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Meaningness's profile
David Chapman
David Chapman
David Chapman
@Meaningness

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David Chapman

@Meaningness

Better ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—around problems of meaning and meaninglessness; self and society; ethics, purpose, and value.

meaningness.com/about-my-sites
Joined September 2010

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    1. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 21 likes
    2. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 13 likes
    3. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
    4. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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 …

      1 reply 0 retweets 12 likes
    5. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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).

      1 reply 0 retweets 13 likes
    6. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
    7. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 10 likes
    8. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      3 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
    9. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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      Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

      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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
    10. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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.

      1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
      David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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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).)

      9:30 AM - 30 Dec 2019
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      2 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
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        2. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          The problem here is that there is no Cosmic Plan, which makes it difficult for you to figure out exactly what it means for it to have Chosen you. One common way to try to make this work is to decide you have been given a special Mission:https://meaningness.com/purpose 

          1 reply 0 retweets 15 likes
        3. David Chapman‏ @Meaningness 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          Another approach is to heighten your uniqueness by exaggerating eccentricities and character quirks and attributing Special Meaningfulness to them. Both these approaches are harmful, although they can motivate genuine & valuable accomplishments too.

          1 reply 1 retweet 14 likes
        4. 11 more replies
        1. Paul Kreiner‏ @paulkreinerhere 30 Dec 2019
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          Replying to @Meaningness @reasonisfun

          IME there's another place specialness can come from: disconnection from the universe (perhaps originating in trauma). Specialness is then what explains and sugar-coats the disconnection, makes sense of the fact that one seems to be set apart from the world.

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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