There's an interesting and entertaining article at Esquire about Brad Blanton's Radical Honesty movement, which seems to me to take a good idea--being honest--too far into inappropriate sharing or "too much information." I think even little white lies (and especially "bullshit") can be extremely insidious, and should be avoided, but that doesn't mean removing all filters between thought and speech.
James Morrow wrote a 1992 novel called City of Truth in which he described a world where everyone always speaks the truth in a way quite similar to the radical honesty movement, but the main character finds a need to lie in order to save his son's life.
Plato and Machiavelli would agree with each other that no political leader could survive by adopting the radical honesty approach. I think that's disappointingly true.
(Via The Agitator.)
Jim, your blog sucks. ;^)
ReplyDeletePerhaps each of us should start by being 'radically honest' with ourselves before finding empowerment by criticizing others in an anti-social manner?
Self-delusion is cheap. Perhaps better to advocate critical thinking?