and the easier it will be to admit when wrong. Which, all in turn will promote evolution and further nurturing.
I have the utmost admiration for Merlin and his contributions but these 2 quotes elevate him to a whole new status for me. Endlessly eloquent and brave.