eigenrobot Profile picture
Oct 22, 2019 17 tweets 3 min read Read on X
eigenrobots theory and practice of complimenting people!!!!

a thread, inspired by a lovely metacompliment
part one: how to give compliment's

1. notice something you like in someone else

2. tell them you like it
this is perhaps harder than you might think. both steps require Art
noticing something you like in someone else may be harder for some people than others.

my suspicion is that complimenting may be difficult for misanthropists, for example, if they are not inclined to notice beauty in their fellow man; or for those who react with fear to social
fortunately this is a skill that may be consciously trained

for example

make a list of ten people in your life

go down that list and for each think of something about them that is laudatory

it doesnt need to be a big thing--often subtleties are better than prominent traits
eventually, you can learn to see Good in others reflexively

beyond embiggening ones Charm, this is an important trait to develop for living a happy life

(naturally it should be tempered with Prudence but the impulse ought to be there)
suppose you have noticed something you like about someone. How do you tell them?

"I like it that you X" is a good start! And it will quite generally be well-received. You don't need to go past this.
being really masterful in delivery is harder. here is the pith of it.

people live in their own stories. a deeply-felt compliment will be one that lets them tell a better story about themselves.
to do this thoroughly--and I'm not sure it can be done entirely consciously--one must have some intuition about another's story; show their intuition; and guide the complimentee to the new story

this is a necessarily intimate exercise
(delivering a mortal insult is a left-hand path mirror of this but is almost always despicable and if done without Charity and Grace corrodes the insulter more than the insulted)
Some pitfalls.

Do not lie when you deliver a compliment. This is harder than an honest compliment, for one thing, as it is difficult to tell a story around a kernel of falsehood. It also may deceive the complimented and deprive them of a chance to live a better, truer story.
Relatedly, don't give empty compliment. It's important to _perceive_ something good and true, and share that story. Grasping at unheartfelt tropes will ring hollow and never stick, and over time people will notice and devalue such statements.
Flattery is fine as long as it is _true_ but you must have a very deft delivery or you will read as fulsome and the recipient will be flustered or put off. Flatter rarely and well and honestly.
Closing thoughts.

People need to be seen and need to be loved (there may not be a difference).

Giving someone a compliment shows that you perceive them, perhaps better than they do themselves.

Compliments ennoble the giver and recipient alike.

Be excellent to each other. ❤️
appending this lovely real life example

ps dont forget to send thank you cards after Christmas
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More from @eigenrobot

Jun 27
they hate how little it takes for us to be happy
the women all want to kill her

it's beautiful Image
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i think maybe the term of art for this is "pickme"? idk

shes minmaxxing and shamelessly trading off homosocial status for heterosexual appeal

my theory is that women who are mad about this arent wrong to be but the specific reason for their anger is that shes a gender traitor
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Jun 27
realistically there's no way to stop people from tacitly or explicitly allocating taxes and benefits on the basis of race and large portions of the country have interests in this happening or ideological commitments to doing so

this is just our life now
supreme court rulings arent gonna change anything, no one gives a shit about the law on principle and its easy to obfuscate discrimination to taste

any direct government enforcement will i expect inevitably be straightforwardly politically motivated
the norms to which new immigrants are assimilating and young natives inculcated are immensely ethnically charged without any public and common ideal of transcending race for an american identity, an identity which frankly doesnt even exist anymore
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Jun 10
as long as we're sending insane ideas to @JDVance

does the federal government have to enforce laws everywhere or can it announce it won't?

because one funny thing the administration could do would be to deprioritize the enforcement of most federal laws in sanctuary states
>“congrats, california, you're now libertarian af. no OSHA, no IRS audits, no EPA. enjoy.”

it’d be legally coherent and politically thermonuclear. which means someone will definitely try it. Image
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alternatively trump could target blue states by actually enforcing marijuana law which would be very funny too
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Jun 4
hmmm sure ok i'll bite

the rheinweisenlager don't seem that bad tbh

i havent looked at the wikipedia page and wont, just going to attach some commentary and notes on context
the rheinweisenlager were a bunch of concentration camps in the original sense where surrendered wehrmacht soldiers were held for several months in 1945

the camps were run by the US, apparently, and that's important
during the closing months of the war absolutely insane numbers of encircled and overwhelmed german soldiers surrendered . . . in the west

less so in the east, where they were more inclined to fight to the death against the red army
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my only yarvin story is that we met in a temporary teahouse and he spent an hour watching my kid while moon and i took a break, and he sent us off with advice on early reading for her

it's a small thing but it was a welcome kindness for us, bare acquaintances
i'm also happy to say @selentelechia is making great progress
@selentelechia anyway these hit jobs are incredibly tiresome
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"travel" is fake

no one except lord myles has "adventures" when they travel

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"i love to Travel" why have you failed to establish your home as a place of serenity and joy, to the extent that you feel psychically uncomfortable there and strive to get away from your life whenever you can, viewing it as the highest good?

you are not well
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