I know you're not impressed. I know folks around here don't like it much. I'm glad there are such folks who say what they think without signaling. I respect that attitude, and it's partly because I respect it that I'm here. I do want to know what people think when they're solely concerned with accuracy. But I don't really want to imitate them -- maybe a little, but not thoroughly.

Truth is, I used to be socially awkward. These days, I'm not, but it's not because I'm any cleverer at dealing with people, it's because I've adopted a persona that's all about being, let's say, harmless. Positive and gentle. Trying to please. It's kind of a good all-purpose heuristic -- if I make some kind of faux pas, people will think "oh, she's clueless, but she's nice." I'm good with nice-but-clueless.

And if you really want to be 100% nice-but-clueless, you have to be that way all the time. It's not just political PC -- I make a deliberate point of, as much as possible, never thinking or speaking badly of anyone. Not even in private. Not even in forums where the opposite norm holds. Once you start down that path, there's a chance that you might be bitchy in public. And you can't really afford that if you have other flaws and weaknesses, I think; I need people to forgive me my mistakes.

Would it be worth it to change? As you point out, I can't know, because I'm within the world of motivated cognition. That said, I can think of circumstances where I probably ought to change -- if I worked in the private sector, for example, or if I chose an advisor who really values frankness (both live possibilities.) There may come a point where "nice but clueless" stops working for me. And then I'll really have to take this stuff seriously. But I have no idea who I'll be, once I'm not nice-but-clueless.