๐‘น๐‘ฌ๐‘จ๐‘ซ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘ณ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘ป ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ!!! ๐Ÿ“š

๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐†๐‡๐“๐„๐Ž๐”๐’ ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐ƒ: ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐†๐Ž๐Ž๐ƒ ๐๐„๐Ž๐๐‹๐„ ๐€๐‘๐„ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐•๐ˆ๐ƒ๐„๐ƒ ๐๐˜ ๐๐Ž๐‹๐ˆ๐“๐ˆ๐‚๐’ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐‘๐„๐‹๐ˆ๐†๐ˆ๐Ž๐” ๐๐˜ ๐‰๐Ž๐๐€๐“๐‡๐€๐ ๐‡๐€๐ˆ๐ƒ๐“ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐”๐๐…๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐–: ๐€ ๐Œ๐„๐Œ๐Ž๐ˆ๐‘ ๐Ž๐… ๐‹๐Ž๐•๐ˆ๐๐† ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐‹๐„๐€๐•๐ˆ๐๐† ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐–๐„๐’๐“๐๐Ž๐‘๐Ž ๐๐€๐๐“๐ˆ๐’๐“ ๐‚๐‡๐”๐‘๐‚๐‡” ๐›๐ฒ ๐Œ๐„๐†๐€๐ ๐๐‡๐„๐‹๐๐’-๐‘๐Ž๐๐„๐‘ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—) ๐Ÿ“–

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.”

“๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ. ‘๐˜ž๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง@๐˜จ๐˜ด!’ ๐˜Ž๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜”๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ญ. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜Ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ. ๐˜›๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆโ€”๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต.”

.

๐Ÿ“– “๐๐„๐˜๐Ž๐๐ƒ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Œ๐„๐’๐’๐˜ ๐“๐‘๐”๐“๐‡: ๐‡๐Ž๐– ๐–๐„ ๐‚๐€๐Œ๐„ ๐€๐๐€๐‘๐“, ๐‡๐Ž๐Œ๐„ ๐–๐„ ๐‚๐Ž๐Œ๐„ ๐“๐Ž๐†๐„๐“๐‡๐„๐‘” ๐›๐ฒ ๐•๐€๐ ๐‰๐Ž๐๐„๐’ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐๐‹๐”๐„๐๐‘๐ˆ๐๐“: ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐„๐•๐Ž๐‹๐”๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐€๐‘๐˜ ๐Ž๐‘๐ˆ๐†๐ˆ๐๐’ ๐Ž๐… ๐€ ๐†๐Ž๐Ž๐ƒ ๐’๐Ž๐‚๐ˆ๐„๐“๐˜” ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐ˆ๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐‹๐€๐’ ๐‚๐‡๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐“๐€๐Š๐ˆ๐’ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐•๐ˆ๐‚๐“๐ˆ๐Œ๐‡๐Ž๐Ž๐ƒ ๐‚๐”๐‹๐“๐”๐‘๐„: ๐Œ๐ˆ๐‚๐‘๐Ž๐€๐†๐†๐‘๐„๐’๐’๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’, ๐’๐€๐…๐„ ๐’๐๐€๐‚๐„๐’, ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐๐„๐– ๐‚๐”๐‹๐“๐”๐‘๐„ ๐–๐€๐‘๐’” ๐›๐ฒ ๐๐‘๐€๐ƒ๐‹๐„๐˜ ๐‚๐€๐Œ๐๐๐„๐‹๐‹ & ๐‰๐€๐’๐Ž๐ ๐Œ๐€๐๐๐ˆ๐๐† (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–) ๐Ÿ“–

.

๐Ÿ“– “๐‚๐˜๐๐ˆ๐‚๐€๐‹ ๐“๐‡๐„๐Ž๐‘๐ˆ๐„๐’: ๐‡๐Ž๐– ๐€๐‚๐“๐ˆ๐•๐ˆ๐’๐“ ๐’๐‚๐‡๐Ž๐‹๐€๐‘๐’๐‡๐ˆ๐ ๐Œ๐€๐ƒ๐„ ๐„๐•๐„๐‘๐˜๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐† ๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐‘๐€๐‚๐„, ๐†๐„๐๐ƒ๐„๐‘, ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐ˆ๐ƒ๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐“๐˜ – ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐‡๐€๐‘๐Œ๐’ ๐„๐•๐„๐‘๐˜๐๐Ž๐ƒ๐˜” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐€๐Œ๐„๐’ ๐‹๐ˆ๐๐ƒ๐’๐€๐˜ & ๐‡๐„๐‹๐„๐ ๐๐‹๐”๐‚๐Š๐‘๐Ž๐’๐„ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ) ๐Ÿ“–

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: “๐˜๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ’๐˜ต ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜บ, ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ’๐˜ต ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ.” 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.

“๐˜ˆ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ‘๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ด,’ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฅ๐˜บ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ตโ€”๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข ๐˜ป๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ-๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜น, ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ข ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜“๐˜Ž๐˜‰๐˜› ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ. ๐˜–๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜บ, ‘๐˜Š๐˜บ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด’ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜“๐˜Ž๐˜‰๐˜› ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ [๐˜ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ] ๐˜š๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜‘๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด.”

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๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐€๐‘๐“ ๐Ž๐… ๐‹๐ˆ๐•๐ˆ๐๐†: ๐๐„๐€๐‚๐„ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐…๐‘๐„๐„๐ƒ๐Ž๐Œ ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‡๐„๐‘๐„ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐๐Ž๐–” ๐›๐ฒ ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐‚๐‡ ๐๐‡๐€๐“ ๐‡๐€๐๐‡ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ•) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐‚๐Ž๐๐“๐€๐‚๐“” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‚๐€๐‘๐‹ ๐’๐€๐†๐€๐ (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ“) ๐Ÿ“–

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๐Ÿ“– “๐Œ๐ˆ๐’๐“๐€๐Š๐„๐’ ๐–๐„๐‘๐„ ๐Œ๐€๐ƒ๐„ (๐๐”๐“ ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐๐˜ ๐Œ๐„): ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐–๐„ ๐‰๐”๐’๐“๐ˆ๐…๐˜ ๐…๐Ž๐Ž๐‹๐ˆ๐’๐‡ ๐๐„๐‹๐ˆ๐„๐…๐’, ๐๐€๐ƒ ๐ƒ๐„๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’, ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐‡๐”๐‘๐“๐…๐”๐‹ ๐€๐‚๐“๐’” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‚๐€๐‘๐Ž๐‹ ๐“๐€๐•๐‘๐ˆ๐’ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ, ๐Ÿ‘๐ซ๐ ๐„๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง) ๐Ÿ“–

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. “๐˜š๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง-๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด; ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ.”

– 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!

“๐˜ˆ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ญ, ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ. ๐˜”๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ค, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ด๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ด, ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜บ ‘๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ; ๐˜ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ.’

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ดโ€”๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ, ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ, ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญโ€”๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜บ. ๐˜๐˜ต ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต. ๐˜”๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜บ.

๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด.

๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜บ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜บ ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ข ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด, ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ง-๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆโ€”๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด.”

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๐Ÿ“– “๐ƒ๐„๐•๐„๐‹๐Ž๐๐ˆ๐๐† ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‹๐„๐€๐ƒ๐„๐‘ ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐Ÿ.๐ŸŽ” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐Ž๐‡๐ ๐‚. ๐Œ๐€๐—๐–๐„๐‹๐‹ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐ˆ๐‘๐‘๐„๐…๐”๐“๐€๐๐‹๐„ ๐‹๐€๐–๐’ ๐Ž๐… ๐‹๐„๐€๐ƒ๐„๐‘๐’๐‡๐ˆ๐” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐Ž๐‡๐ ๐‚. ๐Œ๐€๐—๐–๐„๐‹๐‹ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ•, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ญ๐ก ๐„๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง) ๐Ÿ“–

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๐Ÿ“– “๐‹๐„๐€๐ƒ๐„๐‘๐’๐‡๐ˆ๐: ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐”๐‘๐๐”๐‹๐„๐๐“ ๐“๐ˆ๐Œ๐„๐’” ๐›๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐Ž๐‘๐ˆ๐’ ๐Š๐„๐€๐‘๐๐’ ๐†๐Ž๐Ž๐ƒ๐–๐ˆ๐ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–) ๐Ÿ“–

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.

“๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜™๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜™๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜บ. ๐˜“๐˜บ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต, ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑโ€”๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜บ, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜บ, ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ต๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ข ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ.

๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ. ๐˜”๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ.”

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๐Ÿ“– “๐–๐ˆ๐๐๐ˆ๐๐† ๐–๐ˆ๐“๐‡ ๐๐„๐Ž๐๐‹๐„” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐Ž๐‡๐ ๐‚. ๐Œ๐€๐—๐–๐„๐‹๐‹ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐Œ๐€๐’๐’ ๐’๐„๐€๐‘๐‚๐‡ ๐…๐Ž๐‘ ๐Œ๐„๐€๐๐ˆ๐๐†” ๐›๐ฒ ๐•๐ˆ๐Š๐“๐Ž๐‘ ๐„. ๐…๐‘๐€๐๐Š๐‹ (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ”) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐–๐ˆ๐‘๐„๐ƒ ๐“๐Ž ๐‚๐‘๐„๐€๐“๐„: ๐”๐๐‘๐€๐•๐„๐‹๐ˆ๐๐† ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Œ๐˜๐’๐“๐„๐‘๐ˆ๐„๐’ ๐Ž๐… ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐‘๐„๐€๐“๐ˆ๐•๐„ ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐ƒ” ๐›๐ฒ ๐’๐‚๐Ž๐“๐“ ๐๐€๐‘๐‘๐˜ ๐Š๐€๐”๐…๐Œ๐€๐ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“) ๐Ÿ“–

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๐Ÿ“– “๐–๐‡๐ˆ๐“๐„ ๐…๐‘๐€๐†๐ˆ๐‹๐ˆ๐“๐˜: ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐ˆ๐“’๐’ ๐’๐Ž ๐‡๐€๐‘๐ƒ ๐…๐Ž๐‘ ๐–๐‡๐ˆ๐“๐„ ๐๐„๐Ž๐๐‹๐„ ๐“๐Ž ๐“๐€๐‹๐Š ๐€๐๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐’๐Œ” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‘๐Ž๐๐ˆ๐ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐€๐๐†๐„๐‹๐Ž (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–) ๐Ÿ“–

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

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๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐ƒ๐„๐๐ˆ๐€๐‹ ๐Ž๐… ๐ƒ๐„๐€๐“๐‡” ๐›๐ฒ ๐„๐‘๐๐„๐’๐“ ๐๐„๐‚๐Š๐„๐‘ (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ‘) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐†๐ˆ๐•๐ˆ๐๐† ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐ƒ๐„๐•๐ˆ๐‹ ๐‡๐ˆ๐’ ๐ƒ๐”๐„: ๐‘๐„๐…๐‹๐„๐‚๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐๐’ ๐Ž๐… ๐€ ๐’๐‚๐ˆ๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐…๐ˆ๐‚ ๐‡๐”๐Œ๐€๐๐ˆ๐’๐“” ๐›๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ˆ๐‚๐‡๐€๐„๐‹ ๐’๐‡๐„๐‘๐Œ๐„๐‘ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐˜๐„๐’ ๐“๐Ž ๐‹๐ˆ๐…๐„: ๐ˆ๐ ๐’๐๐ˆ๐“๐„ ๐Ž๐… ๐„๐•๐„๐‘๐˜๐“๐‡๐ˆ๐๐†” ๐›๐ฒ ๐•๐ˆ๐Š๐“๐Ž๐‘ ๐„. ๐…๐‘๐€๐๐Š๐‹ (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ”) ๐Ÿ“–

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๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Ÿ• ๐‡๐€๐๐ˆ๐“๐’ ๐Ž๐… ๐‡๐ˆ๐†๐‡๐‹๐˜ ๐„๐…๐…๐„๐‚๐“๐ˆ๐•๐„ ๐๐„๐Ž๐๐‹๐„” ๐›๐ฒ ๐’๐“๐„๐๐‡๐„๐ ๐‘. ๐‚๐Ž๐•๐„๐˜ (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ—) ๐Ÿ“–

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.

“๐˜Œ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ซ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆโ€”๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ, ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต. ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ด. ๐˜๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ดโ€”๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ดโ€”๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ด. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ง๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด, ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ, ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ซ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ.”

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๐Ÿ“– “๐…๐Ž๐‘ ๐’๐Œ๐€๐‹๐‹ ๐‚๐‘๐„๐€๐“๐”๐‘๐„๐’ ๐’๐”๐‚๐‡ ๐€๐’ ๐–๐„” ๐›๐ฒ ๐’๐€๐’๐‡๐€ ๐’๐€๐†๐€๐ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐”๐ ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐€๐ˆ๐‘: ๐‚๐‡๐‘๐ˆ๐’๐“๐ˆ๐€๐๐ˆ๐“๐˜, ๐€๐“๐‡๐„๐ˆ๐’๐Œ, & ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐†๐‹๐Ž๐๐€๐‹ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐๐‹๐„๐Œ๐’ ๐Ž๐… ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐’๐“ ๐‚๐„๐๐“๐”๐‘๐˜” ๐›๐ฒ ๐‰๐€๐Š๐”๐ ๐…๐„๐‘๐„๐๐‚๐ˆ๐Š (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐‘๐€๐๐†๐„: ๐–๐‡๐˜ ๐†๐„๐๐„๐‘๐€๐‹๐ˆ๐™๐„๐’ ๐“๐‘๐ˆ๐”๐Œ๐๐‡ ๐ˆ๐ ๐€ ๐’๐๐„๐‚๐ˆ๐€๐‹๐ˆ๐™๐„๐ƒ ๐–๐Ž๐‘๐‹๐ƒ” ๐›๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐€๐•๐ˆ๐ƒ ๐„๐๐’๐“๐„๐ˆ๐ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—) ๐Ÿ“–

๐Ÿ“– “๐“๐‡๐„ ๐๐‘๐Ž๐“๐‡๐„๐‘๐’ ๐Š๐€๐‘๐€๐Œ๐€๐™๐Ž๐•” ๐›๐ฒ ๐…๐˜๐Ž๐ƒ๐Ž๐‘ ๐ƒ๐Ž๐’๐“๐Ž๐˜๐„๐•๐’๐Š๐˜ (๐Ÿ๐Ÿ–๐Ÿ–๐ŸŽ) ๐Ÿ“–

.

If you have any book suggestions, comment below!!! ๐Ÿ˜„

Why Conspiracy Theories DEMAND Understanding!

๐ˆ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐š๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐‡๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐„๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐. โณ

I remember watching the news coverage, the feelings of horror, the shock among the country that such an event happened. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

I even remember the news wrongfully attributing the killerโ€™s potential motive to his diagnosis of autism. โŒ

It wasnโ€™t easy for many people to comprehend. Who would want to let the feeling sink in that someone was actually capable of committing such horror on innocent lives? ๐Ÿ˜ซ

“๐‘พ๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’… ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‘๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’๐’ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’Š๐’• ๐’”๐’–๐’„๐’‰ ๐’‚๐’ ๐’‚๐’„๐’•?! ๐‘ฏ๐’๐’˜ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’‚๐’ ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’‘๐’‘๐’†๐’?!”

