http://youarenotsosmart.com/2014/05/07/yanss-podcast-023-what-you-can-learn-about-dealing-with-differing-political-views-from-bloodthirsty-warring-tribes-of-children/
You don't necessarily have to go over to You Are Not So Smart (which Wenatchee The Hatchet discovered courtesy of Mockingbird) to learn what the illusion of asymmetric insight is ... but if you're into podcasts (as Wenatchee only intermittently is) ... .
For the rest, the illusion of asymmetric insight can be summed up as the delusion you have about yourself that you understand others more profoundly than they understand you and possibly also even themselves.
This is easily one of the most pernicious and pervasive mentalities going around about the subject of Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll on the internet. In the past Wenatchee The Hatchet has gotten comments from people who wonder why Wenatchee just doesn't get how evil Mark Driscoll is or how and why Wenatchee hasn't managed to see clearly how wrong things are over there.
Ahem, not to be too blunt about things but Wenatchee The Hatchet broached the subject of Mark and Grace Driscoll potentially plagiarizing Dan Allender on the 4th of July in 2013. Compiling direct evidence of an overlap of wording and concepts came in September. Wenatchee The Hatchet also managed to find out where Mark Driscoll's house in Snohomish county is and has spent months documenting the breath-taking media purge of Driscoll content.
See, how readers and lurkers feel about Mark Driscoll in particular and Mars Hill in general is not necessarily a concern of Wenatchee The Hatchet. There are some wonderful, beautifully kind people at Mars Hill Church. There have been people at Mars Hill Church who have generously helped Wenatchee The Hatchet through some very difficult times. There are people who have given money, job leads, time and friendship and prayer. These are not all people who have necessarily left Mars Hill Church.
There was a teacher long ago who said some things about editorial writing that Wenatchee The Hatchet recalls with some clarity. The teacher said that there's a huge and common misconception among those who read and even write editorials, which is that anyone at all has any reason to care what you think about a subject. To paraphrase some, the teacher said, "Even editorial writing should still be journalism. Nobody cares what you think. People want to know what the facts are."
One of the most important things Wenatchee The Hatchet can do hinges a lot on what Wenatchee The Hatchet opts not to do a lot of the time, attempt to explain the motives of others. This temptation to explain the "heart motive" of other people is so rampant in Christian blogging it's nearly insufferable but suffer it one must if one's going to read any blogs of any kind, Christian or otherwise. People line up on teams and simply must pontificate about how terrible those other people are. This has particularly been the case about Mars Hill in general and Mark Driscoll in particular. Wenatchee The Hatchet has been pilloried more by Driscoll critics in the last five years than by anyone affiliated with Mars Hill. There was a season (another dreadful bit of Christianese, that word) where more people INSIDE Mars Hill were financially assisting Wenatchee The Hatchet than critics of Mars Hill. A number of them undoubtedly knew they were supporting Wenatchee The Hatchet during some periods of rather intense investigative activity.
The stalwart avoidance of judging the motives of others is arguably an important and necessary part of what some call watchblogging, the part that is probably most impossible to find in many settings. It's not the business of Wenatchee The Hatchet to even bother assessing the "heart motive" of people who are for or against Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll. It's not that Wenatchee The Hatchet doesn't have some opinions, thoughts and feelings about all that stuff, it's that this blog (when it's on this orbit of topics) is not really about sharing feelings or even personal stories. There has until recently been too little serious journalistic work on Mars Hill Church for the understandable reason that a sea of people have not felt comfortable sharing things on the record.
Wenatchee The Hatchet has also sat on a variety of things that could have become grist for blog posts but hasn't discussed those things and doesn't plan to. For those who may have been tempted to say that men who sign gag orders are cowardly these people need to at least consider an idea that we've discussed here at Wenatchee The Hatchet once a non-disclosure agreement got published--a man who has spent years in ministry at Mars Hill and is offered conditional short-term medical coverage and severance pay for his wife and children "could" say "no" and then face the financial and social consequences for his entire family or he might feel obliged before God and his family to do his best to support them responsibly and agree to sign the "gag order". Now you may, dear reader, sincerely believe that would be the wrong decision but you succumb to the illusion of asymmetric insight in at least a few cases if you presume that cowardice is the only possible explanation. After all,it's easy to tell someone ELSE to trust God will provide in the same way that it's easy for some guy to say that any Christian guy can take any Christian gal and make a marriage with her work so long as it's not HIS daughter we're talking about. It's fascinating how differently people handle things when the stakes are literally more personal.
It is necessary to have some skepticism not merely about the motives others but especially of one's self. It is also important when attempting to investigate things that have so often been overlooked by journalists and bloggers to take things in an open-ended way. As I've explained before, on things Mars Hill this is a process-oriented blog more than a goal-oriented blog. Documenting the history and development of Mars Hill as accurately as possible from primary source materials seems more necessary and valuable than sharing opinions and feelings. And it is important for the sake of accuracy to not presume more about the motives of others than strictly necessary.
And there's something to be said for the old axiom that actions speak louder than words. It's a bit surprising sometimes to observe that Mars Hill has been obliterating so much Driscoll material that was once freely available to quote for public consideration but Wenatchee The Hatchet can document this without having to speculate as to precisely why Mars Hill is doing this. Contracted and tithing members, however, may potentially feel obliged to ask what on earth is going on, why it's being done, and whether they are sufficiently supportive of this stuff to continue doing what the leadership has historically called "giving sacrificially" for "Jesus' fame".
By now that the contract with Result Source that was signed in the months before Mark Driscoll scolded Mars Hill Church for their lack of generosity to the mission has been easy enough to document. Precisely what the executive leadership of Mars Hill Church actually thinks and how they explain or defend their decisions connected to Real Marriage to the congregation of Mars Hill is not even a matter worth speculating about. That's something for everyone at Mars Hill Church to get a direct and detailed answer about if they're willing to collectively raise that question and consider withholding financial contributions until they get an answer. The journalistic coverage and blogging up to this point should never be considered more than the tip of a potentially giant iceberg. Wenatchee The Hatchet works hard to not harbor any illusions about having spotted what may be the small tip of a giant iceberg that others may one day be able to more fully and thoroughly explore.
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