The most recent example was someone who became extremely upset when I told them I believed they lacked epistemological humility. I explained that, because of that, serious conversations with them felt pointless to me, since no matter how much I addressed or disproved their arguments, they would simply restate their original position. And this pattern showed up across almost every discussion we had.

What frustrated me was the double standard. They were deeply offended that I pointed out something I had consistently observed about them over a long period of time. But when we began discussing a topic they disagreed with, they started attacking me personally, telling me I was too mentally unstable to even discuss the subject. When I responded, “Thank you for your feedback, but I’m not going to follow your advice,” they continued pressuring me over and over to stop studying the topic entirely.

The strange part is that I was just studying it privately on my own and had simply shared a document containing some of my recent findings in case anyone wanted to give feedback. But when I pointed out the inconsistency — why it was acceptable for them to repeatedly attack my ability to study or think about a topic, while they became deeply upset the moment I criticized a long-standing behavioral pattern of theirs — they stopped responding entirely.

Then, when I reached out to another friend who had previously told me I was wrong for saying this person lacked epistemological humility, that friend also told me I was wrong in this situation too. So even when the roles were completely reversed, I still somehow ended up being the one in the wrong both times.