How AUTISM Helped Me DEFY the Odds! (PERSONAL)

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😲 I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM!!! 😲

I use to consider myself a very introverted person, very shy, and very set in my own closed routines. I was more of a thinker than a doer and more a dreamer than a leader. Can you relate to that? If not, can you think of someone in your life who was like that? 🤔

Being diagnosed with Autism in 7th grade was probably the starting point for me, the point where I confirmed these ideas to myself about who I was: something was ‘wrong’ in my brain. 🧠 “I have Autism. It explains why I feel the way I feel. It’s just something that’s a part of me; I can’t change it.” 🤷‍♂️

But even at the time I remember feeling like I didn’t want to be labeled like this. I saw the label before me with all its negativity, a label I needed to object and rebel from. 👊 I saw the stigmas of this label becoming my reality, and once I started seeing it reflected in other people’s behaviors towards me it frightened me to the core! 😨

I have vivid memories from school where I refused to accept new accommodations because of the new label. I was now being offered additional time on tests, opportunities to leave class to ‘cool down’, and every single time I refused. I was being treated differently. I hadn’t changed, but with my new label I had changed in the eyes of everyone else. 😟 Has someone ever said something about you that you knew wasn’t true? Did you ever feel like you just wanted to jump on the defense and say: “That is absolutely NOT TRUE!” 🤬

With my new label I was constantly reminded about my new-given identity: what I couldn’t do, what my limitations were, and what struggles I’d have the rest of my life. 🔮 Very little was I ever reminded about all my current strengths or what I could do. It was mostly the echoes from a set of diagnostic criteria. 📖

In psychology, the term is referred to as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. In sociology, it’s referred to as the Labeling Theory. To put it simply: If a person holds a belief in their mind about someone else’s future expectations, the person will unconsciously help in influencing the other person into fulfilling those expectations. 🤔

So for example, if a parent holds a child to very low expectations the odds are very likely the child won’t ever go past the ones the parent already set for them. They will only achieve the most minimal, the expectations set by the parent. 😲

SO FOR A LONG TIME I USE TO LET OTHERS DICTATE HOW I WAS GOING TO LIVE MY LIFE…😔

But then at one point I finally decided I was going on my own path. These past few years I’ve learned that everything starts with Me: I must take control of my life, how I choose to see it, and how I’m going to live it. 👍

📌 Dale Carnegie explained it through his principles to Win Friends and Influence People.

📌 Stephen Covey said it with his Habit of Being Proactive.

📌 The Stoics taught it through their principles of self-control.

📌 The Existentialists shared it through the creation of meanings.

📌 Individuals like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. excelled it through their example.

It’s the power of helping OURSELVES FIRST before we start trying to help the rest of the world. It’s about taking CONTROL over our emotions rather than letting them and our environment control us. It’s about living our lives for a PURPOSE greater than just ourselves. It’s about a “dream”, a vision of a greater future for all of humanity. Most importantly, it’s about YOU DEFINING YOUR LIFE. 🌎

What I’ve come to realize again and again is that my past does not have to equal the future. I’ve realized I am more capable than what any label or diagnosis will dictate. 🙌

Have you ever taken a personality test and it gave you a result you wholeheartedly believed in? “Congrats, you’re an INFJ!” The problem with these tests is they can tell you who you are NOW. But they don’t tell you who you’ll necessarily be in the FUTURE. We can change as well as mentally evolve. It’s a part of who I may be now, but it’s not the final destination! 🛣️

I’ve realized that I ultimately will define Me, not someone else, not a test, and not a set of diagnostic criteria. Otherwise I keep a fixed identity for the rest of my life…nah! 😉

So this year I’ve been on a mission to Transcend Labels. I am showing the world what’s possible, to show others how to look beneath the surface, past the labels, past the stereotypes, and to see each other for who we all are. 👥

I truly believe when we do this we’ll start seeing the humanity within each other, see each other as human beings, and see that we are all more alike than we like to believe. With that not only comes greater understanding for our neighbors but most importantly an unconditional love, because the realization comes: “That person is also Me.” ❤️

