Do You Even Think Bro?
What's up gang?
Last few days, I feel like I am on a low-dose of LSD. Reality appears like it's a dream and I can just snap my fingers and *POOF! * it's ALL gone.
If you've been reading all my stuff (I hope you do read my stuff. I get very angry when people don't do as I say...), you'd know this is an expected side-effect of summer for me.
It's so hot right now and I am sweating like a motherfucka. I am also super naked. Oh those poor people across the street, the things they've seen...
Anyway, why am I telling you all this?
People Can't Think For Shit!
Being a hot mess, my patience for bullshit is dramatically lowered. I can barely tolerate my own idiocracy, imagine the mental strength I have to muster in order to be decent around others.
I don't consider myself some high-level genius. No. I do believe I am aware enough to excuse my distaste for poor and ill-driven arguments and behaviour.
That's the tricky part.
You see, most people aren't stupid. Their problems usually have nothing to do with their smarts.
It's their ego that's disproportionate to their intellectual capabillities.
In fact, being of average intelligence is the bane of humility.
You are aware enough to see your potential, strengths and weaknessess, but not smart enough to be aware of your blindspots.
See, a dumb fuck hates to talk about abstract concepts, because he/she can't even conceptualize the subject. A high level genius on the other hand, is fully aware that he's a powerhouse, thus his ego is up to par.
But Joe Nobody thinks he's the shit. Blinded by emotions of superiority, he doesn't care about logical rigour. Instead he wants the benefits and social recogntion of being intelligent, without having to think intelligently.
Are You Confused? So Am I. Let's Break This Down
Most arguments end up with one person using ad hominem or any other logical fallacy to support his side. Even if in his mind he sees where he's wrong, he won't change. The sunk cost is WAAAY too high.
He understands the psychology of the masses, since he's are part of it, and thus he can easily manipulate and stir the conversation. So, he ends up "winning" the debate, not on merit, but on mob logic.
Reframing arguments, moving the goalpost, framing people as opponets so their opinion is de facto wrong, being pedantic and structuring their thesis around a strict definition are very common errors that are prevelant among the plebeian masses.
Their emotions square their ability to think freely or at least unbounded by weird personal stakes at being ALWAYS right.
"You talk like you are some God or genius , oh mighty Redbeardguy."
I am not. At least, I don't think I am and that should be enough to be aware of your shortcomings. As I hinted earlier, most people can't think for shit, not because they're dumb, but because they are blinded by their emotional needs, high-jacking their self awarness.
I believe I've found the cure to most of our arguments online and in real life. Let's call it the "Redbeard's method".
If something doesn't apply in real life, it's wrong.
"OOOOOOH MY GOD HE DID IT AGAIN! HE CHANGED THE WORLD"
"WOOOOOW! IS THAT HIM? IS THAT REDBEARDGUY? THE ONE WHO CHANGED THE WORLD?"
"And now on today's news: A young fella from some obscure platform solved ALL the political arguments in the world, but most people are unhappy. Listen to this: If it's not real, it's wrong. HA HA HA!"
If we ignore the fact that I am batshit crazy, my proposition ain't that bad right?
Its best quality is that it is SUPER EFFECTIVE and BULLETPROOF. All of your arguments must facilitate the desired outcome.
An example:
- Drugs are bad. We should ban all drugs, because drugs are bad.
OK, let's say that drugs ARE bad. BANNING all drugs won't have the desired effect. NEXT.
Pseudo intelletcual and armchair theorists completely despise that kind of talk, because it takes away their idealistic view of the world. O h w e l l . . .
- Thatredbeardguy
P.S- My writing feels weird. Maybe I should start drinking again. Anyway, I am thinking about creating an email list. Different than the ones I already have, which are strictly business. This will be super personal. It will be my own digital Mafia with an omerta. How about that? Are you interested, my 156 followers? 😂
I’m kinda intrigued, but do people use email for something other than webshop order confirmations? Feels weird to use it for something else.
I know, I thought that it's weird as well, but it's actually one of the best ways to connect. It's personal and direct.
Unless you are a company, a personal newsletter is like having a pen-pal, with the occassional shameless promotional plug.
You need to warm me up to the idea more.
What I've found is that the core problem is that the culture does not value rational thought. We live in a society where philosophy is taboo. I barely even heard the word until college. If you're at a party and someone is complaining about something, and you bring up the core causal factors instead of just being like, "Yeah, that sucks", people start looking for the door. They do not want to consider complex concepts. The problem is that a string of logic 50 steps long can be valid for 49 of those steps, but rooted in a false premise. If people are only willing to go 8 steps deep, or even 48 steps deep, they'll never see it, and there's an unwillingness to go that far because the culture is too dumbed-down to have that kind of patience. It's the "TL;DR" mentality. Most people would rather have abs than brains, and that's not by accident. There are people of great influence who want it that way, because if it ever changed, their whole wealth and power structure would come crashing down around them.
I agree with the overall sentiment. People hate thinking. Advertisement and marketing is structured around this fact.
But I also believe you can at least develop a minimum level of intellectual appetite if you want to claim a spot to the New world.
Culture is a tool for enslavement amongst a people without insight. As such, if we can find a way to “dance with the devil” and make thinking cool, that could be useful, at least during the transition. We need some really hot famous people to start speaking some real truth openly, instead of just telling everyone to “get out there and vote” Hahaha.
There's certainly a shift in culture right now. It was underground in 2016 and 2017, but now it's obvious.
It seems that way, but it's still baby steps right now. When you're on the ground talking to people, the concepts of self-ownership and true freedom are so foreign to them, you may as well be talking about alien cowboys coming down from the moon to save America. But, little by little, if we can get these ideas on the table and interject some sanity into the social discourse, sheer repetition will have its effect on many. We're basically spell-breakers... exorcists... so we're bound to see some heads spinning around.
Ideas and they way they are adopted follow the Pareto principle. By the time the general public(80%) catches on, the 20% will be already riding the next wave.
Very true, and thank God for that, because if I thought it would take even 51%, I’d probably start building a shack in the woods like the Hermit of Gully Lake.
well I was gonna ask you for a favor - to kick my ass if you will notice me acting too nice/ boring/ apologetic. But normal comments and chat could already be used for that. So what could the emails add?
It is a way to have direct contact. Give out more raw stuff.
I was Joe Nobody all this time and I had no idea! Any remedy you know of?
P.S. Drugs are not bad. I have never been attacked by drugs, they are quite nice actually :P. Like making sure natural selection stay in place even in these days.
That's a really ugly picture you got there.
Remedies? Genetics I guess.