# It takes bravery to demystify things [[Making a thing legible puts it at risk of social destruction]] so demystifying something puts you at risk of being wrong but also puts whatever you’re demystifying at risk. Even if you don’t care about being wrong, other people in your discipline might care about what would happen if the now-legible thing was exposed as bullshit. This phenomenon is why many people are derided inside their fields for “popularizing” things. <!-- #evergreen --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/It+takes+bravery+to+demystify+things) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/It+takes+bravery+to+demystify+things)