I see lasting change in the world happening through the individual from the inside-out, not the outside-in. I believe that the better we can be for ourselves, the better we can be for others. 🌎

Gandhi said: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Everyone has an opinion, but there are fewer people out there who ever set the example. Will we be the next examples?! 👌

I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM; AN EXPLANATION, BUT NOT THE DESTINATION! 💪

I hope this resonates with many of you. I would appreciate it if you could share this post with others, whoever you believe will also benefit from these words. If there are any additional areas I can add value to your life as well as in the blogging community, please let me know! 🙂

My areas of expertise include:

👍 Detail-oriented, Thoroughness

👍 Quality-over-quantity Focused

👍 Analytical, Systemic Thinking

👍 Emotional intelligence (plus 10 years in Customer Service)

👍 Social media, Building Engagement

With lots of gratitude,

Donald “Ace” Arteaga ❤️

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𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑻 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎!!! 📚

December 3, 2020December 25, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃: 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍” 𝐁𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐃𝐓 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐) 📖

📖 “𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖: 𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐈𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐎 𝐁𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐇” 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏𝐒-𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗) 📖

I had just graduated high school. Following the new school year, my high school had decided the next play they were going to put on was “The Laramie Project”. Based on the real-life murder of Matthew Shepard, he was killed by 2 men that robbed, tortured, and tied him to a fence to be left to die. The motive is believed to have been driven by Matthew being gay.

…And that’s when I heard the Westboro Baptist Church was coming to protest the school hosting the play. I remember reading about them online, their infamous picket signs which read “God Hates F*gs”. Personally, I found their logic laughable and their gross generalizations of people they had never met made me easily place them out of sight and out of mind.

I hadn’t heard about Westboro since that time; frankly, I didn’t care. It was only when I recently watched Joe Rogan’s podcast was I introduced to Megan Phelps-Roper, a young lady who was raised in Westboro and left the church as an adult. What struck me on the podcast was how articulate and soft-spoken she was. “She couldn’t really be apart of the same vocal group I heard about all those years ago, could she?!”

It turned out she was! Reading her memoir, I learned she was the right-hand to her mother for a lot of the Church’s activities, and in reading I was astounded to learn that the very hatred they spewed towards others at protests would also be the reason for Westboro’s internal collapse. Megan really brings a humanistic look to the people behind the picket signs. After all, they are still her family.

There’s the common misconception in our culture today that if you empathize with someone it automatically means you support their actions, guilt by association. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Putting a human face to anyone, including extremist individuals like Westboro, does not mean you have to support their harmful actions. I don’t. But rather it reminds you of our shared humanity, a reminder that if I had the same upbringing as Megan I probably would’ve embraced the exact same things she was raised since birth to believe.

Her story reminds me of the Martin Luther King Jr quote: “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

“𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. ‘𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧@𝘨𝘴!’ 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘭. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦—𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.”

📖 “𝐁𝐄𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇: 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓, 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑” 𝐛𝐲 𝐕𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕) 📖

📖 “𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐘” 𝐛𝐲 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐒 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗) 📖

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄: 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐆𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒, 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐒” 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋 & 𝐉𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖) 📖

📖 “𝐂𝐘𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄, 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐘 – 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐒 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘” 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐀𝐘 & 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎) 📖

What is “being Woke”?

If you’re confused at hearing words like “white privilege”, “decolonization”, “cisgender”, “patriarchy” and “systemic racism” being used so often, this book is an in-depth encyclopedia behind the origins of these terms.

But I must say upfront: the ideologies you will learn about in this book are needlessly convoluted and obscure. And this has nothing to do with the authors of this book! Lindsay and Pluckrose have done extensive homework on the subjects they are critiquing and provide a HUGE service in shining a light on them.

The problem is the ideologies themselves, ideologies that WANT to be needlessly convoluted and obscure for the sake of being politically subversive.

There’s a quote from Einstein: “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩.” This quote wholeheartedly applies here.

