A friend and I were chatting about books and he asked what I thought of my current read.
“I like a lot of the ideas. They really resonate with me,” I said. “I don’t think I like the author, though. He seems like a prick.”
This came up again when my wife introduced me some concepts she heard on a podcast. We had some great discussions about the ideas and how we could apply them personally and professionally.
When I listened to the episodes I found myself thinking, “This guy is arrogant but damn, what he’s saying makes a lot of sense to me.”
Holding both of these 👍 & 👎 thoughts in my head at the same time feels ok. People can be insightful, clever, and full-blown arsewipes simultaneously.
I can read or hear something from an author, a presenter or the occasional podcast guests and separate what I think of them, from what I think of their ideas.
When I’m interacting with someone, verses reading them or hearing about their ideas, it’s not quite as easy though. It’s more challenging for me to appreciate their viewpoints if I struggle to like them as a person.
I would hope that it would feel just as natural to say, “I think Walter is an asshat, but I love his ideas” as it is to read a book and take away some salient points while not digging the author’s vibe. It isn’t though, not for me. Not yet.
I might change my mind on this as I explore more, but I think an idea should be able to stand apart from the person who has it. It’s all subjective anyway - what I see as arrogant is someone else’s confidence.
A good thought should continue to be good, even if I think the person who said it is an obnoxious buffoon, regardless if I know them in real life or from afar.
The reality is I’m not quite there yet, but I’d like to be. And I’ll keep working on it.
Always forward,
✌️
Note: I’m not addressing some of the philosophical and deeper extensions of this idea that came up for me while writing this post. The pros and cons of connecting or disconnecting ideas from the people who have them can be a much larger discussion that includes biases, racism as well as discussions around if we should accept good ideas from evil people. Today post was really focused on annoying, insufferable and irritating people having good ideas. I’m not ignoring the other stuff, just leaving it for another time.