It was around the same time this event happened that I was browsing YouTube one day and noticed a popular video trending on their home page. The video was over a half hour in length, a video I would not normally take the time to watch. ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ

But the title of the video caught my attention: โ€œSANDY HOOK EXPOSEDโ€. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

I clicked on itโ€ฆand for the next half hour I was entranced watching the entire video! ๐Ÿ˜ต

๐ˆ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐š๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐‡๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐. ๐๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ. ๐Ÿ‘ฟ

I remember watching the lengthy YouTube video and being shown a bunch of chopped-up news clips. I remember the video’s sound being muted, the subtitles of the video feeding me various questions and answers ๐Ÿ’ญ:

โ€œ๐‘ฏ๐’๐’˜ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’–๐’?!โ€ โ€œ๐‘ฏ๐’๐’˜ ๐’„๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’”?!โ€ โ€œ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’Š๐’” ๐’”๐’•๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’†!โ€ โ€œ๐‘บ๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Š๐’” ๐’˜๐’“๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†!โ€

I remember watching a clip which showed a father whose daughter was killed in Sandy Hook seemingly go from smiling to crying in seconds. Again, the subtitles were ready to tell me what to think: โ€œ๐‘จ ๐’๐’๐’“๐’Ž๐’‚๐’ ๐’‘๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’๐’ ๐’…๐’๐’†๐’”๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’…๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’”!โ€ โ€œ๐‘ฐ๐’” ๐’‰๐’† ๐’‚๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ?!โ€ ๐Ÿ’ญ

I remember another clip which showed the mother of the daughter, but she was smiling and saying words you couldnโ€™t hear because the audio was muted. Again, the subtitles were ready to tell me what to think: โ€œ๐‘ฏ๐’๐’˜ ๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’”๐’‰๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’”๐’ ๐’‰๐’‚๐’‘๐’‘๐’š ๐’‚๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’† ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’”?!โ€ โ€œ๐‘บ๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Š๐’” ๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’š ๐’˜๐’“๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†!โ€ ๐Ÿ’ญ

I also remember the shocking realization I felt watching the video. There was this excitement, this sense of thrill within me that I was learning something the general public was not aware of. Only me and other viewers of this YouTube video were now privy to this private information! ๐Ÿ“š

The video brought me to the conclusion it wanted me to come to: that Sandy Hook never happened, that it was a hoax. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

…Looking back on this memory in hindsight, Iโ€™m glad I watched the video.

โš ๏ธ ๐๐Ž, ๐’๐€๐๐ƒ๐˜ ๐‡๐Ž๐Ž๐Š ๐–๐€๐’ ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐€ ๐‡๐Ž๐€๐—! โš ๏ธ

But watching this video helped me learn a valuable lesson early on in my life about how alluring conspiracy theories can be, how attractive they are on the surface, yet how hollow the cynicism lays underneath them. ๐Ÿ˜ 

Thankfully, at the time I watched this video I had enough skepticism to get additional perspectives on the videoโ€™s claims.

I quickly learned there was a TON of misinformation in the video. (For information on the video, you can refer to the Snopes article here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sandy-hook-exposed/ )

๐Ÿ“Œ The father who went from crying to smiling? There could be any number of reasons why that happened. ๐‘จ ๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’๐’† ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’ˆ๐’† ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‡๐’‚๐’„๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐’†๐’™๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’๐’” ๐’Š๐’” ๐’๐’๐’• โ€œ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’๐’‡โ€ ๐’‰๐’†โ€™๐’” ๐’‚๐’ ๐’‚๐’„๐’•๐’๐’“ ๐’๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’†โ€™๐’” ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’…๐’Š๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’.

๐Ÿ“Œ That mother who was smiling in the muted video clip? If you got to hear the video clip unmuted, youโ€™d quickly understand she was smiling because she was sharing positive memories about her daughter. ๐‘ฐ๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’๐’“ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’‰๐’๐’‚๐’™ ๐’—๐’Š๐’…๐’†๐’ ๐’๐’†๐’‡๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’๐’“๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’ ๐’‚๐’–๐’…๐’Š๐’ ๐’Š๐’, ๐’š๐’๐’–โ€™๐’… ๐’†๐’‚๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’š ๐’”๐’†๐’† ๐’‰๐’๐’˜ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’”๐’๐’†๐’….

๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ โ€œ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐กโ€ ๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐จ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž. ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ ๐š ๐œ๐ฒ๐ง๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ-๐ฉ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ง๐จ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฉ. ๐Ÿ‘Ž

๐–๐‡๐€๐“ ๐ˆ๐’ ๐€ ๐‚๐Ž๐๐’๐๐ˆ๐‘๐€๐‚๐˜ ๐“๐‡๐„๐Ž๐‘๐˜?!

We can use Merriam-Websterโ€™s definition: โ€œA theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.โ€ ๐Ÿ“–

We can also use Britannicaโ€™s definition: โ€œAn attempt to explain harmful or tragic events as the result of the actions of a small, powerful group.โ€ ๐Ÿ“–

Letโ€™s also add in Dictionary.comโ€™s definition: โ€œA theory that rejects the standard explanation for an event and instead credits a covert group or organization with carrying out a secret plot.โ€ ๐Ÿ“–

The reason I wanted to give you all these definitions is thereโ€™s also a conspiracy theory online that the CIA created the term โ€œconspiracy theoryโ€ to silence people during the JFK assassination. This is False. ๐Ÿ‘Ž

(Source: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/16/did-the-cia-invent-the-term-conspiracy-theory/ )

Even more, thereโ€™s a conspiracy theory that the source Iโ€™ve been citing above, Snopes, has a โ€œleftist propaganda political agendaโ€. This is again False. ๐Ÿ‘Ž

(Sources: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jun/19/viral-image/no-factcheckorg-didnt-bust-snopescom/

Snopes

https://www.allsides.com/news-source/snopes )

If youโ€™re starting to notice a pattern, the problem is that ๐š๐ง๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  can be made into a conspiracy theory. The fact I’m even discussing it right now makes me susceptible to someone accusing me of being a โ€œshillโ€ or a โ€œsheepโ€. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

If you share contrasting information with a conspiracy theorist, they can easily dismiss it as just being part of the conspiracy. They can claim every fact-checking source I cited above as โ€œfake newsโ€ simply because it doesnโ€™t fit with their worldview. โŒ

๐Ÿคฌ โ€œ๐˜๐Ž๐”โ€™๐‘๐„ ๐’๐Ž ๐‚๐Ž๐๐ƒ๐„๐’๐‚๐„๐๐ƒ๐ˆ๐๐†, ๐ƒ๐Ž๐๐€๐‹๐ƒ! ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐€๐‚๐“ ๐‹๐ˆ๐Š๐„ ๐‚๐Ž๐๐’๐๐ˆ๐‘๐€๐‚๐ˆ๐„๐’ ๐ƒ๐Ž๐โ€™๐“ ๐„๐—๐ˆ๐’๐“!โ€ ๐Ÿคฌ

Let me clarify: ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ% ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ ๐›๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž! ๐Ÿ’ฏ

๐Ÿ“ I could tell you about Project SUNSHINE in 1956, where the United States Atomic Energy Commission wanted to measure the long-term effects of nuclear radiation on the body. The way they did this included collecting tissue from deceased childrenโ€™s bodies without permission from grieving families.

๐Ÿ“ I could tell you about Prohibition in the 1920s, where the federal government pressured manufacturers to add poisonous substances to their alcohol to make it undrinkable. Unfortunately this did not stop people, and it is estimated thousands died from drinking this tainted alcohol.

