If an idea is worth following, it’s worth fact-checking
The best insights don’t necessarily come from the best people.
Good advice is about the content of the ideas, not the character of the spokesperson.
The question to ask, when evaluating advice, is not “Who is the source and is he worthy of my trust?,” but rather “How do these concepts weigh against my own personal experiences and experiments?”
Strong ideas are capable of standing on their own feet.
If an idea is worth following, it’s worth fact-checking.
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Yes. The authenticity of an idea should be its
own authority. Not the author. Or archetype.
This seems to be a difficult issue to resolve. How
often are people taken with a person’s charisma
and charm and their style of speech rather than
the content ? Thus being taken in by a cult leader,
an investment fraud, a dubious romantic partner,
a pretend friend, an authoritarian spokesman of
many professional fields, a politician, etc.. They
manage to play and prey on our emotions, bypass
our reasoning and allay our doubts.
We’ve all experienced some form of this in our lives.
And we can learn from it. If we don’t elevate our
emotions into tools of cognition and submerge our
critical thinking.
And realize that our doubts come from a source of
knowledge. To explore this source rather than give
up autonomy.
“If an idea is worth following, it’s worth fact-checking.”