How Glasses POSSESS Us!

January 23, 2021 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

📖 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒 📖

I’d like you to take a moment and read the following 2 Stories. They both revolve around the topic of Capitalism ⬇️:

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 #𝟏:

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤. 𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴. 🌽

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵. 🏭

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳. 😈

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 20𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴. 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯. 🙌

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 🔥

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳-𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴…” 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💯

Does this Story resonate with you? 📖

If not…how about this one? ⬇️

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 #𝟐:

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘧, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦. 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥. 😞

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 17𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯. 🌞

𝘐𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. ❤️

𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 💪

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 20𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵: 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 👎

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 💰

𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳. 😡

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥.” 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💯

So…which Story is correct? #1 or #2? 📖

Depending on where you reside on the political spectrum, 1 of these Stories you’re far more likely to agree is accurate. ↔️

But here’s the catch: 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 📖

They are 2 different narratives, 2 different perspectives on the exact same thing: Capitalism. ↔️

But to back up a moment, what exactly are Stories?

🌟 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮. 🌟

If this definition sounds too pretentious, think of Stories as like wearing pairs of glasses. 👓

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬.

👓 The person wearing an Optimistic lens will focus on seeing the best of things.

👓 The person wearing a Pessimistic lens will focus on seeing the worst of things.

👓 The person wearing a Realistic lens will focus on seeing things just as they are.

👓 The person wearing a Cynical lens will focus on distrusting the things they see.

Do you know a person who, even in the worst of situations, can always find a silver lining? 🙋‍♂‍

Or how about a person that, even in the best of situations, can always find something to complain about? 🙋‍♀‍

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬.

🗣️ “DONALD, ENOUGH WITH THE ANALOGIES! WHAT’S YOUR POINT?” 🗣️

My point is it’s CRUCIAL we become aware of what glasses we’re currently wearing. 😅

Why? 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞. 📖

With that said, briefly re-read those 2 Stories of Capitalism again at the beginning of this post. ⬆️

You can now take a guess as to the lens each author is wearing. 👓

To put it simply: 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐖𝐄 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 👤

𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 📖

🤬 “THAT’S RIDICULOUS, DONALD! YOU’RE SAYING I ‘CHOOSE’ A CYNICAL LENS?! JUST LOOK AT HOW MESSED UP THE WORLD IS!” 🤬

To clarify, I’m NOT saying you’re “choosing” any of the lenses you’re currently wearing, at least not consciously. 😅

Often, we’ve adapted to these lenses over time through our environment: from our family, from the books we’ve read, from the media we’ve consumed, and from the opinions of friends we’ve surrounded ourselves with. 🌎

As Jim Rohn said: “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 5 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩.” 👥

Surround yourself with negative people, you’ll soon become one too. Surround yourself with hopeful people, you’ll soon have their hope rub off on you too. 👥

𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 👓

After enough time, you’ll take this Story lens to be a Fact and not just a Story. 😲

But herein lies the problem: 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀. ❌

𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞; 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬. ⚪

It’s the difference between saying a Fact about capitalism (“Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit”) versus saying a Story about capitalism (“Capitalism is exploitation”). ↔️

Capitalism is not intrinsically “exploitation” nor “liberation”; these are just Stories lenses we’ve placed around them. 👓

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝒂𝒔 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙩, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜. 🤯

𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨. 😔

When we’re unable to take off our glasses, we have a much harder time separating the Facts from the Stories about the Facts. When we’re unable to take off our glasses, we have a much harder time being able to truly understand other people’s points of view. 🙌

In turn, our empathy becomes replaced more and more with egotistical self-righteousness and moral grandstanding. 🥇

So…how do we solve this problem? 🤔

𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 🔎

Here’s a list of just a few of the Stories currently circulating in our culture. 📖

I must warn you: some of the Stories I list here you may wholeheartedly embrace, and the fact I’m listing them here may make you feel like I’m trivializing or invalidating you or other peoples’ personal experiences. 👎

I can assure you that is not at all my intention here. So, please be aware of this just in case your emotional defenses jump up in protest. ❤️

📖 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘵-𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺!”

📖 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯!”

📖 “𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯!”

📖 “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺!”

📖 “𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦!”

📖 “𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵!”

📖 “𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭!”

📖 “𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1%!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘺!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴!”

📖 “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦!”

See some Stories you recognize? 🙋‍♂️🙋

By sharing this list, I’m NOT here to say which Story lens has more validity to them. I’m also NOT here to say each Stories lens is equally accurate or equally useful. They’re not, and it’s why we need Facts. 👍

But that’s NOT what this post is about. 💯

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all men are sexist, misogynist pigs, you’re going to have a very hard time seeing any man in a positive light.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all police officers are racist, sadistic authority figures, you’ll assume every police altercation that includes people of different races to automatically be about racism.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all protesters are rioting, anarchic looters, you’ll assume every property destroyed during a protest to automatically be the cause of protesters.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all white people are racists, you’re going to see racism in every interaction with a white person, regardless if it’s there or not.

A perfect phrase to summarize this: “𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝.” 🔎

But…wouldn’t YOU rather decide what it is that you’re going to seek? Wouldn’t YOU rather decide how you’re going to see the world? Wouldn’t YOU rather decide what glasses you’re going to wear instead of having someone else force you to wear theirs? 💯

It’s time to take back control, don’t you think? 💪

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬.

🗣️ “DONALD! WHY SHOULD I DO THIS WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS?!” 🗣️

Because you’re not doing this for others.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬.

Because the alternative is to fall back asleep, to allow yourself to forget you’re wearing glasses, and to return to a place where you’ll continue experiencing needless suffering. 😢

After all, in this place your Stories are in control of you. 😔

So…staying awake sounds like a better option, doesn’t it? 😅

You got this! And before you know it, you’ll be looking back on the old Stories you use to carry, looking back on those 2 Stories of Capitalism, and you’ll truly understand when I say to you: “These are 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 Stories!” 🙌

📖 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒 📖

(2 Stories of Capitalism credited to Jonathan Haidt)

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 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?