A tenacious desire for the truth.

[elfs]

In a recent LJ post, j5nn5r wrote:

We should treat ideas in the cruelest, saber-toothed, hunted down while they breathe for their survival, for their last breath, in the same sometimes-futile struggle for existence that attempts to explode an impala's heart as it flees in terror from a pursuing cheetah.

The man has a way with words, doesn't he? More to the point, I completely agree with him. One of those memetic personality tests that get loose among the blogs once in a while have some variation of the following question: "Would you rather be liked, or be right?"

The fact is, I'd rather be right. Damn the consequences.

This doesn't make me popular at parties. Hell, this doesn't make me popular, period. When someone says something I disagree with, I want to know why they said it, what values they have that leads them to make such a statement, and what first principles they hold dear. "First principles" matter to me, the fundamental beliefs people have without any support, the bedrock of each person's worldview.

What drives me insane is people who will hold two completely contradictory first principles, can acknowledge that they hold two contradictory first principles, and then shrug and say "So what?" Especially when the consequence of each of those principles is so grave that picking and choosing between them whimsically is metaphysical Russian roulette.

I don't do "social conversation" well. I don't get warm and fuzzy. When discussing politics, religion, or law, the objective is to get at the truth, not a comforting lie; the conversation is a steel cage deathmatch where two ideas enter and one leaves. And I'm not apologetic about a tenacious desire for the truth.

Comments

[shadowfey.livejournal.com]

This is actually a topic which has come up recently for me as well, in conversation with several people. At the heart of it is whether or not a person is, in many ways, a 'considering' person, I believe - not to be confused with considerate, as not all considerate people are considering, and vice versa.

My mother and I were having a discussion on various topics, and one of the topics was that there is an underlying reason why many though not all of my friends belong to 'fringes' - gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, 'otherly' sexed, political or religious choices which stray from the norm. I am not personally particularly involved with or a member of any of these groups, though neither am I against these groups. The underlying rationale, the thread which these have in common for me, is not that they deviate from what is commonly acceptable.

Rather, the common thread is that the people who I have befriended or otherwise find interesting have made a conscious choice to be who and what they are, rather than hiding under some more 'politically correct' identity. It's not easy for most people to step forth out of 'normality' to be something identifiably different, and the people who I tend to 'stick with', have given actual thought to who they are and what they're going to do about it.

In short : at some level, the truth is more important to them than comfortable lies and illusions. This is a principle I view as important, too important to be ignored or overlooked. And it hasn't made me very popular, either.

I do feel that everyone is entitled to an opinion, whether or not that opinion is 'the truth', but when presenting that opinion to someone else, you -are- inviting a rebuttal. And it might be rebuttal or criticism of your opinion, rather than an automatic agreement or even noncomittal statement, so...

Anyway, in my own longwinded way : I agree.

WOOOOO!

[http://users.livejournal.com/dominic-m-/]

Go ELF! Go SHADOWFEY! Stick to your morals! HAHAHA. Damn i love it when people are honest! I couldent agree with you guys any more on any level pretty much. Stick it to them procrastinators who deny the truth and embrace their sham lies.(ex. the BUSH faction."yes they are a faction in my mind. lol. If cheynee can call america an empire i can call the gruop he is mired in a faction")

[j5nn5r.livejournal.com]

I am flattered beyond words. Thank you.

Hi

[nitoda]

I've added you to my friends list. I hope you don't mind. I remember you from the old days of a.p. I'm pretty sure and from what I remember, I liked you then. You probably don't remember me at all, but googling (if you had the energy or the motivation) might find my (embarrassing) old posts there.

Re:

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Hi! Which one of us? Me (Elf) or J5nn5r? Either way, glad to have you around, and I might google for you, just to reload the memory bank.

Oops!

[nitoda]

I meant J5nn5r - I added you (Elf) a long time back and I think we "spoke" at the time. I was not using "nitoda" when active on a.p., just my given name (in case you feel the urge to go look!) Sorry to have caused confusion.