If I could summarize the ideologies you’ll read about in this book in one word it would be: pretentious.

They are ideologies which, because of their obscurantism, individuals in the general public have come to believe are far more profound and insightful than they actually are. But when you break them down, when you boil down their primary ideas and arguments, they’re actually quite simple, shallow, and at times even bordering on anti-intellectual.

Truly, the Emperor has no clothes.

One reason I decided to read this book is because I’m seeing these ideas actually being taken seriously, not only in certain areas of academia but also in today’s social justice activism. To emphasize, this is NOT the social justice activism of Martin Luther King Jr. that embraced liberal values and progress through nonviolence.

This new Woke activism is anti-liberal, revolutionary, echoing sentiments eerily similar to Mao’s Cultural Revolution. It’s an activism which encourages people to see everyone through a lens of class struggle. It’s an activism which encourages people to see everyone through a Freudian lens, but instead of being about some unconscious sexual repression it’s now about unconscious racism (Critical Race Theory), unconscious heteronormativity (Queer Theory), unconscious sexism (Feminist Theory), unconscious colonization (Postcolonial Theory), etc.

It’s not a worldview that is searching for truth. It’s a worldview that searches for what it WANTS to believe is true. It starts with a foregone conclusion (“Society is systemically racist!”) and then only seeks evidence to confirm it, even when that evidence is only based upon mere assumptions (“He said I am cute; he must have deeply-engrained sexism!”).

I recommend this book because, as the authors note, in order to combat bad ideas we need to fully understand the ideas we wish to combat. Whether you’re a Liberal or a Conservative, I recommend everyone give this book a read to make sense of the Woke ideology. On a side note, I also recommend we all get a History lesson on what happened during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

“𝘈 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 ‘𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴,’ 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵—𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰-𝘴𝘶𝘮 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘴𝘦𝘹, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘎𝘉𝘛 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺, ‘𝘊𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴’ 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘎𝘉𝘛 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 [𝘞𝘰𝘬𝘦] 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴.”

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐖” 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 𝐍𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐇 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕) 📖

📖 “𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐓” 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐍 (𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓) 📖

📖 “𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 (𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄): 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐖𝐄 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐅𝐒, 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐒” 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐕𝐑𝐈𝐒 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎, 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) 📖

Key Points:

– We self-justify due to “cognitive dissonance”, the discomfort we feel when we hold 2 contradictory ideas at once. An example is when you say smoking is bad…and then someone sees you smoking. To get rid of the dissonance, you can either admit your hypocrisy or you can self-justify: “Everybody else does it!”.

– The more we self-justify (rather than take responsibility for our mistakes) the more we’ll continue to blame others and delude ourselves of accountability in any situation. “𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴; 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦.”

– Confirmation bias is another cognitive distortion. When we’ve made up our minds about a situation (e.g. “He is a jerk!”, “She is guilty!”) we stop looking for contrasting information and only look to accept information which confirms our worldview.

– These cognitive distortions causes harm in all areas of life from relationships to therapy to courtrooms to war. The unfortunate part is so many of us aren’t even aware we’re doing it!

“𝘈𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭, 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤, 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 ‘𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨; 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦.’

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴—𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭, 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺.

𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.

𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘸𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘞𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦—𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴.”

📖 “𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝟐.𝟎” 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐂. 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖) 📖

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟐𝟏 𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏” 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐂. 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 (𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕, 𝟏𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧) 📖

📖 “𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏: 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒” 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐊𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐖𝐈𝐍 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖) 📖

An important and timely book!

This book illustrates 4 Presidents and the leadership skills which shaped how they handled some of the most intense moments in US history. Considering the “leadership” examples the general public has available in our current politics, I fear a huge amount of people don’t actually know what constitutes as actual leadership.

It is in that respect I give this book my highest recommendation, to introduce examples of REAL leadership to the greater public.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩. 𝘈𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘩𝘢𝘮 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺. 𝘓𝘺𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱—𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺, 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺, 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯.

𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩. 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.”

