Everybody Is Smart Now
October 13, 2020•360 words
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In the age of the Internet, everybody has a place to speak, to share what's on their mind. And yes, I know I'm writing this post on my personal blog.
All of us get a platform to stand on and preach our version of the truth. Truly, it's not hard to get the first follower. Or the next ten. Not just people that "follow" you, but people that actually read your thoughts and reflect in some way on them.
When all of us are speaking all the time, then no one will listen.
Sometimes I feel like anybody can be smart, respected. Gain a following. I see people all around me becoming "gurus". Preaching some wildly unproven gospel to a bunch of eagerly listening learners. Everybody is teaching online courses, making tutorials on YouTube, writing essays on their blog.
This is not bad, in general.
I cannot state that enough: I am not against that openness of the Internet. It is what has allowed me myself to share my thoughts, gather feedback, and maybe improve my being in some way.
But it's incredibly oversaturated. People with little knowledge, little experience, label themselves as experts and go on conquer people's minds. I won't throw any names here, but there have been a few people I followed for a particular reason, and then they started a YouTube channel, a newsletter, a course, or something, and starting presenting themselves as the absolute master of all. While you can clearly see that, if not for the script they've written, they'd be unable to talk about their subject clearly. It's not bad that they're trying, it's bad that they're marketing themselves as know-alls.
All in all, I feel that as the number of gurus is raising, we need to level up our internal filters for untruth. For mediocre knowledge. For half-proven, vaguely analyzed, and never criticized "solutions". Gosh, there seems to be a "5 Easy Steps To..." video on every topic out there. Watch out for garbage, and never even try to consume it. Ugh, imagine eating actual garbage.
For now, I'll remain a master of none. Happily trying, hesitantly preaching.
Always searching.