14 Comments

Irrespective of your late "awareness" of things like TLP, I appreciate you talking about them. I'd never heard of TLP or Sadly, Porn or caught the Sadly, Porn review Alexander posted, but I'm glad I read it now. I feel some guilt myself for reading that and not having any real inclination to read Sadly, Porn (though I have the internal feelings of myself as a failure because I should be the kind of person who reads the source material and not merely the reactions to it -- exactly the kind of self-status performance discussed by Teach).

For what it's worth, I have a strong connection with the "Rarely Certain" bloghead. It's what attracted my interest to your work when you and I briefly interacted in a different comment section. I got what I was hoping for : a blog interested in wrestling with ideas with a sense of humility. That's a strange thing for a narcissist to write (though I suppose that could simply be one more status symbol for the imagined audience -- and my desire for it might be a sign of my own status for my own imagined audience).

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I get warm fuzzies knowing that you're enjoying RC and then investigate for yourself some of the recommendations. I'm relieved that you detect the humility I feel when wrestling with sensemaking of one kind or another. Always appreciate your support and thoughtful reactions.

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Personally, I read Rarely Certain mostly for the opportunity to jog my brain cells a little - I have always been a voracious reader with a healthily varied diet, and it so happens I am in a period of my life where certainty and the quest for it feel like a waste of bloody time and a desperate attempt to deny the undeniable complexity and messiness that life presents at every turn. At work especially, I am often pressed to express a certainty that is simply not the natural product of my very occupation, and I am no stranger to the psychological and physical cost of resisting the temptation to "be certain". I don't see this talked about in many spaces, and I applaud your effort to raise the profile of this issue.

And also, I get to be poster child of the post truth era in at least one of your posts, so hey, what's not to like? ;)

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There's one thing worse than being someone's negative poster child and that's being everyone's agreeable nothing. Did you spot yourself in the bit about readers? You're one of them what make me feel a bit humble, like. Keeps my feet on the ground.

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I'll be honest, I didn't really read it as negative. It just gave me a giggle as that's the last thing I would have said about myself, but clearly you see it -and that means it is, on some level, real. I've often had interactions on and off the internet where I've been baffled by what people see in me and the thoughts I express - more than once I've had men I had spoken to on the internet about politics or current affairs approach me to say that I surely work as a dominatrix, and could they have my services (?). Clearly they see something I don't.

I'm not sure about what's better - I guess I stand to gain nothing in either of the cases you described so they are much of a muchness - but your dad certainly seems to have a strong opinion on the matter, which he has made sure gets perpetuated along with his DNA ;)

I'm glad my presence here does something you find useful. The feeling is absolutely mutual.

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Well I don't know how anyone else feels, or anything much about the rest of your readership but I thought 'Rarely Certain' was a great title and wanted to hear about someone's experience of being uncertain. Personally, my attention has been drifting lately because you've been sounding more and more certain. You're far from being the only one. As you say, there are plenty of people out there with their own certainties that others can applaud or condemn. And people love doing that. If you're sharing certainty, you get people saying 'you're absolutely right, don't listen to those bastards.' If you're sharing uncertainty the best you get is 'yeah, I don't know either but thanks for being honest.' If you were really a narcissist, you'd go straight for the former with the only consideration being whether you could make it in a crowded market. Doubt you actually are, though.

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Some readers have criticised (and occasionally signed off) on the basis of there being insufficient of a position or too much of a position. The title refers more to wholesale ideologies/worldviews and partisanship (the intro page tries to convey that).

A common theme is making sure not to say 'this is not what anyone else should think' while describing how I personally processed something.

Obviously I feel more persuaded, confident or more strongly about some perspectives and 'on the one hand this but on the other hand that' is what news organisations theoretically already do.

Curious to know (if you feel like saying) where I've been too certain recently. Not for the purposes of interminable 'debate' but just for interest.

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Ooh. You mean you want me to think about what I've said. Do I have to? I guess that it seems to me that a lot of what you've written recently has been broadly in the "wokeness is silly" vein which isn't really what I think (as I've said before) and which there are also a lot of shops for. I believe you've said a few times that it's what brings you the most interest - though perhaps I misremember - and I wanted to give a countervailing voice.

I was interested more in the experience of feeling uncertain about the things it seems you are demanded to believe. Maybe that's just not where you are any more. For me, I guess I do think there's something that you might call 'common-sensism,' which I think is definitely an ideology and not the absence of one. I'm not a believer myself.

Not sure if that's clear, or if it's fair.

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It's possible that you are consciously or unconsciously filtering out the pieces that don't take swipes at Wokeism. There are a lot! Most of them, as I see it.

I suppose, if I'm to distill the message of RC to its most basic proposition, that would be 'against totalising belief sets' (aka ideologies). But Rarely Certain is a snappier name.

Thanks for making me think about it, even if I've concluded that it's actually more consistent than you perceive it to be. This helps to keep me honest.

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Excellent stream of consciousness Mike - I dont know how you find the time (and all the words!) to do this, but please continue. Rarely Certain certainly expands my vocabulary and my channels of thought.

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I MAKE the time, every day, because I love it.

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Imagine for a moment that money was no object - would you be happy with this project then?

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You knew the answer to this already.

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It is quite sufficient for me to learn about The Last Psychiatrist from tertiary sources, aka you. I do after all only have so many years left on earth…

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