# Is criticism untenable? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728 "2018-01-16T02:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/1 "2018-01-16T02:21:13Z")
In short is it because we attempt to deny reality as it is in order to think it could have been another way? Personally I think it's ok. I am not sure about the video, or the page in general. I think (and I get the irony), being critical has a time and place. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/2 "2018-01-16T04:20:22Z")
To be honest it sounds like it’s an excuse to believe mysticism ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/3 "2018-01-16T05:09:55Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > In short is it because we attempt to deny reality as it is in order to think it could have been another way? > > Personally I think it's ok. I am not sure about the video, or the page in general. I think (and I get the irony), being critical has a time and place. Do you? Do you, really and truly, “get the irony”, here? Because the video you linked is someone _criticizing_ people for doing that sort of thing. He says they’re _delusional_ when he explains why he thinks their approach is, as you say, untenable. He handwaves away a particular concern as mere ego when noting that he doesn’t think the folks in question should do what they’re doing. There’s a specific word for what he’s doing. Can you name it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/4 "2018-01-16T05:25:22Z")
No, wait; there’s no point in being subtle; I’ll just mention the correct answer: the guy in question is, over and over, engaging in _criticism._ Now, I of course don’t think criticism is untenable; but the point is that _he_ doesn’t seem to think that what he’s doing — which, again, is “criticism” — is untenable. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/5 "2018-01-16T05:36:34Z")
Nothing is tenable anymore because Fake News. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/6 "2018-01-16T07:44:42Z")
Wow. A bald hippie. This guy is completely earnest, right? \ - he’s got some interesting things to say about knowing and motivating yourself and why successful people are successful, and he also says some things that would not be graciously received here at the SDMB, that are coming out of his personal beliefs. Seems like an OK sort of interesting speaker. Would I rather be a Hyena or a Manta Ray? Well, that depends. Do I have to live on the Savannah amongst hyenas? ---
**Author:** ![SeniorCitizen007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@SeniorCitizen007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeniorCitizen007)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/7 "2018-01-16T10:22:26Z")
Non-Duality with Russell Targ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IV1q2Hb9SH8/hqdefault.jpg "Non-Duality with Russell Targ") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV1q2Hb9SH8) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/8 "2018-01-16T17:40:35Z")
[quote=“SeniorCitizen007, post:7, topic:806728”] Non-Duality with Russell Targ [/QUOTE] Non[del]sense[/del]-science. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/9 "2018-01-17T02:12:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Wow. A bald hippie. > > This guy is completely earnest, right? \ - he’s got some interesting things to say about knowing and motivating yourself and why successful people are successful, and he also says some things that would not be graciously received here at the SDMB, that are coming out of his personal beliefs. > > Seems like an OK sort of interesting speaker. > > Would I rather be a Hyena or a Manta Ray? Well, that depends. Do I have to live on the Savannah amongst hyenas? I don’t think I quite grasped the metaphors. HE also has other videos about why your brain doesn’t exist and other very anti-materialist bents ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/10 "2018-01-17T13:49:17Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I don’t think I quite grasped the metaphors. > > HE also has other videos about why your brain doesn’t exist and other very anti-materialist bents I got as far as, “Everything is ONE.” He’s a kook. Don’t obsess. Move on. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/11 "2018-01-17T16:14:17Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I don’t think I quite grasped the metaphors. > > HE also has other videos about why your brain doesn’t exist and other very anti-materialist bents Yeah, I’ve got time to listen to that, and be challenged by it, and pick out little nuggets of insight, and happily disagree with the majority of it. He has a fairly easy style, so I don’t mind hearing him out, before I throw him out. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/12 "2018-01-18T01:42:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, I’ve got time to listen to that, and be challenged by it, and pick out little nuggets of insight, and happily disagree with the majority of it. He has a fairly easy style, so I don’t mind hearing him out, before I throw him out. Careful. You’re talking to a guy who thinks Charles Manson wasn’t entirely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/13 "2018-01-18T03:58:56Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I got as far as, “Everything is ONE.” > > He’s a kook. Don’t obsess. Move on. Ther was also another recent video where he compared true and false skepticism (saying pyrrhonism is true and the scientific version is false, mostly because it’s against what he believes). The other part was about how the mind is the deceiver relating it to decartes Evil demon. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/14 "2018-01-18T08:07:53Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Careful. You’re talking to a guy who thinks Charles Manson wasn’t entirely wrong. Well , I’m sure even Hitler was probably right about _something_ such as napkin folding or geometry. The guy in the video has some wacky nonsense ideas, but I am happy enough to let his outside voice into my echo chamber; I’ll probably find that I disagree with a lot of the major points, but at least that disagreement will have been the result of conscious thinking processes. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/15 "2018-01-18T12:54:21Z")
[quote=“SeniorCitizen007, post:7, topic:806728”] Non-Duality with Russell Targ [/QUOTE] Russell "Uri Geller is the real deal!" Targ? Russell "I can teach you ESP!" Targ? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/16 "2018-01-18T14:24:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Russell “Uri Geller is the real deal!” Targ? Russell “I can teach you ESP!” Targ? > :rolleyes: Yeah I’m not sold on the whole non duality bit. I looked through his videos and they didn’t always seem crazy. His early stuff wasn’t bad. But comparing mind to the deceiver decartes talked about, especially without proof, seems a bit much. For that to be true the mind would have to seem like some conscious being, and you would have to know what “truth” is. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/17 "2018-01-18T14:38:55Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Careful. You’re talking to a guy who thinks Charles Manson wasn’t entirely wrong. Our OP seems to need to latch on to nutjobs. He’s posted a bunch of starting points that might seem reasonable at first but once you delve in a little deeper turn out to be bat shit insane. There does seem to be a pattern here. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/18 "2018-01-18T15:16:04Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Yeah I’m not sold on the whole non duality bit. > > I looked through his videos and they didn’t always seem crazy. His early stuff wasn’t bad. I don’t know what that first line has to do with what I said, and the second line shows that you _really_ need higher standards when it comes to following extremely questionable “intellectuals”. “…and they didn’t always seem crazy.” _Really?_ ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/19 "2018-01-18T16:53:58Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > I looked through his videos and they didn’t always seem crazy. His early stuff wasn’t bad. This is how people end up becoming Scientologists. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728/20 "2018-01-18T17:00:11Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > HE also has other videos about why your brain doesn’t exist … Take yours out and see how far you get. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-criticism-untenable/806728.md?page=2)