Not a Hot Take

Let's talk about what a hot take is real quick.

A hot take is "a deliberately provocative [line of thinking] that is based almost entirely on shallow moralising".

A hot take is not a logical train you don't like.

I see this a lot in social justice communities and it drives me up a fucking wall. Stop discouraging people from thinking. Even if you think it's obnoxious or oppressive. Especially if you think it's oppressive. If someone holds a viewpoint that has issues or hasn't been fleshed all the way out and you discourage them from thinking about it by (mis)using terms like hot take to preserve your epistemic purity, congrats, you've discouraged the person in question from developing a more thoughtful and nuanced view.

Which is a great way to get an actual hot take.

Criticism is encouraged, but don't be a dismissive jerk about someone doing actual thinking, and certainly don't mistake it for lazy, distasteful sermonising.