๐Ÿ“ I could tell you about MKULTRA, a CIA-sponsored program which started in the 50s and ended in the 70s, where experiments were done on human test subjects including the use of LSD, hypnosis, and electric shocks to develop methods the government could use for future interrogations.

All of these happened! ๐Ÿ’ฏ

Itโ€™s not that I donโ€™t believe conspiracies have never happened or that I believe world governments have never done anything shady before. They have! And thereโ€™s a lot of classified information we as the general public will never be aware of. ๐Ÿ‘

Citing the incidents above, itโ€™s very reasonable for a person to start feeling cynical towards the government or people in authority. They’re the ones we’re supposed to place our trust in, yet knowing these past wrongs makes it a lot harder to, right? ๐Ÿ‘

The difference with my perspective is ๐ˆโ€™๐ฆ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐œ ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž-๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง๐ญ. ๐ˆโ€™๐ฆ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฐ ๐จ๐œ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ. ๐Ÿ‘ฎ

Itโ€™s important to remember when we demonize โ€œthe governmentโ€ weโ€™re also referring to thousands of people, from the postal service to the armed forces to Congress, each with their own separate positions and functions, each with their own families and set of values, each of them living their own individual lives. ๐Ÿ‘ช

Itโ€™s this very problem of overgeneralizing I even have to remember myself! I’m guilty of it too! ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™‚๏ธ

I’m aware I have a habit of criticizing what I often call โ€œthe mediaโ€. I need to continue to remind myself it’s not a singular entity, that it consists of thousands of news outlets and thousands of individual people with different intentions and agendas. ๐Ÿ“ฐ

It would be foolish of me to assume the negative actions of 1 or 2 journalists was a reflection of the entire field of journalism, right?! ๐Ÿ˜…

My point is: donโ€™t let your obsession over a few bad apples spoil the entire bunch. Or as I always say: ๐ƒ๐จ๐งโ€™๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐š๐›๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ฐ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐Ÿ‘ถ

The other day I watched the Netflix documentary โ€œBehind the Curveโ€ about Flat Earthers, people who believe the world is flat and that this truth is being covered up by NASA. ๐Ÿš€

I think for many of my friends youโ€™ll be quick to laugh even hearing that such a community exists. But I actually did take a valuable lesson watching the film, and Iโ€™ll tell you whatโ€ฆโฌ‡๏ธ

Sure, the Flat Earther arguments lack critical thinking. Sure, itโ€™s very easy to disprove their claims with less than five minutes of research online. Funny enough, the Flat Earthers even disprove themselves after they conduct a science experiment in the documentary! ๐Ÿ˜…

But putting all that aside, there is one valuable lesson I took away from the film: ridicule of Flat Earthers is NOT a helpful solution! ๐Ÿ’ฏ

In fact, telling someone theyโ€™re wrong can cause them to dig their feet deeper into their beliefs. Showing them contradictory evidence can strengthen their affinity for their beliefs. It is what’s known as the Backfire Effect. โ†”๏ธ

My point is: we need to apply this same understanding with the people around us. ๐ŸŒŽ

๐ˆ๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ˆ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐š๐›๐›๐ข๐ญ ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ข๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ.

It’s not to say their ideas don’t lack critical thinking or that these ideas don’t cause harm to others. They do. It’s to say, as the saying goes: “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” You won’t change anyone’s mind by ridiculing them. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Mick West says the same thing in his book โ€œEscaping the Rabbit Holeโ€. The former co-founder of Neversoft Entertainment, Mick first became introduced to conspiracy theories when he was studying aviation weather for his pilotโ€™s license. ๐Ÿ‘จโ€โœˆโ€

He was introduced to the Chemtrails conspiracy theory, the belief that condensation trails left by aircrafts are toxic chemicals being sprayed by the government to poison people. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

What initially started as a website he created to debunk the theory led him to debunking many more theories. As of today, Mick is the founder of Metabunk and has spent over 10 years debunking conspiracy theories. ๐Ÿ˜ฒ

But thereโ€™s a difference between Mick and many others who just want to prove conspiracy theorists wrong online. ๐Ÿ›‘

From his many interviews with current and “former” conspiracy theorists, he advocates for understanding and respectful communication. โค๏ธ

In his book โ€œEscaping the Rabbit Holeโ€, he argues weโ€™re ALL susceptible to conspiracy theories. Like while I myself personally don’t believe in most conspiracies, even I still at times am prone to feeling cynical towards pharmaceutical companies, to give one example. ๐Ÿ’Š

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’“๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’‡๐’” ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’‘๐’Š๐’“๐’‚๐’„๐’š ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’๐’“๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’‰๐’†๐’๐’‘ ๐’–๐’” ๐’”๐’Š๐’Ž๐’‘๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’”๐’†๐’๐’”๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’‘๐’๐’†๐’™ ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’…. ๐Ÿ˜จ

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’—๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’–๐’” ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‘๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“ ๐’•๐’ ๐’”๐’Š๐’•๐’–๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’” ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’‘๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’๐’†๐’”๐’” ๐’๐’—๐’†๐’“. ๐Ÿ˜จ

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’—๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’–๐’” ๐‘ช๐’†๐’“๐’•๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘บ๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’˜๐’†’๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’˜๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’‚๐’“๐’† “๐’‚๐’”๐’๐’†๐’†๐’‘” ๐’•๐’. ๐Ÿ˜จ

๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’–๐’” ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’–๐’Š๐’๐’†๐’๐’š ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’—๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐’Š๐’” ๐’‚ ๐’…๐’‚๐’“๐’Œ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’”๐’„๐’‚๐’“๐’š ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†, ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’˜๐’†’๐’“๐’† ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’๐’‡ ๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’—๐’Š๐’…๐’–๐’‚๐’๐’” ๐’˜๐’‰๐’ ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’•๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’•๐’“๐’–๐’†, ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’๐’†๐’†๐’… ๐’•๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’…. ๐Ÿ˜จ

๐‘ฐ๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’…๐’—๐’Š๐’†๐’˜, ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’‚ ๐’Ž๐’๐’๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’“ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’š ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’†๐’•. ๐Ÿ˜จ

The unfortunate part is just that some individuals fell deeper down the rabbit hole than most of us ever did. ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ

So, Mick’s personal mission with his work is not about shaming conspiracy theorists but rather on helping them climb out of the rabbit hole their cynical minds have become stuck in. ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™‚โ€

His biggest piece of advice: be respectful and understanding. Remember: it couldโ€™ve just as easily been you under the same circumstances. ๐Ÿ‘ค

๐Ž๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ. โค๏ธ

Apart from our susceptibility to conspiracy theories, we all as human beings suffer from whatโ€™s known as cognitive biases. They are patterns of thinking which psychologically distort how we view the world. ๐Ÿ‘€

Some of the most common biases include:

๐Ÿง  Negativity Bias. Weโ€™re more likely to give attention to negativity than we do to positivity.

๐Ÿง  Confirmation Bias. Weโ€™re more likely to believe information which reinforces our worldview and more easily dismiss information which goes against it.

๐Ÿง  Black-and-White (Dichotomous) Thinking. Weโ€™re more likely to see the world in polar opposite extremes. Good versus Evil. Us versus Them.

๐Ÿง  Illusory pattern perception. Weโ€™re more likely to see patterns among things which have no relation to each other. Itโ€™s why in science thereโ€™s the principle: โ€œCorrelation does not mean causationโ€.

But one of the biggest culprits, especially being illuminated now in our culture, is:

๐Ÿง  The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Weโ€™re more likely to overestimate our ability at something weโ€™re actually really bad at. The unintelligent individual is more likely to overestimate his intelligence, while the intelligent individual is more likely to underestimate his intelligence.

