Re:On Experiencing Joe Rogan
by jfengel on Wednesday February 16, 2022 @04:22PM
(#30365868)
They are sincere in wanting to know the truth, they are not outright malicious,
I disagree with that last part. Or perhaps it's just that the author is making the word "outright" do a fair bit of work there.
In my experience, there's a level of malice in the way they preferentially seek out the contrarian and deprecate genuine experts in favor of the ones who seem more exciting. They may like to imagine that they're doing no harm, but they will ignore the complaints of anybody experiencing harm. The longer they do that, the harder it is to attribute it to ordinary ignorance and self-centeredness, and it seems more likely to be an active malice that seems casual because it's so effortless.
It's the "just asking questions" guy, like the guy who's "just asking questions" about whether six million Jews really died in the Holocaust. The first time, you can pretend it's sincere ignorance. The second time, it's so clear that you should never have given the benefit of the doubt.
I disagree with that last part. Or perhaps it's just that the author is making the word "outright" do a fair bit of work there.
In my experience, there's a level of malice in the way they preferentially seek out the contrarian and deprecate genuine experts in favor of the ones who seem more exciting. They may like to imagine that they're doing no harm, but they will ignore the complaints of anybody experiencing harm. The longer they do that, the harder it is to attribute it to ordinary ignorance and self-centeredness, and it seems more likely to be an active malice that seems casual because it's so effortless.
It's the "just asking questions" guy, like the guy who's "just asking questions" about whether six million Jews really died in the Holocaust. The first time, you can pretend it's sincere ignorance. The second time, it's so clear that you should never have given the benefit of the doubt.