Video Backlash · Synthesizer School

Aug '22 in Other

Video Backlash

Hello everyone, I posted this video 3 weeks ago and it received some backlash (mainly from the philosophy subreddit). I made the claim the David Goggins is the greatest philosopher of our time. I was so captivated by his story and saw that he was much more than a motivational speaker or athlete.

The people who sent the backlash didn't even consider David to be a philosopher, let alone the greatest. They even removed my post from the subreddit because of how much they hated it.

My reply to them was that yes, he is definitely not a philosopher in the modern sense: an intellectual who contributes to one or more branches of philosophy, but definitely in the classic definition: A lover of wisdom or a person who chases truth relentlessly. He reaches beyond the point of suffering and gains some crazy wisdom from it.

After a while however, I started to see their point. Yes, David can be called a philosopher in the classic sense, but I was comparing him to philosophers in the modern sense (Nietzsche, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca). I also didn't really have any solid metrics to back up my claim, which makes it kind of a

woo-woo claim.

From this experience, I learned that:

I should thoroughly do my research and play devils advocate before releasing anything to the public, especially when I make such a grand claim.
I should make the uncertainties clear in the video and explain them more.
I should avoid any woo-woo type of claims/thinking especially when it comes to philosophy or science. Not just for my reputation, but for my own sake as well.

I now consider this a rookie mistake and will learn from it. I want to know what you guys think! Welcoming any feedback/constructive criticism.

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