Or as philosopher Bertrand Russell put it back in 1933 as a response to the rise of Nazi Germany: โ€œ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’‘๐’“๐’๐’ƒ๐’๐’†๐’Ž ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’ ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐’Š๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’•๐’–๐’‘๐’Š๐’… ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’„๐’Œ๐’”๐’–๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’†๐’๐’๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’‡๐’–๐’๐’ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’…๐’๐’–๐’ƒ๐’•.โ€๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚โ€

Again, we ALL suffer from these biases, some of us worse than others. They are not limited to conspiracy theorists, although they may be more greatly illuminated through their example. ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ

But the reason Iโ€™m sharing this all with you today is because during times of stress and anxiety, especially during these times of COVID-19, conspiracy theories are far more prevalent and far more likely to be embraced as truth. ๐Ÿ‘

Conspiracy theories increased after 9/11. They increased after Sandy Hook. They increased after the 2017 Las Vegas Shooting. And they are now increasing during COVID-19. Iโ€™m sure youโ€™ve already seen the 5G conspiracy being shared. ๐Ÿ“ก

More than ever, itโ€™s going to be easy to fall into these cognitive traps so I want to remind us all to be extra mindful of this. ๐Ÿง˜โ€โ™‚โ€

This is NOT a “conspiracy” problem; it’s a human problem, deeply rooted in cynicism, distrust, and paranoia. ๐Ÿ˜จ

As Dale Carnegie reminds us: “๐‘พ๐’‰๐’†๐’ ๐’…๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’‘๐’๐’†, ๐’๐’†๐’• ๐’–๐’” ๐’“๐’†๐’Ž๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’…๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’๐’๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’„. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’…๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’†๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’†๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’, ๐’„๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’†๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’“๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’‘๐’“๐’†๐’‹๐’–๐’…๐’Š๐’„๐’†๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Ž๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’—๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’ƒ๐’š ๐’‘๐’“๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’—๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š.”

๐Ÿคฌ โ€œ๐˜๐Ž๐”โ€™๐‘๐„ ๐๐ˆ๐€๐’๐„๐ƒ ๐€๐†๐€๐ˆ๐๐’๐“ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐“๐‘๐”๐“๐‡, ๐ƒ๐Ž๐๐€๐‹๐ƒ! ๐–๐€๐Š๐„ ๐”๐!โ€๐Ÿคฌ

The questions I challenge everyone to ask themselves:

๐Ÿค” Do you possess your beliefs? Or do your beliefs possess you?

๐Ÿค” Are you able to step outside your own ideology and understand your criticโ€™s points of view?

๐Ÿค” Are you able to steelman your opponentโ€™s arguments and understand their position thoroughly before dismissing them completely?

In addition, I challenge you:

๐Ÿ’ช To get sources from multiple points of view, including information that may go against your beliefs. Not all information is created equal.

๐Ÿ’ช Stay aware of your cognitive biases and genuinely seek to understand other people’s points of view. See if you can steelman their argument.

๐Ÿ’ช Give others who disagree with you the benefit of the doubt. Donโ€™t automatically assume malicious intent. Perhaps you may learn something from them you didnโ€™t know before.

This is not just a reminder for you all, but also for me! I need to hear these reminders at times too! Again, Iโ€™m not immune to a lack of self-awareness. It’s an ongoing process! ๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™‚๏ธ

WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER! โค๏ธ

.

Below, I am providing resources which have greatly helped me develop my critical thinking skills! โฌ‡๏ธ

๐๐Ž๐Ž๐Š๐’

๐Ÿ“˜ โ€œEscaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respectโ€ by Mick West – https://amzn.to/3hKPnNS

๐Ÿ“™ “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts” by Carol Tavris & Elliott Aronson – https://amzn.to/2X7QFuj

๐Ÿ“• โ€œHow to Think โ€“ A Survival Guide for a World at Oddsโ€ by Alan Jacobs https://amzn.to/39DdBXr

๐Ÿ“— โ€œThinking, Fast and Slowโ€ by Daniel Kahneman – https://amzn.to/30UV4lG

๐Ÿ“™ โ€œYou Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways Youโ€™re Deluding Yourselfโ€ by David McRaney – https://amzn.to/3hLuQbV

๐Ÿ“˜ โ€œThe Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Darkโ€ by Carl Sagan – https://amzn.to/3jR8Oq8

๐Ÿ“• โ€œThe Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religionโ€ by Jonathan Haidt – https://amzn.to/2P2Ddna

.

๐Ž๐๐‹๐ˆ๐๐„ ๐‘๐„๐’๐Ž๐”๐‘๐‚๐„๐’

๐Ÿ“ผ CrashCourse Navigating Digital Information โ€“ A 10-episode series dedicated to teaching critical thinking skills for browsing the Internet. https://bit.ly/2EnmatQ

๐Ÿ“ผ CrashCourse Philosophy โ€“ A 46-episode series dedicated to teaching philosophical ideas, which in turn practices your critical thinking skills. https://bit.ly/3faLlwH

๐Ÿ“ผ CrashCourse Media Literacy โ€“ A 12-episode series dedicated to teaching the history and psychology of media. https://bit.ly/3f3YuYg

๐Ÿ“„ A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of Psychological Research on Conspiracy Beliefs: Field Characteristics, Measurement Instruments, and Associations with Personality Traits – https://bit.ly/30WLrCR

.

๐•๐ˆ๐ƒ๐„๐Ž๐’

๐Ÿ“ผ Wisecrack โ€“ What Makes REAL Science? – https://bit.ly/3hR3pxz

๐Ÿ“ผ Wisecrack – How Conspiracies Changed & The Decline of Expertise (Flat Earth, Anti-Vaxxers) – https://bit.ly/335qcl1

๐Ÿ“ผ Wisecrack – How Fake Science (Pseudoscience) Can Fool You! – https://bit.ly/330Puki

๐Ÿ“ผ Wisecrack – The Internet was a Mistake – https://bit.ly/39EfzqC

๐Ÿ“ผ SciShow โ€“ The Science of Anti-Vaccination – https://bit.ly/2X6IQ8i

๐Ÿ“ผ SciShow Psych – Why Do So Many People Believe in Conspiracy Theories? – https://bit.ly/3gmdPEM

๐Ÿ“ผ Late Night with John Oliver – Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories – https://bit.ly/3fbTjWj

BOOK REVIEW: White Fragility

This book is being recommended like mad at the moment! ๐Ÿคฏ

It has been #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List for 12 weeks straight and #1 on Amazon Charts for 3 weeks straight. I decided to buy a copy on Kindle and was genuinely expecting to learn something new.

First, let me share what I wholeheartedly agree with in the book. โค๏ธ

๐Ÿ“Œ ๐„๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ, ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ญ.

We’ve all had different lives, different life experiences, so everyone has the potential to teach us something. Some of us have had privileges and opportunities others have never had. Some of us have experienced forms of suffering others cannot even begin to fathom.

Therefore, it is so important we continue to develop our emotional intelligence so we can stay aware how our actions and ignorance can unintentionally influence and affect how we treat other people.

๐Ÿ“Œ ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐›๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ.

We all carry unconscious prejudices and biases, even when we think we don’t. When we’re not aware of these things, we will project them out onto the world without even being consciously aware we’re doing so.

A fantastic book that discusses these concepts more in-depth using psychology experiments is “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)” by Carol Tavris.

๐๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐š๐ข๐…

This book notes from the beginning it is going to be “unapologetically rooted in identity politics”.

(In the same tradition, I should note to you I am reviewing this book as a Liberal, Hispanic, Gay Male with 3 clinically diagnosed mental disorders: Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and High-Functioning Autism. I am also reviewing this book as someone who enjoys long walks on the beach and…)

๐˜›๐˜ฐ ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต, ๐˜ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ.

