On The Futility of Offering Advice

But the satisfaction of being advice-giver is short lived, as the advice I have dispensed, whether directly solicited or not, will almost certainly not be followed up on with any real action. This is a virtual guarantee, seemingly regardless of the enthusiasm, energy and attributes of the receiver in question. It just seems to be one of those thing... See more

Generic, uncontextualized advice is a menace- by definition it attracts the lost and the confused and only makes them more lost and more confused. Even the seemingly most universal, failsafe advice of the ‘work hard’, ‘try your best’, and ‘believe in yourself’ ilk, can be disastrous for certain people. It can merely act as a motivator and energy bo... See more

Anyway, the point I’m trying to get to is that if giving direct advice to one individual in the real world is often a waste of breath then what does this say about the generic, scattershot, shouting-through-a-bullhorn advice that people dish out online each and every day? Not only am I convinced that such actions- whose motive is to build a pliant ... See more