DiscoBiscuit
Meat Tornado
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2009
- Messages
- 14,794
- Enneagram
- 8w9
If you are smart person who uses needlessly complex language to describe a simple concept, I don't trust you. For ex. availability heuristic instead of anecdotal evidence. You are either trying to a. flaunt your language to signify intellect, b. confuse the listener or both.
The complexity of language is often used to hide the abilities of the speaker, and/or render the subject matter accessible to only a learned few. This process plays itself out in legalese and finance and politics and a host of other arenas.
Take stocks for example avg people can understand buying low and selling high. And usually selling short etc etc. But Collateralized Debt Obligations and their derivative financial products? Not a chance. They can be explained simply, but usually aren't (outside of The Big Short).
This same complexity can be seen in legalese and political speech. The founding purpose of which is to gate keep the power owned by those who wield it. Lay people are much more capable than they are given credit for.
This same instinct explains why hair dressers have to go to an accredited hair dressing school. How much of our lives would be greatly improved folks who were good at cutting hair got to do it and cut out the middle man?
Am I saying that any guy with steady hands and not afraid of blood should just skip school and perform unlicensed surgery? No.
There are needed checks necessary to operate in many fields. What I am saying, is that whenever possible concepts and ideas should be broken down into their simplest components. Luckily the internet is already doing this on a global scale.
Why did it benefit medieval clergy to have an illiterate public? Merely to use their learned status to claim ownership of the truth. Something the Academy has inherited and greatly expanded. Any citizen who hopes to lead a "respected" life has to pass through their halls today.
Man has always guarded power jealously. Likely always will. But the more we fight to lower these barriers to entry the more we will all be able to find the truth ourselves without having it shaded by the lens of those who fancy themselves our betters.
The complexity of language is often used to hide the abilities of the speaker, and/or render the subject matter accessible to only a learned few. This process plays itself out in legalese and finance and politics and a host of other arenas.
Take stocks for example avg people can understand buying low and selling high. And usually selling short etc etc. But Collateralized Debt Obligations and their derivative financial products? Not a chance. They can be explained simply, but usually aren't (outside of The Big Short).
This same complexity can be seen in legalese and political speech. The founding purpose of which is to gate keep the power owned by those who wield it. Lay people are much more capable than they are given credit for.
This same instinct explains why hair dressers have to go to an accredited hair dressing school. How much of our lives would be greatly improved folks who were good at cutting hair got to do it and cut out the middle man?
Am I saying that any guy with steady hands and not afraid of blood should just skip school and perform unlicensed surgery? No.
There are needed checks necessary to operate in many fields. What I am saying, is that whenever possible concepts and ideas should be broken down into their simplest components. Luckily the internet is already doing this on a global scale.
Why did it benefit medieval clergy to have an illiterate public? Merely to use their learned status to claim ownership of the truth. Something the Academy has inherited and greatly expanded. Any citizen who hopes to lead a "respected" life has to pass through their halls today.
Man has always guarded power jealously. Likely always will. But the more we fight to lower these barriers to entry the more we will all be able to find the truth ourselves without having it shaded by the lens of those who fancy themselves our betters.