Ummm... would it be possible to move the Zago fanclub to a new thread? It's okay to disagree (frequently), but it seems every time Zago opens his mouth threads are torn asunder. Honestly Zago's popularity warrants a thread all in itself.
In all fairness, the only other thread in which that has happened is the social guidelines one that I myself created.
From what I can see, it looks like Zago you are XXXJ. You claim to have once been INTP, but the manner in which you speak is either an internet persona, or the manner of someone who judges.
I'm not poking fun of you, it just seems pretty obvious to me that you have very strong opinions which you are extremely confident in, which is something that pretty much defines a judger.
"My last girlfriend used poor spelling and grammar when chatting online with me. It distracted from the meaning she way trying to convey and stuck out like a sore thumb. I found it unattractive. You may say, "that is so callous." I don't choose how I feel about things. If I find something distasteful, that's because it is distasteful. I don't need to ask myself whether I'm being nice or not. Guess what: people are judging you--everyone, all the time. It is impossible not to. So you better put your best foot forward, because you aren't getting around this one."
1) - this shows your confidence in your judgements
2) - not everyone is judging. Just the judgers.
3) - you are in a forum full of perceivers.
I used to be much more profoundly INTP than I am now. From about 21-25, I constantly agonized over my beliefs, questioning every assumption down to the very most basic. Is murder wrong? How do I know? By whose standard? That kind of thing. I was as lost as lost can be. It was to the point that I couldn't stand being alone with my thoughts, because I would always just wind up taking everything apart to the point where I could conclude nothing, and yet the thoughts and judgments kept coming. When I was 22 or 23, I began actively trying to stop thinking. I remember the exact day and place where I decided to just ignore all my thoughts and concentrate on mental silence. I spent a year or two doing this to varying degrees of obsession.
What began to clear things up for me was my interest in Zen Buddhism, my job teaching at a tough school, and an older and wiser friend who has been like a mentor to me. Especially the last 2. The Zen is like a thought-puzzle that I now understand. I always had the wrong idea about it, and it tormented me and drove me to try to understand. At my job, it took a couple years, but I found out what a sucker I was. Kids make excuses, try to pull stunts, etc. I can smell BS a mile away now. Last, I have always had friends who were about like I was, and usually not as smart. Now that I'm out of college, this is not the case any more. The social guidelines I posted? I got those all from a friend I admire. Before I met this person, I thought the same thing as all the people I now argue with here.
So, now I don't try to stop my thoughts any more. You can't really stop them anyway, but I at least see their validity. I didn't used to. After a long period of reflection and agonizing over my thoughts, I've come to see the reasons behind them and the way they all fit together. No, I don't know it all
yet, but I've improved vastly and I'm getting closer all the time.
You've got to ask yourself: where does all this debate, both internal and external, lead? If you aren't getting somewhere with your thoughts and are stuck on uncertainty, it's time to start agonizing a little harder. INTPs may question themselves highly, and that's a good thing, but this doesn't mean it won't lead anywhere. Yes, a higher level of certainty is possible, and it improves life a great deal.
I don't have any issue with you, but the way you communicate does stand out. Every time you contribute you are constantly attacked for the way you communicate. You could blame this on
1 - random intolerance or
2 - your methods of communication
Since you value the clarity of one's communication so much, surely you can see that the way in which you communicate your ideas is adversely affecting the clarity of your statements (at least in this forum). The nature of the members here is one where every detail is disassembled, organised categorically and then reassembled, then you come in here with your 'broad strokes' and 'confidence' and turn our worlds upside down.
Maybe that's just what this place needs. I don't expect anyone to agree with me right away. If there's anything I know for sure, it's that change takes a long time. If you were all the sort of people that could just drop your beliefs immediately, I'd have no respect for you. I have no problem with people challenging me. If you're going to adopt new beliefs, you should at least put them to the test first.
A fundamental difference I perceive between our thought patterns is that you are confident enough to presume yourself correct until someone prove you wrong, where as I (and I'll generalise to all/most INTPs here) work under what I consider the best hypothesis, but don't give force to these beliefs. "If experts in the top of their fields can disagree, who am I but to have one opinion among many?" - is a rough example of the type of self-doubt I'm talking about. If you're going to hold beliefs you read in a book until someone handily disproves them for you, will you become a Christian by reading the bible? What happens if you then read the Qu'ran?
When you find the right information, you know it. It makes sense, and it makes you feel validated. When I began reading
Intellectuals and Society, for example, I knew it was right because these were thoughts on the tip of my mind that I could never had the words to express. Everything made sense to me in an "oh, that's so obvious" kind of way. That's not how I always feel when I read books, though. To me it really depends on finding the right path. Until I knew what to look for, everything I found just confused me. Now that I have a better idea of what is right and wrong, I find it easier to select what is right. If I had seen OP's vids a couple years ago, I wouldn't have known what to make of them. I would have kept an open mind about them and tried using their belief system for a while, until I concluded it to be unsatisfactory, which could have been months. That's why it makes me so angry now that I know better.
Erm, so uh, back on track. I think you're an xxxJ, and while all are welcome to the forum, the way in which you present yourself is disadvantaging you. This is not some exclusive club or anything, but if you are, for example in INTJ, then surely you would either prefer to be some place where your manner is more accepted (some INTJ forum) OR adjust your manner to be more fitting of the ones you would be defending your manner against in order to talk to/with (INTP forum). This is not an invitation to leave, but merely an observation of a perceived problem and some solutions to it. I personally value your ideas and drive (something many people at this forum lack, including myself), but am not a fan of the form these wonderful things are materialised in.
You have a point. I realize it too, which is why I only take this kind of place in small doses. I used to post frequently at INTPc, but as I grew and began to see it for what it is, I got into more and more of this sort of argument and finally quit the place. Every once in a while, though, I do forget what it is like to get in a heated debate, and poke my head in here and state my mind. The rest takes care of itself.
I liked the OP vod, but found it too scatterbrained and fleeting to be able to concentrate on anything they were really trying to convey.
It is definitely scatterbrained and fleeting. They do
anything but present a cohesive case. To the confused, uninformed, or unacquainted, it may seem impressive. They throw around a lot of big ideas, speak with a tone of authority, advocate high ideals, and have hip dry-erase board illustrations. It's a crisp product, but has no validity or practicality to speak of.