It begins with a Red Pill trope in which the author shares a growing realization she’s had about white people over the course of her career when it comes to talking about racial issues. ๐Ÿ˜ฒ

For every white person she’s spoken with, she’s noticed some white people get particularly defensive with her. ๐Ÿ˜ 

She wanted to understand why, and with this book she without a doubt believes she’s found the answer: ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด “๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ”.

DiAngelo presents the following arguments:

๐Ÿ“– White people are defensive about being called “racist” because they cannot accept their “whiteness”, their repressed feelings of “white superiority and entitlement”.

๐Ÿ“– “Racism” is not the Dictionary’s definition. In her definition, it is not limited to discriminatory acts towards people based on the color of their skin.

In her definition, racism is like a disease, ingrained and embedded in everything: our society, our cultures, our institutions, and our souls. (Look up “concept creep” to understand more about expanded word definitions)

๐Ÿ“– We are ALL racist as the result of living under an inherently white supremacist society. White people need to especially be taught about this because they were also born into privilege. They need to come to terms with how blind they are to their whiteness and their racism, even if they don’t think they are.

๐Ÿ“– The ideals of individualism, objectivity, and MLK’s Dream to choose not seeing others based on the color of their skin but on the content of their character…are all racist. They are the reasons people have failed to see how deep racism goes.

In the author’s defense, she justifies these broad and sweeping generalizations with little to no evidence based on her being a sociologist. ๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ

That said, I honestly sympathize with any sociologists who do their very best to remain objective and evidence-based in their observations about society. ๐Ÿ˜ข

What surprised me the most reading this book was how the author doesn’t even consider alternate possibilities about the reasoning of white people she sees as having “white fragility”. ๐Ÿ˜•

Did the author even consider the possibility that some white people may have gotten angry with her not because of their “white fragility” but because they strongly disagree with the basic premise of her newly expanded definition on what it means to be “racist”? ๐Ÿค”

Did the author even consider the possibility that her insistence on white people needing to accept their inherent racism and privilege, needing to accept her vast assumptions about mass groups of people based on the color of their skin, not only is hypocritical but fits the very definition of what being “racist” is (at least according to the Dictionary)? ๐Ÿค”

I’m reminded of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and his obsession with seeing every problem his patients had through the lens of some unconscious sexual repression. Everything had to be seen as somehow relating to sex. ๐Ÿ˜…

In the same way, everything in DiAngelo’s eyes has to be seen as somehow relating to “racism” and “white supremacy”. โœŠ

I cannot even imagine how a woman would react today if Freud told them they had “penis envy”. Women are not aware of their penis envy, Freud would say, of their enviousness to possess a penis because it is unconscious.

What if we applied this same logic to the author’s main premise?

*๐˜ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜‹๐˜ช๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ “๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ”. ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ, ๐˜‹๐˜ช๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜บ, ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต, ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด.*

For those already familiar with Woke Culture, I soon realized THIS is one of those books. ๐Ÿ˜”

Being “woke” has to do with individuals who have experienced emotional feelings of awakening when it comes to social injustice. It’s these same feelings of awakening that make a person think they’re far more “woke” or self-aware than they actually are. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Compare these same spiritual feelings of realization to the conspiracy theorist who believes they’ve “taken the Red Pill” and is now aware of the corruption of the world. ๐Ÿ’Š

๐ˆ๐ง ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ’๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ข๐๐ž๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ž, ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ž ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐œ๐ฒ๐ง๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ. ๐Ÿ˜ 

I sympathize, as these individuals are not as “conscious” as they think they are. Unfortunately, I’m afraid the same thing has happened with the author here too.

While she promotes skepticism and self-awareness in the book, as well as noting that racial issues are “complex”, at the same time she doesn’t apply these same principles to the conclusions she’s making in the book.

With this book, I am supposed to simply accept the author’s premise about white fragility. In her circular logic, any counterargument against the idea of it (especially when it’s a white person) is only more proof of a white supremacist society. ๐Ÿ”„

This is the same logic as me presenting contrasting evidence to a conspiracy theorist and them saying that’s just proof there’s a conspiracy. (This logical fallacy is also known as “Kafkatrapping”.) ๐Ÿ”„

Simply put, the book takes itself way too seriously in its absolutist claims of racial essentialism. It doesn’t critically consider the possibility that racism is not as rampant as it is made out to be (There’s strong empirical and statistical data which speaks to the contrary, and again, I consider myself Liberal).

๐ˆ๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐š ๐ง๐ž๐ฐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐›๐ซ๐จ๐š๐, ๐š๐›๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐๐ž๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ “๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ” ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž’๐ฌ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ “๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ” ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Similar to conspiracy theories, I agree with the idea of practicing skepticism. But that’s as far as I agree, especially when the “skepticism” is used to justify an absolute, nonsensical worldview. ๐Ÿ‘

Similar to white fragility, I agree with the idea of practicing empathy. But that’s as far as I agree, especially when the “empathy” is used to justify an absolute, nonsensical worldview. ๐Ÿ‘

Sigmund Freud got the idea of the unconscious correct. But his circular logic to relate everything back to sex is where his claims falter. ๐Ÿ‘Ž

Robin DeAngelo got the idea of empathy correct. But her circular logic to relate everything back to racism and white supremacy is where her claims falter. ๐Ÿ‘Ž

๐ˆ๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ž๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ž๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ซ. ๐–๐ž ๐๐จ. ๐Ÿ’ฏ

๐ˆ๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐๐Ž๐“ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ž๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ง’๐ญ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ. ๐–๐ž ๐๐จ. ๐Ÿ’ฏ

But the Catch-22 in these areas of study is that any of these virtues can turn into a vice. ๐Ÿ’ฅ

For the psychoanalyst, sometimes a cigar…is just a cigar. There’s not always a variable of unconscious sexual repression. ๐Ÿ™Œ

For the critical race theorist, sometimes a power structure…is just a power structure. There’s not always a variable of oppression. ๐Ÿ™Œ

Let me add: ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ. ๐Ÿ‘

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ฌ ๐ ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐ฅ, ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ-๐ž๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ž๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ, ๐š “๐”๐ง๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐„๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ”.

๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ง๐จ๐ญ, ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐œ๐จ๐ฉ๐ž, ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐š๐ฌ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐’๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐ŸŒŽ

My biggest concern is how popular this book currently is on Amazon, as well as with other books focused on Antiracism.

๐˜๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜น๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜บ, ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ. ๐˜๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด, ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜Š๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด. ๐Ÿ˜จ

๐ˆ๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐›๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ค-๐š๐ง๐-๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž.

My concern is books like these are not going to be critically analyzed or questioned because of our current times, despite their many flaws and overly simplistic lens in which to see ourselves and other people. ๐Ÿ˜จ

If you embrace critical race theory and/or the basic premise we live in a society which is systemically and institutionally racist, this book will be right up your alley. ๐Ÿ‘

But if you’re looking for a book that’s intellectually honest, thoughtful in its arguments, contains nuance, and complexity, I suggest steering very clear of this one. ๐Ÿ’ฏ

๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ค๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐, ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ž๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐œ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก. ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐›๐ž๐ข๐ง๐  ๐›๐จ๐ซ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ญ๐ฒ. ๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐š๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐œ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ.