📖 “𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄” 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍 𝐂. 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖) 📖

📖 “𝐌𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆” 𝐛𝐲 𝐕𝐈𝐊𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐄. 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐋 (𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟔) 📖

📖 “𝐖𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄: 𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃” 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐓 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐊𝐀𝐔𝐅𝐌𝐀𝐍 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟓) 📖

📖 “𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘: 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐌” 𝐛𝐲 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐎 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖) 📖

I DO NOT recommend this book!

I only recommend this book if you are to get a brief understanding of ideas which are the byproducts of Antiracism and Critical Race Theory ideologies circulating in far-left politics (see “Cynical Theories” book review above). At worst, these overly simplistic black-and-white ideologies are adding to the very racism they seek to solve.

My FULL review on the book: https://bit.ly/39D4XdJ

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇” 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 (𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟑) 📖

📖 “𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐔𝐄: 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓” 𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐑 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎) 📖

📖 “𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄: 𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆” 𝐛𝐲 𝐕𝐈𝐊𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐄. 𝐅𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐋 (𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟔) 📖

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟕 𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄” 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐑. 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐘 (𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟗) 📖

There’s SO MANY personal development, self-help books on the market. Unfortunately, a ton of these same books are filled with fluff, superficial advice, and ideas which have been explained so much better in older books.

THIS is one of those “older books”. If there’s 1 personal development book you ever read (and I’ve read tons), it has to be this one. It is one of the originals and still is THE best book I’ve read in the personal development field. Unlike many self-help books, author Stephen Covey emphasizes the importance of being a person of Character (substance) rather than being a person of Personality (style). How many Social Media Influencers online have mastered the latter but not the former?

It’s unfortunate this book has been dismissed by those calling it “boring”, “corporate garbage”, and “common sense”. I’d recommend this book to anyone regardless of job status. The ideas in the book are simple, and they are explained in-depth through many examples and philosophical ideas.

Lastly, common sense is not common. You can know something intellectually…and still not apply it in your life. If we did, all of us would be following the Golden Rule. Everyone would stop eating fast food, start exercising, and eat more fruits and vegetables. We’d all be the epitome of self-aware creatures.

I’d argue the ones who need this book the most are the ones who are the quickest to dismiss the book the fastest.

“𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦—𝘰𝘳, 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘮𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴—𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘴𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘮𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘱𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘮𝘴, 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.”

📖 “𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐄” 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐍 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗) 📖

📖 “𝐔𝐏 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐈𝐑: 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘, 𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐒𝐌, & 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟐𝟏𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐘” 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐁 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐊 (𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎) 📖

📖 “𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄: 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐔𝐌𝐏𝐇 𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃” 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐄𝐏𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐈𝐍 (𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗) 📖

📖 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐎𝐕” 𝐛𝐲 𝐅𝐘𝐎𝐃𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐕𝐒𝐊𝐘 (𝟏𝟖𝟖𝟎) 📖

If you have any book suggestions, comment below!!! 😄

How to Stop Arguing With REALITY!

November 4, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

Want to be less stressed? 😵

🙌 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 🙌

Have less opinions about how the world “should” be.

Have less opinions about how others “should” act.

Have less opinions about how events “should” happen.

🙌 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞. 🙌

Give yourself permission, and stop “should”-ing all over yourself.

Give yourself permission, and accept things as they are.

Give yourself permission, and start being more loving to yourself.

❤️ 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭. ❤️

Why Our HUMANITY Matters!

October 15, 2020January 21, 2021 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

❤️ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄! ❤️

I am someone who is gay…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Hispanic…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Liberal…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Atheist…I (especially) rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

Why do I rarely talk about these things? 🤔

Well…let’s take a step back. 👣

Say you were meeting me for the very first time, and the only information you were given about who I am were these labels: 📜

Male. Gay. Hispanic. Liberal. Atheist.

What kind of person comes to your mind that fits into each of these categories? 🤔

What comes to your mind when you think of a “Gay Male”? Flamboyant? Feminine? Limp wrists?

What comes to your mind when you think of an “Atheist?” Snobbish? Science-obsessed? Blasphemous?

