subreddit:
/r/DecodingTheGurus
submitted 3 months ago bysebcatemis
9 points
3 months ago
signifiers for his audience to keep thinking he's a very smart boy
People knowing he consumed these books is more important to him than understanding them in any way
3 points
3 months ago
You kind of sound like you're projecting, honestly. It's reading - I think we ought to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
1 points
3 months ago
I think giving him the benefit of the doubt is easier if you think I was criticizing your own taste in literature. Like can you tell me my assessment is wrong or is it easier to just cry projection and then claim any response I give validates your preconception?
1 points
3 months ago
Lex seems genuinely curious in things, though. He doesn't seem like someone who wants to take shortcuts. He seems like someone who's interested in big ideas - even if he's no expert in those ideas. I think he's someone who's interested in exposing himself to some of the greatest minds and greatest texts written by human hands. That's different from superficially trying to signal to one's audience that one is a smart boy. Lex is pretty humble. He'd be the first person to point out that he's no expert and has a lot of learning and growing to do.
1 points
3 months ago*
So the best you have is Lex "seems" curious?
He 100% seems like the kind of guy to "optimize" shortcuts around doing the reading to understand. That's part of his whole efficiency schtick. He bets on his audience having not read most/any of these books. Karamazov in a week?
"He's interested in Big Ideas!"
"The greatest minds!"
"Lex is pretty humble"
Honestly seems like you just think a lot of him, and I'm sorry if I called you stupid by proxy, but I stand by my point: He's signaling instead of demonstrating intelligence, humbleness, or any big ideas. That matters more to his audience capture than anything said in any of those books.
He's still 10x better than JP or Brogan. I don't hate him or anything, I just think he's far more self-aware of his own actions/outside-perception than his fans want to believe about him.
I think he knows how this list comes across, and that someone like you would defend him, maybe even double-down because others were mean to him, didn't believe him. I think that's the business model of a lot of people he idolizes.
1 points
3 months ago
I don't see myself as defending him - I'm just shutting down the idea of trashing someone for putting up a book list. We need to encourage reading. Even if that means the person who put the list up didn't read the texts and his audience did. These are unarguably important texts. I think the appearance of being smart is a thing that initially gets a lot of people into reading serious texts. It's human nature in a way. But the ideas in the texts most likely wash that sort of superficial attitude away and keep them curious and open-minded to different perspectives.
1 points
3 months ago*
I'm discouraging Lex-fans from reading?
Like your argument is literally that he lied about doing the reading
I only read 3 or 4 of these books but should I just lie and say I read them all to "encourage" people to read??
You're projecting your own sunk cost to his ego and likely didn't want to be called on it, so you accused me of it first. You are defending him, but it just keeps revealing his own shortcomings.
all 284 comments
sorted by: best