Racism is a problem I will continue to address and combat through empathy, compassion, and understanding of us as a common humanity. โค๏ธ

If that makes me “racist”, according to DiAngelo’s definition, than apparently I am! ๐Ÿ˜

Unfortunately this book, which as of late is being praised to the highest of heavens as some masterpiece, I predict is going to add far more to the problem than it will to the solution. ๐€๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š๐๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž. ๐Ÿ˜”

Or maybe, that’s just my “white fragility” talking…๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

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Why We’re Missing What MATTERS! (Mental Health Awareness Month)

โค๏ธ ๐‘พ๐‘ฌโ€™๐‘น๐‘ฌ ๐‘ด๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘พ๐‘ฏ๐‘จ๐‘ป ๐‘ด๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ!!! โค๏ธ
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For my well-being as a whole, Iโ€™d say Iโ€™m a pretty optimistic person with dashes of realism. ๐Ÿ˜Ž
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But for the Intellectual in me who looks out at society as a collective, I’m definitely more of a pessimistic optimist. โ‰๏ธ
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To clarify my oxymoron: I prepare for the worst, but I hope for the best. ๐Ÿ˜…
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As weโ€™ve entered a new decade, I am pleasantly surprised to look back on our society and see how far weโ€™ve come.
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๐Ÿ’ง We have water we didn’t have to filter! ๐Ÿ’ง
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๐Ÿ›ฃ๏ธ We drive on streets we didn’t have to pave! ๐Ÿ›ฃ๏ธ
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๐Ÿ“š We read books we didn’t have to write! ๐Ÿ“š
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๐ŸŽถ We listen to music we didn’t have to produce! ๐ŸŽถ
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๐Ÿ’Š We use medicines we didnโ€™t have to create! ๐Ÿ’Š
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๐Ÿ™ We have so many things we can be grateful for! ๐Ÿ™
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๐Ÿคฌ “DONALD, DON’T BE SO NAIVE! WHAT ABOUT…?!” ๐Ÿคฌ
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Of course, the history of our humanity hasnโ€™t been all sunshine and rainbows either, no doubt! ๐ŸŒˆ Big shifts in our world have also included plagues, wars, and violent revolutions, things many of us have never had to experience firsthand. ๐Ÿ‘
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I’m not a History major, but I agree with you; thereโ€™s no point in me denying the dark sides of history either! ๐Ÿ’ฏ
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๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป’๐˜ โ€œ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜” ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ฑ. โœ๏ธ
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But in spite of all that, in spite of all the negatives I could tell you about, we as humans have nevertheless continued to move forward. We have not yet allowed ignorance to destroy ourselves and our fellow neighbors to complete oblivion! ๐Ÿ˜Š
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Looking at our current society, from agriculture to medicine to artificial intelligence, we’re continuing to make great strides forward in science and technology! ๐Ÿค–
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To give you one stunning fact: the average life expectancy in the past century has gone from age 30 to 70! ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
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๐Ÿคฌ “DONALD!!! HELLO?! COVID-19!!!” ๐Ÿคฌ
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Of course, all of us at the moment are collectively going through a crisis now with the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a ton of things I can tell you I feel very concerned about during this time. ๐Ÿ’ฏ
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But I encourage everyone not to dismiss the bigger picture, not to dismiss all the progress we’ve made as a human race as a means of holding onto one’s pessimism during stressful times. โค๏ธ
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I could tell you about my concerns for my loved ones who are very susceptible to this virus. I could also tell you about my concerns for the mental health impact our social distancing will have on people. ๐Ÿ˜จ
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While I know the measures we’re currently taking are a necessity, I also won’t be so naive as to believe it doesn’t carry with it a new set of problems we’ll need to address. ๐Ÿ‘
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…and that’s why I share this post with you today! ๐Ÿ™Œ
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In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, my hope in sharing this post is we continue expanding our understanding of mental health and focusing on long-term solutions to rectify it. โค๏ธ
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โค๏ธ ๐‘พ๐‘ฌโ€™๐‘น๐‘ฌ ๐‘ด๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘พ๐‘ฏ๐‘จ๐‘ป ๐‘ด๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ!!! โค๏ธ
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While so many like myself can acknowledge the progress above and are grateful to be living in this day and age, I’ve also noticed many people, even way before COVID-19, are more pessimistic and cynical than ever. โ‰๏ธ
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Weโ€™ve come so far as a civilization. But for many, it somehow does not “feel” like it has. ๐Ÿ˜จ
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Why is that?! If we live in such affluent times with more resources than ever for us to be happy, why are so many still unhappy?! โ‰๏ธ
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Despite many of us having way more than our basic needs for food, water, and shelter met, why do we still see depression and suicide rates continue to rise?! ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
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Yes! ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿต๐Ÿต๐Ÿต, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ! ๐Ÿ“ˆ
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๐ŸŒบ How, if thereโ€™s so many flowers in our gardens, more than we can count, do we still feel like we’re missing something? ๐ŸŒบ
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Are we just so ungrateful that we canโ€™t see whatโ€™s right in front of us? ๐Ÿค”
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Are we just not reminding each other enough about history and how great we actually have it today? ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ
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Are people just more open these days about their emotions, hence the increase in depression diagnoses? ๐Ÿ“„
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I think these answers might be part of it, but I also don’t think the answers are so simple either. I think it’s multifaceted. If you want me to give you a simple answer to these questions, I’m sorry to say you’ve come to the wrong post! ๐Ÿ˜…
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But while I don’t have all the answers, I will propose at least one big cause I believe we as a society are greatly neglecting. ๐Ÿ‘ฅ
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And thatโ€™s what I wanted to talk to you about in this post! ๐Ÿ˜„
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To start, Iโ€™m reminded of the words of Palmer Joss in the 1997 film “Contact”: ๐ŸŽฌ
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โ€œ๐‘จ๐’“๐’† ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’‘๐’‘๐’Š๐’†๐’“ ๐’‚๐’” ๐’‚ ๐’‰๐’–๐’Ž๐’‚๐’ ๐’“๐’‚๐’„๐’†? ๐‘ฐ๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’… ๐’‡๐’–๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’๐’š ๐’‚ ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’•๐’•๐’†๐’“ ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’”๐’„๐’Š๐’†๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’•๐’†๐’„๐’‰๐’๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ๐’š? ๐Ÿค”
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๐‘พ๐’† ๐’”๐’‰๐’๐’‘ ๐’‚๐’• ๐’‰๐’๐’Ž๐’†. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’”๐’–๐’“๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’˜๐’†๐’ƒ. ๐‘จ๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’”๐’‚๐’Ž๐’† ๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’†, ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‡๐’†๐’†๐’ ๐’†๐’Ž๐’‘๐’•๐’Š๐’†๐’“, ๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’๐’Š๐’†๐’“, ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’–๐’• ๐’๐’‡๐’‡ ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’†๐’‚๐’„๐’‰ ๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’ ๐’‚๐’• ๐’‚๐’๐’š ๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’•๐’Š๐’Ž๐’† ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‰๐’–๐’Ž๐’‚๐’ ๐’‰๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’๐’“๐’š. ๐‘พ๐’†’๐’“๐’† ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚ ๐’”๐’š๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’”๐’Š๐’›๐’†๐’… ๐’”๐’๐’„๐’Š๐’†๐’•๐’š ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‚ ๐’ˆ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’• ๐’ƒ๐’Š๐’ˆ ๐’‰๐’–๐’“๐’“๐’š ๐’•๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’• ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’๐’†๐’™๐’• ๐’•๐’†๐’Ž๐’‘๐’๐’“๐’‚๐’“๐’š ๐’”๐’†๐’๐’”๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’. ๐Ÿ’จ
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๐‘ฐ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’Œ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’Š๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’†๐’„๐’‚๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‡๐’๐’“ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ. ๐‘พ๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’Š๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ? ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’๐’†๐’”๐’” ๐’‹๐’๐’ƒ๐’”. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’•๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’‡๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’„ ๐’—๐’‚๐’„๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’๐’”. ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’‡๐’Š๐’„๐’Š๐’• ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’•๐’“๐’Š๐’‘๐’” ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’Ž๐’‚๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’–๐’š ๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’˜๐’† ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’Œ ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’ˆ๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’”๐’† ๐’‰๐’๐’๐’†๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’”. ๐‘ฐ๐’” ๐’Š๐’• ๐’‚๐’๐’š ๐’˜๐’๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“ ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’๐’๐’”๐’• ๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’”๐’†๐’๐’”๐’† ๐’๐’‡ ๐’…๐’Š๐’“๐’†๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’?โ€ ๐Ÿงญ
