The particular stance this “special” wants to point at is something like “chosen by Destiny,” although not always *quite* so grandiose as that phrase.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
However, it’s inherently contrastive. There are those who are special, and those who are ordinary. Everyone cannot be Chosen, because then there’s no choosing going on. As the way the stance works in practice, it seems only a small minority can be special.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
In practice, it seems that the claim “everyone is special” is rarely used sincerely. Typically it is patronizing. It is used by people in the “helping professions” who, in fact, see the people they are “helping” as defective.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
It’s probably often well-intentioned, an attempt to advocate for dignity for the marginalized, but it’s a transparent euphemism that doesn’t fool anyone, so it’s probably counter-productive.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
A related misuse is egalitarian: everyone is special “in their own way”, meaning that there is something unique everyone is best (or exceptionally good) at.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
This is probably factually false, and in any case doesn’t support its intended agenda, because no one cares if you are the best person in the world at sticking grapes up your nose with your tongue.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUN1jLH7dOQ …
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
“Everyone is special” (a “muddled middle” in my jargon) shares with the actual specialness stance a confusion of factual and moral equality. People aren’t factually equal (a concrete and obvious fact). People are morally equal (an abstract, difficult, non-obvious claim).
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
So then to specialness itself. In virtue of what are you special? When you adopt the stance, usually there is something factual that seems to confirm it.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
For example, when I fall into it, there’s the fact that I am exceptionally smart. Or it could be that you are beautiful, rich, popular, famous, well-born, etc. If you find yourself mentally reviewing the evidence for one such, you know that you’re doing the stance.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
Perhaps for some that’s sufficient, for a while; but everyone knows those factors are transient, mostly a matter of luck, and anyway are external to your core self, rather than being about who you, uniquely, actually are.
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Being rich or whatever doesn’t make you feel special in the way that matters. Your core self is actually just the same as those of ordinary people. Ordinary people may treat you as special, which is nice, but you know you aren't, and feel fake. This is unsatisfactory.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
You may come to realize that no mundane facts, no matter how extreme, could actually make you special; they’re just contingent. What you need is transcendent, metaphysical specialness. You need to be Chosen by the Cosmic Plan.
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Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun
(I'm working through the logic of this to make it clear; my guess is most people don't reason it out so explicitly. Instead they are likely to inherit the stance of specialness from parents or pick it up from works of fiction (where it's extremely common as fantasy fulfillment).)
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