You know, sometimes I feel some hesitancy about putting myself out there. My writing, my opinions, my videos, myself in general. It can be tough to fully put yourself out there. If I put my thoughts, opinions, convictions, beliefs out there, people might think I’m stupid. If people think I’m stupid, I will feel bad. Pretty simple chain of events and feelings. Unfortunately, whether you choose to put yourself out there or not, people already think you’re really, really stupid.
A lot of people already think I’m stupid, too. Let’s look at a fun example: Mark Sargent. He is one of the most prominent figures in the modern Flat Earth movement, which gained notoriety and attention in 2017-2019, but has since died down significantly. Sargent is a flat earth evangelist. His goal is to convert people into his belief system. Now, if you’ve spent any amount of time listening to similar conspiracy believers, you’ll know that they think too highly of nonbelievers. They often use words such as sheep, brainwashed, mindless drone, and so on. Because I say that the Earth is a spheroid, Mark Sargent and his followers think I’m stupid. They think I’m just a brainless, thoughtless idiot who believes and regurgitates everything he hears. Obviously that’s not true, but they think that about me.
Now, some point to flat-earthers as a way to boost their own self-esteem. “When I feel down, I think of flat earthers, and by comparison I now feel better about myself.” I try to avoid doing that. I do not think it is a good way of thinking about all of this. My point is this: by simply accepting the curvature of the Earth, you already have thousands of people thinking you’re stupid. There are plenty of examples of this, where one simple, reasonable belief results in a bunch of people thinking that you are stupid. To completely avoid accusations of stupidity is impossible, and any attempt to do so is futile. So you might as well put yourself out there with your art, writing, beliefs, and so on.
HOWEVER [there’s always a ‘however’], there is a danger in going too far the other way. Our first extreme is when you’re so terrified of people thinking your’e stupid that you’re crippled into inaction, and you don’t express yourself. That extreme, as we’ve said, is bad. Don’t do that. The other extreme is to say, “Well, people will always think I’m stupid, so I’ll put myself out there completely and confidently. And anyone who calls me stupid can be dismissed just as the flat earthers can be dismissed.” Here’s the problem with that: sometimes you are stupid. And you need to be told that you’re being stupid.
I’ve been stupid plenty of times, about plenty of things. And I needed to be told, directly or indirectly, that I was being stupid. Once I understood my stupidity, I was able to grow out of it. Though I’m sure I still have some stupidities. I’ll get rid of those later.
So what? Am I advocating for some kind of middle ground? Some balance? Kind of, but kind of not. I don’t think of it as two extremes with a line segment between them, and you just have to find the center point. I think of it more as the two extremes are the points at the base of a triangle, and the best way to be is the top of the triangle. So, if you’re at one extreme, you can’t just go towards the other extreme, you gotta go in a unique direction to get to a good place.
If that’s too conceptual and geometric for you, well, I think we still explored some good points that the two extremes are both bad. Don’t do them. And if you consider the situation to be two points and a middle ground, so be it. Just don’t let fear prevent you from speaking up, and don’t let confidence prevent you from admitting when you’re wrong.
Lefty Forrester 