Now…take these labels and apply them back to me. And compare these labels to how you 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 know me as a person. 🙋‍♂️

Let me ask: do these labels easily fit into your general perception of me? 😅

Of Donald Arteaga? 🤷‍♂️

If your answer is “no”…THAT is the reason why!

🙌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬. 🙌

I’d rather we all be judged, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, based upon the content of our character. 👤

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my sexual preference.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my race.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my political views.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my religious affiliation.

THIS is why I generally don’t provide this information to people upfront. I want you to get to know ME first, minus the preconceptions. 🙂

👀 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐚𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬. 👀

The problem is these labels are only mere facets of who I am as a human being, just as I believe this to be the case for any other human being. 💎

I’ve held this ideal ever since I started my mission to Transcend Labels in 2018. ⏳

The ideal has always been for me to show through my example that people don’t have to be entrenched in their labels. 💯

The ideal has always been for me to show that my diagnosis of Autism is just a temporary explanation and not a final destination. 💯

The ideal has always been for me to show how limiting labels are as frameworks for understanding ourselves and other people. 💯

Consider the facts:

🙌 No one on this planet is 100% exactly the same.

🙌 No one thinks 100% exactly the same way.

🙌 No one has lived 100% exactly the same life as another person.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱, 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫.

As Ayishat Akanbi put it: “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚.” The obsession with one’s labels become a self-fulfilling prophecy which leaves no room for change, let alone the possibility for personal growth. 🙌

For me, my mission to Transcend Labels is a life-affirming philosophy that says we are more than our pasts, more than our circumstances, and that we are capable of becoming more than the people we were yesterday. ✊

Perhaps as you read this, this sounds like common sense to you! 😅

But…things seemed to have changed. 🧐

Not with my mission; it remains the same. But I’m talking about within our society. 👥

More and more I continue reading about a growing ideology that:

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY for their labels, not for their individuality.

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY for their group identities, not for their common humanity.

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY in binary camps of either being Oppressors or being Oppressed.

😱 Encourages people to indulge in cognitive biases like mindreading, overgeneralizing, and black-and-white thinking.

This smorgasbord of an ideology has come to be more popularly known as: “being woke”.

(𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 “𝘊𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺” 𝘣𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘢𝘺 & 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦.)

Simply put…the very ideals I’ve stood for the past few years are in direct opposition to this ideology. 🤷‍♂‍

So perhaps you can understand why a part of me is fascinated at how this ideology has reached such a wide audience, especially among the political Left, with little Critical (pun intended) examination. 😅

Perhaps you can understand my fascination reading about this ideology that argues the very ideals I stand for, the message I’ve promoted for years, can now be entirely summarized under labels like “white supremacy”, “white privilege”, “patriarchy”, “racist”, “microaggression”, and “hateful”. 🤨

❤️ But I get it. ❤️

I understand in these current times A LOT of us are stressed out and worried. I understand it’s hard for anyone to think clearly, let alone rationally, when our minds are shrouded in weeds. 😖

𝐈 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬.

If I were to combine every negative event which has happened the past year, I can’t blame someone for not feeling comfortable with all this Uncertainty. 😨

As I saw 1 tweet put it: “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲.” ❤️

So yes, I definitely understand that lots of people at this time will be desperate to find something which helps them get back to Certainty, back to some sense of clarity and normalcy, back to some sense of renewed purpose and meaning…even if that means embracing an over-simplistic, fringe ideology like this one. 🙌

And THIS is one of the main reasons why I’ve not spoken up about this topic personally. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 😭

At the moment, the child needs something, anything to stay calm and feel safe. 🛡

Don’t get me wrong, there are 100% real problems in our society that still need to be solved. I’m not here to pretend like everything is all fine and dandy. It’s not.

