Can you elaborate on what doesn't "ring true" for you?
It's an odd statement to make, since these aren't true/false facts we're talking about.
It's an odd statement to make, since these aren't true/false facts we're talking about.
I myself found Watts helpful a few years ago, but I got a little tired of what I perceived as his egotism and how he sort of defends selfishness. I imagine some of the issues in his personal life vaguely alluded to in this thread overlap with that. Still an interesting character.
I think it's probably dangerous to go "all in" with a guy like Watts. Seems like it would put you vulnerable to a personality cult. He has things to say and he's flawed.
The most dangerous thing nowadays is going all in with what the main flow is flushing everyone into ;-)
He also "defends" the darker side.
He considered people plainly imperfect or openly corrupt more trustworthy than these with best intentions.
Because they getting a clear deal don't break the trade while some Saint goodies tend to hide ungly face.
Enough to observe fates of businesses built on "friendships"... splitting up more often than modern marriages and in uglier way..
This includes the ugly truths behind hypocritically democratic, narrow-minded binary systems, like a hammer seeing everywhere a nail.
At leasts these points made perfect sense for me observing reality.
Maybe it's just incompatible with your actual ideology. Maybe time to go deep into validity of it? Who said selflessness or altruism is not dangerous? If somebody imposes it on others that becomes really ugly really fast? Like why somebody modifies my choice in shop by some ideological carbon footprint? that's my personal choice what I want. Especially when you are aware it's a complete unscientific bs.
I've seen it mostly on the internet, and Watts is one of those that evokes heavy denial from adherents. People will defend mild criticism of their heroes very fervently like you've done. They can do no wrong. But no human being is perfect and that's all I said, with brief reference to the parts I liked least.
I don't like 100% of what Watts said and did, I think a bit of it is misguided or the wrong emphasis, and we're all human and sometimes we misguide ourselves, that's not a huge problem or harsh judgment. I'm not denying that he had interesting and good things to say as well.
If that was worth incrementing the counter, I wonder about the first three. There's a large, large delta between "can you elaborate" and "advertising."