34 Comments on “A Public Service Announcement, Via Twitter”

1. But can I take your advice regarding your opinions as gospel, or do I have to check on that too? (Asking for a friend.)

2. So…the official gospel is that we should also listen to others? I shall do exactly as you say!

3. No, I think it’s we should listen to others yet know in our heart of hearts that John is right.

4. I double checked…. Will Wheaton does need a churro. 9 out of 10 churro eaters agree. :-) Am I mixing social medias here? Is that allowed?

5. A tangent and plea for teh Twitter: This post has Twitter messages in reverse Chronological order (that is, from earliest first, top-down). I desperately wish I could get my Twitter feeds to be represented in this fashion.

6. I always agree with you, except when you’re wrong.

7. You know, it’s damn hard to be a minion when you keep saying things like that. Next you’ll tell me that you always lie, and then tell me you’re lying.

8. Damn, and here I was compiling the book “John Scalzi Knows Everything And Is Always Right” in order to start my own religion. Now who will I worship as the new messiah?

9. I also enjoy pie.

10. But, pray tell us: to what other people should we listen?

11. And here I thought that I was following Whatever because you agreed with me so often….

12. @K. W. Ramsey – “Now who will I worship as the new messiah?”
    Ghlaghghee the Radiant She, of course!

13. John, outside of the topics of Science Fiction, writing and publishing I see you as “full of crap”. :)

14. Yes we should all think for ourselves:

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079470/quotes?qt=qt0471966

    Also according to Snopes, Mr. Ed was a zebra.

15. John, you’re once again channeling Harlan Ellison. He once said something like, “Whoever said everyone’s entitled to an opinion only got it half right. Everyone’s entitled to an informed opinion.”

16. I got a second opinion and he dais you where always right. Then again I asked a magic 8-ball…

17. I asked someone if they thought that I should always get a second opinion about what you say, and they said I shouldn’t.

    (His name was Epimenides.)

18. Are you suggesting that churros might not be yummy delicious?

19. Jello Biafra once said “Don’t just ‘Question Authority’, Question Everything! Including me! Get a second opinion! Get a twenty second opinion!”

    This has served me well over the years.

20. It just needs guitars.

21. Roy McMillion,

    I spent 13 years living in AZ where the churros were alleged to be authentic and delicious. I am not qualified to comment on the authenticity, but I have never encountered a churro that I could call delicious without lying through my cinnamon-coated teeth. Forget churros. Fry bread is the real deal.

22. I saw this sequence this morning and applauded. The notion that there is one and only one source for your (in the global sense of ‘your’) opinions is part of what got this country into the partisan divide it is currently in. It is the talking points curse. I recall getting roundly mocked when, after being asked, I listed the various news sources I go to. There are a lot, and for good reason; it gives me breadth. Maybe it is my unabashedly liberal arts background – you know, one of those ‘soft’ degrees – but the notion that there is more than one viewpoint seems fairly obvious, and that differing viewpoints are not always wrong, sometimes they are just different.

23. Earlier today, whilst reading your eBook post, I was just thinking how disconcerting is the frequency with which I agree with you. I get twitchy around excessive consensus. Now here you are advocating seeking other opinions, and I find I must agree with you again. Be less reasonable!

    Mind you, I already knew you couldn’t be right about everything always, because I’m right about everything always, and sometimes we disagree, so clearly you must be wrong sometimes. I astound myself with my ineluctable logic! :-Fe

24. But if you listen ONLY to me on ANY topic I am scared for you.

    Are we meant to take just YOUR word for this?

25. Pretty sure others will tell you the same thing, Phoenician.

26. “Everything Scalzi tells you is a lie.”
    “He’s right, Norman – I’m lying….”

27. Please tell me Krissy is still infallible.

28. Thing is, when you express an opinion, there’s usually a long list of equally smart people expressing the same opinion independently. I’m pretty certain that there is SOMETHING that you and I would disagree about. Whatever that is, though, you have not blogged about it yet. But I’m sure there’s something. Hmm, how do you feel about the Oxford comma?

29. mapfelbeck,

    I tried asked the 8-ball, but could not see it……….through the black eyes the nice men with pointy sticks gave me.

30. Pretty sure others will tell you the same thing, Phoenician.

    So your advice is for us to seek out a second opinion on you being scared for us?

    Because your opinion of your own opinion is just an opinion, and your opinion is that someone else’s opinion of your opinion may be a better opinion…

31. Or, to put it another way, maybe you’re just plain wrong about not being infallible, Scalzi.

32. Meanwhile his wife offers a differing opinion about her husband being correct.

33. PSA seen, appreciated. Thank you. Robust discussion appreciated as well. You’re still disgusting, though. The licorice thing is out of hand.

34. @Beej:

    Not that I’d ever accuse Harlan of “borrowing” a quote (mostly for fear that he’d find me and chew my leg off), but he may have been channeling Asimov with that quote.

    “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”

    Meh. It’s not an new sentiment by any stretch – I just wanted to compare Harlan to a wild animal who might bite a person. Which he sometimes is!