But we’re not going to solve them when we’re making the incorrect diagnoses, which in turn provide the wrong solutions. 👎

𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 👎

But that part of the discussion will be saved for another post…

My point is: THIS is not the way forward. ❌

🤬 “𝑾𝑬𝑳𝑳 𝑴𝑹. 𝑯𝑰𝑮𝑯-𝑨𝑵𝑫-𝑴𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝒀 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑫, 𝑮𝑶𝑻 𝑨𝑵𝒀 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑺?!” 🤬

I believe I do! And it goes right back to what I was talking about earlier. 😊

🙌 We move forward by focusing on our common humanity.

🙌 We move forward by focusing on what we have in common.

🙌 We move forward by NOT assuming malicious intent of those who disagree with us.

🙌 We move forward by focusing on understanding and less on labeling.

𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐖𝐞 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐖𝐞 𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

For every time we do this, we’ll remind our survival brain who’s in charge of how we connect with others. 🧠

We’ll remind our survival brain how naïve the caricatures we create in our minds about mass groups of people are. 🧠

𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬. 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞.

Because what’s the alternative?

👎 A society which is OBSESSED with focusing on what makes us separate from each other.

👎 A society which DISCRIMINATES people based primarily upon their labels.

👎 A society which attempts to solve the problem of prejudice…with EVEN MORE PREJUDICE.

That doesn’t sound like a desirable outcome, does it? Sounds a bit backwards, right? It’s honestly quite IL-liberal! 😅

But…thankfully we don’t have to go down that route! We don’t have to become “woke”! 💯

I challenge you to come with me and take the road less traveled. It’s important to remember that just because something is popular in the moment doesn’t automatically mean it’s right. 👍

I challenge you to come with me and use what might be considered a more “radical” approach these days to connecting with others:

𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

But if all this sounds too overwhelming, how about just this…?

𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠. 👥

𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 🙂

𝐍𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. ❤️

Why Misinformation SPREADS!

September 6, 2020December 14, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

🤯 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒!!! 🤯

Ever played the game Telephone? 📞

It’s where you have group of people get in a straight line, and they stand next to each other. ——->

On one end of the line, Person 1 whispers a message to Person 2 next to them. Person 2 then is supposed to whisper the exact same message to Person 3 also next to them, and this continues on and on until they reach the last person at the end of the line. 👥

The goal of the game is to transfer the message Person 1 whispered as accurate as possible to the last person in line. ➡️

Of course, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲! 😅

It’s a fun game to play if you ever get the chance! 🎲

But, I also think this game is a great analogy when it comes to the public spread of misinformation online. 🤔

Consider this scenario…⬇️

SCENARIO: 𝘼 𝘾𝘿𝘾 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘. 🗣️

1. Person 1 cherry picks the CDC’s statement and passes the information to Person 2. 🗣️

2. Person 2 does not trust the CDC. He only remembers what Person 1 said that confirmed his biases against the CDC and passes the remaining information onto Person 3. 🗣️

3. Person 3 has a blog. He carries an anti-establishment worldview, so he posts what Person 2 says word-for-word. He then tacks on his own personal opinion to Person 2’s words and tells his reader to share his post on their social media pages. 🗣️

4. Thousands of people share Person 3’s blog post on their social media pages, in addition to also adding their own personal opinion attached to the posts.

5. Friends of these thousands of people then in turn share their posts on their own social media profiles, adding in even more personal opinions. 🗣️

𝗕𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗗𝗖’𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆-𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱, 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐃𝐂’𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟏 𝐨𝐫 𝟐 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐃𝐂’𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 😱

…See how this can become a BIG problem, especially during a pandemic? 🙋‍♂️

For those of my friends who consider themselves conscious consumers:

📌 For those who take concern over the foods they eat and the impact it has on the environment.

📌 For those who take concern over the media they consume and the impact it has on their mental health.

📌 For those who take concern over the consequences their actions can have on others.

𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞. 🙌

It’s very easy for any of us not to consider the consequences of sharing misinformation, especially when we aren’t even aware we’re doing it. 💯

It’s very easy for any of us not to consider the long-term effects this has on a democracy’s basic understanding of epistemic facts, on social media platforms where a majority of individuals receive their news! 😱

Yes! A 2016 study from Pew Research Center accounted that 62% of adults get their news from social media (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6424427/).

