Very cool, if true

"Radical Honesty - a step too far?"

That's really interesting. I think Jeff was exactly right when he said that radical honesty was too extremist to be a sensible lifestyle choice, but that it was seductive because it made us think about all the times we'd like to avoid lying but are afraid it will be impractical, when it can (often but not always) turn out to be useful.

However, I think there's a tendency to overcompensate. The first comment described someone who played the guitar, and everyone automatically told him he was great and he thought about becoming professional, and someone told him that he sucked.

Now, I think that person was sensible to give some accurate feedback. But I also think they were embarrassed to criticise against minor social norms, and hence in an almost self-parody exaggerated what they thought.

After all, they probably mean "suck" compared to a professional player, not compared to an average person (who probably can't play the guitar _at all_), so by suddenly shifting the basis of comparison, they're just making the guitar player defensive and less likely to listen.

It would presumably have been equally true but more accurate to say something like:

"You've picked up the basics but you're not of professional standard"

or "You've picked up the basics, but you would need to dedicatedly practice for several hours a day to approach professional standard."

or "You don't have the natural talent to ever be professional"

or "You're not outstanding in natural talent and don't have much dedication. You're not of professional standard, and I don't know whether or not you could be."

It's hard to combine tact and truth, and often impossible, but I don't think giving up is the correct long-term solution (even though it may be the only expedient option in the short term).