The Assassination Attempt and the Comfort of Certainty

I hope I make the case in this video that doomscrolling / obsessively watching the news in a time of some significant event makes sense even if it is not healthy. Sometimes people come at me for being irrational, and I'm like "Yeah, ok, I'm literally an animal trying to feel safe in the world."

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What World are We Living in?

[noratheelk]

“If you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty”
—Hank Green, 2024
I love this quote SO MUCH

[jessephillips]

"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; man gotta sit and wonder why why why."

[m.c]

I deleted Twitter yesterday after MONTHS of feeling dread and disgust and just sheer sadness every time I scrolled for hours. It's only been a day, let's see how this will effect my well being

[OtakuAlice]

I think it was Voltaire? That said, something along the lines of. " Uncertainty is an Uncomfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one"

[johnhmaloney]

"If you want to have an allegiance to truth, you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty". That is one of the greatest quotes that I've ever heard in my 52 years on this planet. Thank you, Hank.

[myboatforacar]

In other words, doomscrolling is like any other defense mechanism... it helps, but it can hurt.

[angeliquenichelle]

"You think you fell out of a coconut tree??? You exist in the context of all that has been & what came before you."

[waffles]

I want to live in a world where we care about each other without an ulterior motive.

Edit- seriously how did this many people see a comment basically saying "Hey, can we try to be nice?" and think "OP is insane if they think that's at all possible"?

[TheGrumbleduke]

I work in education, and I feel we don't work hard enough to teach people that "I don't know..." is often the right answer, and it is a perfectly good answer. Especially in education, where the whole point is that students don't know things, they are there to learn them.

The key thing is to recognise that "I don't know..." is only half the answer. You cannot always just stop there and call it done. The next step is to try to find out (as you did, Hank, in that lovely video recently about EVs and particulate emissions).

[dustinyager]

When you asked if I can identify the 4th option I instantly replied to the screen. "No?" and then you revealed what the 4th option is. I feel so proud of my self!

[mobybuddy]

Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

[kimmykimmie]

THE HAIR LOOKS SO GOOD HANK. Like the world sucks but oh my gosh the hair

[kevinwells]

"If you want to have an allegiance to the truth you have to trade in the comfort of constant certainty"

What a great way to put this. Being right often means admitting ignorance because when nothing is known any claim of knowledge is misguided

Thanks for your thoughts and wisdom on these topics, I hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself in spite of the craziness of the world

[MakeMeThinkAgain]

As a student of history, the sad truth is that the real time news has almost zero truth value. I try to wait a week before I read anything about a current event. And it's much better if you can wait 100 years.

[OmarSeyfetdinov]

Comparing Vlogbrothers eras to Doctor Who, but using Hank's hairstyles as markers

[MrTables]

This whole situation surrounding Thomas Crooks reminds me of the film Elephant, a film that was tangentially about the Columbine massacre. That film has a very loose structure and seems to be pointing at a lot of the things that COULD have caused what eventually happened but ultimately we can never know for sure and the film never provides a solidified answer.

The reason the film was called Elephant was because it was in reference to the fable of the blind men trying to make out the shape of an elephant and all coming away with different conclusions. The point of the story being, everyone has subjective interpretations of what the actual truth is, but overall we’re influenced and limited by our own perceptions of the world around us.

At the end of the day, we are all doing our best with what we have to make out the shape of something based on our own sets of information, worldviews, and past experiences. All we can do is be perceptive, critical, or understanding of the situations at hand.

And as Hank said, we just don’t know. And at least for now, we have to be comfortable with that.

[MyriadProse]

As someone with OCD, Reassurance Seeking is one of my biggest Compulsions. Doom scrolling feels like an extension of that... I'm seeking something that will reassure me - even if I don't know the reassurance I'm seeking.

[rantingrodent]

"I don't know" is the state of curiosity, and curiosity is the most productive mindset we have. Stay curious and cultivate a feeling of unease whenever you feel certain and stop being curious.

[SierraKyliuk]

We are such prideful creatures-- we feel like we need to have all the answers and we love a concrete answer. The smartest and most trustworthy people in the room are the ones willing to say "I don't know".

[Bobbydyland]

People aren't looking for information on social media. They're looking for affirmation.