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? 😓

We start to grow the amount of individuals who believe the moon landing never happened. We start to grow the amount of individuals who believe vaccines don’t save lives. We start to grow the amount of individuals who believe Bill Gates is the devil incarnate bent on a New World Order. 👿

I would hope most of my social media friends know that 2 + 2 = 4. But with the online game of Telephone, I would not be surprised to see some individuals who start to believe that 2 + 2 = 5 just because they watched 1 persuasive video they saw on YouTube. 😢

Consider this: 𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞’𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 (“𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎! 𝟐 + 𝟐 𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝟓!”), 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐲𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬. 👀

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 💯

But I’m not writing this post to add any additional fearmongering. Perhaps I am too over-concerned. Perhaps I am also underestimating the intelligence of the majority of individuals who use social media. Perhaps my own confirmation bias is seeing these minor instances of ignorance and jumping to conclusions that it’s a bigger problem than it actually is! 😅

Nevertheless, when I see people I know and care about share information that only requires a basic understanding of Science, Chemistry, and Statistics to know it’s false, I’m aware the red flag in my mind starts blowing in the wind. 🚩

I admit it: a part of me does fear a future society where a significant portion of the world’s population cannot share a mutually agreed upon fact as simple as 2 + 2 = 4. 🔢

🤬 “WOW DONALD! WAY TO CRITICIZE YOUR FRIENDS!” 🤬

No, that’s not my intention! I’m not here claiming the spread of misinformation by my friends is at all being done intentionally or maliciously. ❌

As author Sam Harris says: “𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬.” 👤

Or we can also use the phrase: “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰.” 👤

That’s why I wanted to write this post, to merely illuminate this potential blind spot. 😊

Like the game of Telephone, misinformation is inevitably going to spread, whether we intend it to or not. This caution need also be applied to me as well! 💯

But my point is we CAN be more careful about how fast it spreads. 😊

I get it. No one was given a How-To handbook to discern accurate and factual information online. Not even me; I had to learn these skills on my own! 😅

Back in school I was given a syllabus for my classes by the teacher. I was told what textbooks I needed to use. I was told what chapters I needed to read and study on. 🔎

Before the internet, we had a very limited amount of TV channels we could choose to get our information from. And if we wanted to further expand our knowledge, we’d have to get in our cars and drive to the nearest library. 📚

But now with the Internet…we have MILLIONS of pieces of information available to us at the click of a button! 🖱️

And EVEN MORE information is continuing to be created right as you read this post! This post you’re reading here IS just a speck of it! 👍

My point is, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬. 👥

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭. ✍️

So while social media provided many benefits, it also came with this unforeseen baggage. 🤷‍♂️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞.

Someone online can proclaim the fact of 2 + 2 = 4 as something to be “debated” when there is no debate. As long you know how to market yourself, build an online audience, and influence others you can sell snake oil and people will buy it. 🤦‍♂️

😓 “DONALD, YOU’RE DEPRESSING ME WITH THIS!” 😓

BUT…there is a bright side to all this! 🌞

𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 (𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲) 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧! 🥳

Companies like Facebook continue to work with third-party fact checking companies to combat this growing problem. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/journalismproject/programs/third-party-fact-checking)👏

The very idea of “Fact-Checking” has now become a thing among organizations! (Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites) 😄

𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 👮‍♂️

That said, should we really have to depend on social media companies to supervise us? Can we do better than this, to be more responsible, self-governing citizens? 👤

Perhaps I’m a bit too optimistic, but I believe we can! 😄

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲. This goes for me too! 🎯

𝟱 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘!

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘖 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵? 𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘕 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘠 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?

𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘠 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵? 𝘖𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘈𝘕𝘛 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵?

𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. As a functioning democracy, as a basic understanding of objective truth, it matters that we all can agree that 2 + 2 = 4. 💯

The bigger question is: will you join me in being a part of that solution?