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Post by Oliveman on Nov 29, 2007 2:02:02 GMT -5
In the book by Terry Goodkind that share's this thread's title, he openly states one philosophy that wins every time in his book, and drives almost every struggle. It is the "Wizard's First Rule": People are stupid. They believe what they want to believe.
Now certainly questions have come up with whether or not people are fundamentally good or bad... but stupid? You know what, to me, I have to agree with Terry- his rule is true. I still have a problem with it though... it falls on the "stark reality" side of things. It rings true, but it wouldn't be a personal philosophy, if you know what I mean.
Authors have a responsibility to not only deliver the truth, but deliver the truth about the truth in a way that makes inner, unconscious sense. Terry did a good job, but not well enough to deem his work the classic... so I donno.
Are people stupid? Is this a good lesson to learn?
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Kyle
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Post by Kyle on Nov 29, 2007 4:55:36 GMT -5
People like Goodkind are happy to make and accept generalities like that because they (perhaps secretly) believe that they are an exception to the generality.
The main ignorance with this kind of logic--"(All people) believe what they want to believe"--is its unawareness of the history of religion and the many examples of people that have suffered and struggled because they strongly believed in something that spelled doom for them, something they did not want to be true. It's vastly ignorant of Rationalism and a ton of other movements based on believing on the facts, not what sounds good.
Even if it's true that people believe what they want to believe, it's a far leap to conclude that they are thus stupid. Is it not stupid to defend your sense of stability, sense of understanding, or at times your life. "Judge not lest ye be judged," Terry Goodkind XP
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Post by Oliveman on Nov 29, 2007 23:24:25 GMT -5
Well the way he uses it in the story is that those who know the Wizard's First Rule have a considerable advantage because they know how to "use" it on others to get what they want. This principle eventually leads the MC, Richard, to overcome the villain, who had been the one using the rule.
In this sense it seems like Goodkind is trying to get others to become "enlightened", so that they can defend themselves against the rule being used on them, and have the ability to do good things by using the rule. In other words, unless you know the rule, you're part of it.
I don't think this is so wrong of a theme, IF you think of it like this: he's essentially saying that we need to be able to admit our mistaken beliefs, and have to be tentative in order to see them properly. Like I said, however, I don't think the way he presents it is quite this positive.
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DamaNegra
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Post by DamaNegra on Nov 30, 2007 15:17:10 GMT -5
"People are stupid. They believe what they want to believe." Sure, for some people, it's better to believe that everyone else is just stupid We have another paradox there because Goodkind or whoever just BELIEVES that people are stupid. Well, 'people' also includes himself. I think that this is poorly phrased. I'd consider it if it said: "People who believe what they want to believe in spite of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong are stupid." Yeah, I'd agree more with that.
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Kyle
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Post by Kyle on Nov 30, 2007 20:01:11 GMT -5
I think they call that "denial" =)
I prefer this statement: "Wrap your theories around the facts rather than the facts around your theories." (source unknown to me)
On the other hand, Albert Einstein is attributed with this quote: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."
Both sound good... but note that Einstein never settled with a theory and facts that didn't match. Work on both.
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tsukiryoko
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Post by tsukiryoko on Dec 1, 2007 0:02:54 GMT -5
"People are stupid. They believe what they want to believe." Sure, for some people, it's better to believe that everyone else is just stupid We have another paradox there because Goodkind or whoever just BELIEVES that people are stupid. Well, 'people' also includes himself. I think that this is poorly phrased. I'd consider it if it said: "People who believe what they want to believe in spite of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong are stupid." Yeah, I'd agree more with that. Is that quote truly a paradox, though? Goodkind does not claim to be an exception to that rule.
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tsukiryoko
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Post by tsukiryoko on Dec 1, 2007 0:05:22 GMT -5
I think they call that "denial" =) I prefer this statement: "Wrap your theories around the facts rather than the facts around your theories." (source unknown to me) On the other hand, Albert Einstein is attributed with this quote: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." Both sound good... but note that Einstein never settled with a theory and facts that didn't match. Work on both. It is interesting to see how both quotes can be applied to things such as, say, the sciences. Many of our facts came to be discovered through mere theory, just as many of our theories were made based on fact. Now the question is- which is the best tactic to take? o.o
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Post by Oliveman on Dec 4, 2007 16:53:47 GMT -5
I tend to think it's all about whether or not it's arbitrary, what you're doing with facts. You should always go with more facts than necessary. This fits into both theories because the first one implies that the facts you gather for your theory are just arbitrarily gathered so that your theory can hold true. If you gather more facts than necessary, however, you might gain some facts that disprove your theory, and you should always heed those, rather than cover them up. Of course the above said isn't quite so nice a little quote, now, is it?
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Kyle
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Post by Kyle on Dec 4, 2007 19:13:54 GMT -5
It's accurate, though, unlike Goodkind's.
I like Einstein's best: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." The logical conclusion to that is if you absolutely can't change the facts, you give up on the theory (since that's what you do with theories that don't work).
My version: "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts. If the facts don't change, change the theory." Mwuahaha.
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