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A PSA for Gurus on Bad Faith Critics

🕑 Added 2023-02-03 08:15:37 +0000 UTC

Comments

Julie

A little late to the game on this podcast. This episode was very enjoyable to listen to.

Guruspod 2

I've learned from the podcasting world that their guiding principle is simply "cross-promotion'. Genuine criticism is anathema, there is only occasionally ersatz criticism to create drama, often setting the stage for a reconciliation. God knows academic sociology isn't perfect, but it's better than that.

Liam Kofi Bright

Interesting thoughts. I have this vague sense that in the IDW world Karl Popper and his ideals for science are taken to be very insightful. If correct (which I am not sure about tbf) it would add another layer of irony here, given his incredibly strong emphasis on criticism and critique as the only possible means of progress.

Robert Andrews

So what you're saying, Chris, is that your criticisms of Lex and Konstantin, who only want to spread the love, come from a very dark place?

Sue Sutton

I think this is what I was thinking, though you articulated it much better. Perhaps this sensitivity is part of the make-up of anyone who winds up being this sort of guru. Also, I think *certainty* is part of the appeal of a guru, since so many of us clearly don't handle uncertainty very well. Maybe people who are followers really need their guru to be right about everything, which doesn't leave much room even for the most constructive of criticism. Maybe that hurts the brand?

Alex Anderson

And Helen credits DTG around 56:30.

Alex Anderson

Didn’t recognise Helen Lewis’ name when Brett mentioned her, listened to her with Barry this morning https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/honestly-with-bari-weiss/id1570872415?i=1000597408645

Exai

A brave attempt at dealing with the double bind of gurus needing to be treated like toddlers to understand the simplest things, yet throwing a tantrum if they ever realize that's what you're doing. It's a stealth game, basically. Not sure what good it'll do when you're already blacklisted, though. You probably need to be accepted in the outer circle for free speech rights.

Alex Anderson

Getting to the end of my weekly (hate) watch of The Darkhorse Podcast and Brett and Heather go on a 30min long diatribe about being labelled guru's - however the source is Barry Weiss and not DTG! You guys have been ripped off. Time stamp is 1:28:20 https://www.youtube.com/live/5HKuuzO36hY?feature=share

Paul Bowman

I think its a comorbidity with the narcissism. Because the need for recognition for _being_ an intellectual takes precedence over a normal nerdy fascination with the topic, they don't separate themselves from their arguments. They are "the work" and "the work" is them. So any criticism of their arguments is directly a criticism of them, a direct attack on their worth as a human being. It's the incredible fragility of narcissism. They over-invest emotionally and under-invest in the actual slog-work of doing the reading, etc. I don't think the fragility to criticism is addressable separately from the main issue of the narcissism itself. As to whether the segment makes a good mini-ep? Dunno, possibly not the best person to judge. Sure, throw it out there and let the audience decide is probably the best default policy