diff --git a/infra/website/content/blog/xxx_be_wrong.md b/infra/website/content/blog/xxx_be_wrong.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..1972088a139 --- /dev/null +++ b/infra/website/content/blog/xxx_be_wrong.md @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@ +Title: Embrace being proven wrong +Category: Blog +Date: 2021-11-26 +Tags: culture, politics +Status: Draft + + +I recently posted an article on my Twitter feed about the shortcomings +of Flatpak. It resonated with me and my opinions on a subject that, +it turned out, I didn't know enough about. I had conversations with +people who were far bigger experts in this area than me, both some in +favour of Flatpak, and some sceptical, and came to new conclusions. + +Don't get me wrong: I'm still not 100% convinced. I still have +criticism of Flatpak, as I think anyone can have about anything. + +But I opted to delete my tweet because I didn't feel comfortable with +the hyperbole of the article. Worse even: in some corners of the +internet the article had garnered a reputation for "speaking truth to +power", feeding into a weird Red Hat conspiracy theory that I felt +even more uncomfortable with. + +## Discourse neurology + +This style of rhetoric, the "taking apart an argument so I don't have +to think about it too hard", has become very common in modern +discourse. This is driven by the "fight or flight" response of the +amygdala in our brains. A feeling of physical anxiety floods us when +we are on the defensive, for whatever reason. And all logic goes out +the window. + +Many of the arguments you see online (and many offline too, don't get +me wrong!) center around this emotional response and it is one that +our culture fosters as well. + +Admitting to being wrong is seen as a weakness and connected to shame, +a loss of status, and humiliation. And so, we are never wrong. We +attack our intellectual oponents in order to relieve ourselves of the +responsibility of having to engage with an argument that makes us +uncomfortable. This is how filter bubbles get created too. + +## Hope for the future + +But that's not how it needs to be. And that's what this blog post is +about. + +Because let's face it: we're all wrong about most things. There are +too many things to be known, and too little time to know them all. +And because society favours whitty comebacks at surface level +discourse, this doesn't change the fact that we are filtering +ourselves from properly engaging with arguments that we might find +uncomfortable. + +**There is an antidote however: radical vulnerability and humility.** + +Being wrong is an opportunity to learn something new and to broaden +your perspective on some topic you didn't understand previously. +Approach arguments that make you uncomfortable with an open curiocity +and you will find yourself agreeing with more things than you +previously thought. + +And this isn't about just changing your opinions either. By engaging +more openly with things you disagree with you can actually increase +your resolution on ideas that you hold dear. I'd also like to point +out that not all ideas are equally valid. Fuck you if you think this +justifies debating nazis... + +Ultimately I want to approach life with a curiocity that doesn't +exclude me from new and exciting things that may be happening in the +communities I'm in, or from ignoring uncomfortable truths about how +the system we are forced to live in works. + +And maybe, if enough of us do this, we can make this world just a +little bit better too.