Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander
“Here’s a fun argument you can use to discredit anyone at any time. Start by calling them an arrogant fanatic with a totalizing ideology, someone who thinks they personally have solved all problems and can’t possibly learn from dissenting viewpoints. If they have friends who agree with them, they’re a cult who collectively work to shelter themselves from any dissenting viewpoint. Then your victim responds by presenting one hundred notarized affadavits describing times when they have engaged with their critics, spent years studying books by their critics to see what they could learn from them, and even changed their beliefs in response to criticism. Then you spring the trap: ‘Ah, but you cherry-picked critics who operate within your worldview, a sort of loyal opposition. You continue to dismiss and exclude genuine critics who challenge your smug assumptions.’ This always works.” (11/11/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/escaping-the-outside-criticism-trap