#ComedyOpenMic: The Power of Positivity and how you can stick it where the sun don’t shine

There are limits to what should be considered positive. Many people are very good at crossing those limits. And somehow these limit-passing people seem to congregate on Steem. As if there is a secret back door to let in all the crazy gurus. Those ‘let-us-focus-on-the-5-important-things-of-life’ people who only want to make money by reinventing a broken wheel that makes their egos feel good about themselves. And no, not all of those are plagiarists, some actually do believe in themselves. And they feel the need to overshare their great insights with whoever has more than 15 SP.

Yes. I might be talking about you. And you’re welcome to comment on this post, but chances are I won’t be able to read your comment. Especially if you’re indeed full of it. Because I’ve discovered something that has made my life on Steem so much more pleasant:

The Mute Button.

Muting someone may sound drastic. I prefer to look at it as a quiet protest against the flagrant self-steeming BS that keeps on being rewritten. Over and over again. How often do you want me to refrain myself from flagging some rant about how wonderful life is if you just have a positive attitude? Thanks to the mute button, I think there is still hope for Steem. Sure, the Steem community has been decimated because of my recent muting. But I love to anti-curate the hell out my feed. And I can recommend it to anyone.

Forget giving people second chances. Once a positivity-guru, always a positivity-guru. You can’t fix stupid. But you can mute it.

Introducing my personal filter bubble

People claim it’s bad to live in a bubble. They are wrong. It’s the only way to survive. Not only because of time - which is a stupid argument. Nobody has time for things, but everybody seems to have time to write posts full of BS. No, I cherish my bubble because of the disease called modernity: this age in when everybody is entitled to have an opinion - who ever decided that!? Let’s get a time machine and get rid of whoever planted that thought. But yeah, okay, opinions are fine. As long as you keep them to yourself. I just don’t care about some random opinions that are not backed by a single logical thought. Not unless you really have something original to say, not unless you’re willing to take a risk and willing to go down for it.

So, for the sake of full disclosure, I will share some categories of people I gladly mute. You’re welcome to try it out. Mute the BS. If ever I start a political career, that might be my main slogan. Next to: “It’s okay if you don’t care. Just vote for me.”

The incurable stupid

As to my list of the mutable. The order is random, and I would like to stress that categories are not mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, people can be all kinds of stupid at the same time. It’s not that I don’t agree with what they are saying - because I couldn’t care less about whether I agree or not. But they flagrantly portray a type of stupid that cannot be helped. I tried using the comments at first. Trust me, I’ve tried. But before ending up in weird comment-battles that make you explain what statistics actually are, just hit that mute button already.

So here are what I consider incurable types of stupid. Incurable, which is not the same as incuriable. There are different ways in which to understand the word ‘exceptional’ after all.

• Positivity gurus. Those who write “jadda-jadda inspiration jadda-jadda growth.” Mute.
• Uncreative Top-5 posters. Those who claim to fix all of life with short lists of something. Any reduction of the complexity of life is a danger to critical thinking. Mute.
• People who use statistics to back up their opinion. Without using sources. “90% of women who are raped actually like it. (My opinion.)” (I can’t even make this up, trust me on this one.) Mute!
• Amateur writers writing several posts a day about writing. About how they come up with writing, about what writes them to write. Yeah, I get that you write. Now when is your book actually coming out already! Mute!
• Wikipedia fanatics, who copy paste wikipedia and think to get away with it by just rewriting every other word. Plagiarism is a more than just stupid, I know. But also incurably stupid. Flag, burn, let steemcleaners know, and: mute!
• Wannabe philosophers who use the tag ‘philosophy’ for every unedited brain fart that makes them feel like they’ve accomplished something. You don’t need to have a degree to call yourself philosopher, sure. But show at least some brains please. Otherwise: Mute!
• Steem-steemians. Those who only write about steem and how it has changed their lives. Get a life already. The means is not the same as the end. I mean... which cryptocurrency would you bring when you're to be stranded on an uninhabited island??!! Mute!
• Anti-intellectuals. Difficult words do not exist. Dictionaries do. Perhaps you’re not the right audience for a post, get over it already. And don’t complain over something you don’t understand. And if you do leave a comment, don’t make the author shake his head and wonder where human evolution started to go backwards.

My filter bubble is continuously updated to meet my requirements. Any recommendations for who to mute in the future are appreciated. Feel free to take my filter bubble, or create your own to suit your pleasure. You'll be happier once you grab the reins of your eyeballs and control what you stuff into your head.

Now, go forth and produce some content that is actually worth reading.

_{This is an entry for the #comedyopenmic contest.}