I read a thought provoking analysis of Penelope Trunk the other day. You know Penelope Trunk, the woman who has started several start ups and now has a popular eponymous blog in which she doles out advice as if it were the truth. She recently published an ill conceived piece regarding Sheryl Sandberg’s husband’s death. Yes, that Penelope Trunk.

Anyho, Penelope Trunk writes as if she knows, as if every single things she writes is clear and right and for sure. Many writers do this. According to the psychiatrist doing the analyzing this is one main trait of bipolar disorder.

I know little of that, other than the traits he describes are spot on for certain members of my family….But what strikes me most about the certainty encountered, the divison of all matters into camps, the dichotomy, the right vs. wrong, the good the bad the moral, the immoral, is that it seems to be the trademark of so many popular lifestyle blogs: the Minimalists, James Altucher, Tim Ferriss, juts to name a few. They Know, they are enlightened and the rest of us are not, but just follow and listen closely and we too can see the light.

I get that being outrageous sells, that taking things to the extreme lures readers. Yet I don’t get what attracts readers to this kind of reasoning. Why aren’t they a tad turned off? Don’t they want some humbleness, some questioning and seeking? For this I am sure of, I know precious little. I am daily uncertain to the degree that I can barely feed myself in case I chose incorrectly (maybe some other dish is tastier, healthier?) not to mention deciding what to do with my life. The uncertainty is killing me in some aspects. But the opposite seems even more frightening, closing all doors save for one option, one reality, one certainty, the knowledge that this road is right and all others not. How lonely, cold and uninteresting that seems to me.