Cold Heart or Warm Mind?

[melindadansky]

Once upon a time, I had a friend who was in a bad relationship. She and her boyfriend yelled at each other. Sometimes, the arguments got physical. I told her she had to break up with him, and she said

Comments

[matgb]

For a brief period, I couldn't resist buying her books, even though I knew they were terrible. I even bought the first three of the other series before developing the willpower to stop.

Since then, I've read so much of her online whinging about various things I regret ever giving her any money whatsoever. Ah well.

[melindadansky]

I read her nth book first, where 5 < n < 10, and I couldn't get through Chapter 1 because the whole thing was obviously written in 250-word chunks with no attempt to stitch them together into anything coherent.

Years later, someone suggested I try her first book because it was better. It was better but still terrrrrrrible.

I'm glad she invented vampires, though. :-D

[aboxofeyes]

Absolutely, but that same denial easily fits into the logical/rational under the heading of "but that doesn't make any sense" or "but I'm not doing *that*". There's always room for defensive weaseling out of having to actually think about your work, whether you lead with your head or your heart.

[melindadansky]

People will always find reasons not to take good advice.

[aboxofeyes]

Yes indeed.

[athenian_abroad]

I can’t help but think, though, that we’d all be happier if we took a minute every-so-often to consider that how I feel is not the only guidepost when making a decision, that maybe some logic and reason thrown in might lead to more balanced choices that make one happier in the long run.

Jeez...next you'll be asking people to consider evidence in order to ground their opinions in fact. And that's just the first step down the slippery slope. Before you know it, we'll have to learn rules of inference and hypothesis testing. We'll have to learn about cognitive biases and how to overcome them. We'll have to learn to distinguish between sound and fallacious reasoning, between valid and specious arguments.

This can only lead to one place: the icy gulag of reality-based thinking. But we're on to your tyrannical schemes!

[melindadansky]

You have discovered my attempt to control your mind by insisting you think! Just like Glenn Beck!

[rdansky]

*runs off to buy gold*