The Willingness to Say Stupid Stuff

How Learning Requires Getting Things Wrong...Sometimes, Drastically Wrong

I’ve only taken one podcast episode down since 2017. It was an episode covering The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels. I misread his argument. I assumed he was calling for revolution instead of stating what would happen if current trends persisted. I attributed a prescription to a description.

I took that episode down because I didn’t want others to also misinterpret the book.

I have retained several podcast episodes that I find quite embarrassing. My knowledge is evolving, and there are instances where I reflect on my words with regret. One such instance was my podcast episode after my first reading of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. I hated the book with a passion and used the podcast episode to share how much I despised it. I did not offer a single constructive comment. A number of people suggested I give it another try. I did and thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around. I then recorded two new episodes about the book.

I kept the original episode up. I secretly hope no one listens to it, but it’s there as a reminder that learning is a process and that I’m going to say a lot of stupid things in that process.

In fact, I hope I say a lot of things I later regret. That’s a feature of this reading project, not a bug. I spoke to high school students this past week and told them that a year from now, if I’m not a little embarrassed about what I’m saying now, I’m not growing enough.

Two things are needed to foster this type of growth. One is internal and the other external. Internally, I need to be ok with sharing my thoughts. This terrifies me. In the past, after returning from social events, I'd obsess over every word, wishing I'd said something different. I have a deep-seated fear of saying the wrong thing. That’s not conducive to working out ideas.

Externally, we as a society need to extend some grace to those earnestly seeking truth. Realize that others are likely going through a similar process. Limiting someone’s ability to speak because they might say the wrong thing stifles learning opportunities. Social media had really made it difficult to share ideas mid-thought.