On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 2:43 PM, Srini RamaKrishnan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > This is generally good advise for anything. Religion, investing, > philosophy, exercise, diet, don't adopt anything without verifying for > yourself. > > It's silly how many people have respect for authority. > > I was lucky to be genetically disposed towards rebellion. Granted, it made > early life pretty miserable, because everyone expects a child to listen, > but it served me well in the majority of my life.
Cheeni...I was about to say all this, but you said it much better. However, we cannot all be like this (I think this mailing list might have more people than average, who prefer to think for themselves.) If everyone's a leader, life will be vapid...and often difficult, too. Thinking for oneself makes not only one's childhood, but a lot of adulthood, miserable, too. If I do not conform, I am often pressurized to. So...I have no quarrel with those who read the reviews and buy (or not buy) things... There is also merit in thinking for oneself while reading the reviews. I read several reviews of a movie, for example...and then decide if I am going to see it, or not. Any review can be of two kinds; it can either be a didactic "authority source" or it can be an "opinion piece". And the reader can take it in either way. I have found that even when opinion is stated as fact " Wine ABC is rubbish" or "You can't have white wine with iddli-sambar", one can take it as an opinion, and save oneself getting worked up if one does not agree. Deepa,
