Rationality Blind Spot

The failure to recognize when your own commitment to being "rational" has itself become an irrational, identity-driven posture. It's the inability to see that your hyper-rational, emotion-dismissing approach might be blinding you to important factors like empathy, ethics, or social context, and that this inflexibility is itself a form of bias. You're so busy looking for emotional bias in others, you don't see the cold, calculating bias in yourself.

Example: "He proposed solving the budget deficit by auctioning off national parks, citing pure economic rationality. When people called it heartless, he accused them of emotional thinking. His rationality blind spot prevented him from seeing that his model completely ignored the non-monetary value of heritage, ecology, and public well-being—a massive irrational omission."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Argument Blind Spot

The specific inability to perceive the weaknesses, missing premises, or emotional core of your own argument. You experience it as a solid, seamless edifice, while viewing opposing arguments as fragile houses of cards. This blind spot makes you confused and angry when others aren't instantly persuaded, because to you, your case seems invulnerable. You've literally never seen its flaws.

Example: "He couldn't understand why no one was convinced by his argument. His argument blind spot hid the fact his entire case rested on a single, uncited statistic he'd heard on a podcast, and that his tone was dripping with condescension. He saw a steel trap of logic; everyone else saw a wet paper bag of arrogance."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026

Debate Blind Spot

The failure to realize when you are no longer engaging in a good-faith debate to explore an issue, but are instead performing for an audience, protecting your status, or simply trying to exhaust your opponent. You believe you're having a noble battle of ideas, but you're blind to your own tactics of derailing, goalpost-moving, and rhetorical point-scoring that have destroyed any chance of mutual understanding.

Example: "The online thread was a cesspool because of debate blind spot. Both sides thought they were valiantly debating science. In reality, they were just dumping pre-written talking points, hunting for 'owns,' and playing to their respective follower bases. The blind spot was their shared belief this was a debate, when it was really two separate, angry monologues being broadcast at each other."

by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026