the.com/obstinacy
the art of being wrong with the conviction usually reserved for being right.
means the quality of stubbornly refusing to change your mind, course, or behavior despite reason, persuasion, or evidence.
from From Latin obstinatus, past participle of obstinare, 'to persist, set one's mind on,' built from ob- ('against, before') plus a root tied to stare, 'to stand' — so an obstinate person is quite literally one who 'stands against.' That stare ('to stand') is a deep Indo-European root and a cousin of words like 'stable,' 'stance,' and 'stubborn-in-spirit,' all of which share the image of being firmly planted. The word entered English through Latin in the late medieval period, carrying the same picture it carries now: someone dug in, heels down, unmovable.
- root
- From Latin obstinare, to stand stubbornly against.
- brain trick
- Doubling down feels safer than admitting a mistake.
- survival edge
- Refusal to quit has won wars and patents.
- hidden cost
- Sunk-cost fallacy is obstinacy wearing a tie.
- flip side
- One person's pigheadedness is another's unbreakable principle.
andrew johnson impeachment — president refused to comply with tenure of office act in 1868, came one vote short of removal
stanley kubrick filmmaking — demanded 148 takes of a single scene in the shining, spent years perfecting films like eyes wide shut
flat earth society — maintained belief earth is flat despite centuries of contrary evidence, still active in 21st century