To anyone whose livelihood and personal fulfillment is founded upon 'the public assertion', "self-doubt" is the most difficult tool to wield competently.
It is so difficult that often times it is eschewed, and that is where big problems arise.
"Self-doubt" can be so powerful that it paralyzes, and in insufficient quantities it leads to hubris and demagoguery.
The last two Presidents of the United States are examples.
Ironically it is a function of "self-doubt" that enables the demagogues, for people seem to have a natural inclination, because of their own doubt, toward supporting someone who comes along and confidently says "I know the right way, follow me". And they both are, almost always, wrong.
Such is an inherent flaw in the paradoxical "civilized animal".
Ultimately, one should say what one most powerfully feels has to be said, and let history do the rest. For it is almost a certainty that over a long enough period of time, at some point you'll be heralded as being completely correct, and at another time be castigated for being completely wrong. And that both perceptions are "imposters just the same" (Kipling)
Yet it is very important to "make a noise", and as Hunter Thompson said so prophetically "it is very important to 'get away with it' ".
stephenhsmith
24sept2006
