I hate tautologies. I hate them with a passion. As an engineer, I hate them because logically they're a waste of breath. They are, by definition, meaningless. They're not just unfalsifiable like a lot of the rubbish floating around, they truly convey no useful information. Of course, as an irrational living creature I recognize that while formally they have no meaning they are, in fact, used to convey an idea nonetheless.
These subtle ideas make me hate tautologies even more. I believe that when people say things like "I am who I am" they're often trying to convey a level of acceptance and comfortableness with their current state. Perhaps even recognition of the fact that there are certain things completely out of their control. Great. Fine. I've caught myself on very rare occasions doing the same thing. I am, after all, a fool and a hypocrite.
Unfortunately, these tautologies can be used to convey a second, more sinister idea. In some situations what people really mean when they say something like "I am who I am" is "I have allowed myself to stagnate beyond the point of any hope of self improvement. Ever." So, it seems like these statements do just as good a job conveying a complete sense of hopelessness, resignation, and refusal to engage in adaptation as they do an acceptance of our own limitations.
If nothing else, one of the shining characteristics of the human race is our ability to adapt and overcome new challenges and environments. "It" most certainly is not what "it" is. "It" can be better, and we can fix whatever "it" is. I am who I am, but I can be better. I can work to refine the negative aspects of my personality and character. I can change.
Some people use these phrases in mostly innocuous ways, in line with my first assigned meaning above. Again, fine. It still grates on me, but I can live with it. Who am I to tell others what they can and cannot say? People that use them in the second, fatalistic way thoroughly terrify me though.
This second group of individuals wield tautologies in almost a proud manner. I hear it said in response to flaws and negative aspects of their personalities or state. They're really saying "yep, this part of me is bad. But I'll be damned if I even attempt to fix it. I am who I am." What a colossal short changing of the human condition. These people are shirking their responsibilities as human beings. They can take their hopelessness and stagnation and shove it.
I have already written a number of things that I would like to massage and add to my web log. I have been waffling around on which one to post first, as if my first post should somehow be more significant than any of the future ones. It isn't. I just felt like sharing this particular exercise in foolishness with the Internet today. I hope it at least caused a few electro-biochemical reactions in your brain. I am who I am, and I strive to be more.
Help refine the foolishness
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