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Iโ€™m also reminded of the words from Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl: โ€œEver more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.โ€ โœ๏ธ
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I want you to read Franklโ€™s words again but slower:
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โžก๏ธ โ€œ๐—˜๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ, ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ.โ€ โฌ…๏ธ
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๐ŸŒบ We have many flowers in our garden. But we have little understanding to WHY these flowers matter. Weโ€™re told we should appreciate them, but we don’t understand WHY we should. ๐ŸŒบ
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โค๏ธ ๐‘พ๐‘ฌโ€™๐‘น๐‘ฌ ๐‘ด๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘พ๐‘ฏ๐‘จ๐‘ป ๐‘ด๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ!!! โค๏ธ
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The problems I see happening:
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Weโ€™re mastering Quantity at the expense of Quality. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re mastering our Outer World at the expense of our Inner World. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re mastering Intelligence at the expense of Emotional Intelligence. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re mastering Extrinsic Values at the expense of Intrinsic Values. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re mastering the Objective at the expense of the Subjective. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re mastering the Yang at the expense of the Yin. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re addressing more of what we Want at the expense of what we Need. โš–๏ธ
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Weโ€™re feeding our Heads at the expense of our Hearts. โš–๏ธ
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To use the Hopi word: Koyaanisqatsi, or โ€œlife out of balanceโ€. โ˜ฏ๏ธ
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I see no better time than this day and age for more and more people to be experiencing an existential crisis, which is a serious contemplation on whether oneโ€™s life has any true purpose or meaning. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
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I can tell you from many firsthand experiences, having an existential crisis is VERY unpleasant! And sadly, I know some individuals who didn’t manage to make it out of this existential abyss. ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ
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In a world filled with many paradoxes and contradictions, in a world weโ€™re told has absolute truths yet conflicting ideas keep filling us with doubt, in a world that at times can seem pretty absurd overall, what is a person supposed to believe anymore?! ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ
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Think about it: If everything you were once told to believe and embrace about life became ideologically challenged and the ideals you once held onto were now reduced to a pile of meaninglessness, what is the next step for someone like you to take? ๐Ÿ™‰
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I can’t blame someone who has had these life experiences and now has become so cynical about life. As George Carlin said, “Scratch any cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist.” ๐ŸŽญ
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But let me assure you: there’s plenty of better options than just embracing cynicism. There’s plenty of better options than just embracing nihilism. โค๏ธ
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โค๏ธ ๐‘พ๐‘ฌโ€™๐‘น๐‘ฌ ๐‘ด๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘พ๐‘ฏ๐‘จ๐‘ป ๐‘ด๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ!!! โค๏ธ
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I believe Johann Hari said it best when he said our society is great at doing many things, as I mentioned above with science and technology. ๐—•๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐˜†๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€. ๐Ÿ˜จ
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We all need to feel like we belong in this world, the need to feel like our lives have purpose and meaning, the need to feel like we are seen and appreciated by others, the need to feel we have a compelling future to look forward to. You could call these “the needs of the soulโ€. โค๏ธ
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And yet, how many people right now are actually getting those needs met? How many are instead just being told to โ€œbe happyโ€ or being told to just remember “how great our country isโ€? ๐Ÿ’”
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๐ŸŒบ ๐—œ๐˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€. ๐ŸŒบ
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Perhaps the conditions weโ€™ve commonly known as Depression and Anxiety are not as simple as chemical imbalances in oneโ€™s brain as we once thought. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
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Perhaps our emotions have been messengers trying to tell us something important. ๐Ÿ“ฌ
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Perhaps our emotions have been signaling to us the way we’re living is making us ill. ๐Ÿ˜ซ
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Perhaps we’re living in a sick society that magnifies, reinforces, and exacerbates these psychological problems. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ
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Let me clarify, I’m NOT claiming any conspiracies here! I’m not saying ANY of this is being done intentionally, but rather it’s the long-term results of a society neglecting these signals for so long. โŒ›
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Weโ€™ve been so focused on external factors to โ€œfixโ€ these signals, whether it was through drugs, alcohol, food, or needless distractions that we’re in the collective habit of inadvertently killing the messenger! ๐Ÿ’Š
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โค๏ธ ๐‘พ๐‘ฌโ€™๐‘น๐‘ฌ ๐‘ด๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘พ๐‘ฏ๐‘จ๐‘ป ๐‘ด๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ!!! โค๏ธ
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Iโ€™ve talked in the past about how I am very passionate about advocating for what I call “the psychological development of the individual”.
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โฌ†๏ธ ๐—ง๐—›๐—œ๐—ฆ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐˜†! โฌ†๏ธ
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THIS is the reason Iโ€™m so passionate about it. It’s why Iโ€™ve surrounded myself in the field of Personal Development. It’s why Iโ€™m such a fan of philosophy. It’s why Iโ€™m such a supporter of Tony Robbinsโ€™s work. ๐Ÿ’ฏ
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๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐˜€๐˜†๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—œ’๐—บ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€. ๐Ÿ˜”
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Compared to where we were a few decades ago, weโ€™re now living in a much more complex world. In other words, weโ€™re no longer going to be able to solve these complex problems with the same simplistic thinking which created them. ๐Ÿ‘
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So what Iโ€™m advocating to you all is developing our Emotional Intelligence, developing our Cognitive skills, and encouraging to everyone the psychological development of the individual. ๐Ÿ’ฏ
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We’ve assumed for too long these skills would simply develop without much effort on our parts. But again, look at where many people are now. ๐Ÿ˜”
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Itโ€™s important I emphasize: โ›” Iโ€™m NOT saying to start neglecting or throwing out what science and technology has to offer! Not at all! โ›”
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Iโ€™m not saying we need to choose one OR the other; ๐—œโ€™๐—บ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ก๐—— ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. โ˜ฏ๏ธ
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As science and technology only moves forward with greater complexity, I want to ensure we as individuals are also moving forward too, psychologically and with a more complex understanding of “knowing thyself”. ๐Ÿ˜Š
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But what will this require?
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๐ŸŒŸ We need to appoint and elect leaders of integrity, of emotional intelligence, who build trust in leading through their example; that’s how we decrease cynicism.
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๐ŸŒŸ We need to create meaning where there’s meaninglessness to be found in peopleโ€™s lives; that’s how we decrease nihilism.
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๐ŸŒŸ We need to teach people how to think and not what to think; thatโ€™s how we develop cognitive and critical thinking skills.
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๐ŸŒŸ We need to develop self awareness, to challenge our black-and-white thinking habits, and learn how to communicate civilly with others we disagree with; that’s how we develop empathy.
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๐ŸŒŸ We need to learn to compromise, to promote societal order, to re-establish moral standards and mutually agreed upon truths; thatโ€™s how we decrease what sociologist Emile Durkheim referred to as “anomie” or “normlessness”.
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And I won’t be so naive as to think implementing these ideas will be easy, that they will be some quick fixes, that people will be so easily convinced they are necessary endeavors. โœ…
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I know that me just saying this to all of you doesnโ€™t mean you’re going to take any action to do them. But at the very least, I hope I planted some seeds in your mind to think more about. โœ…
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These initiatives will require many more people to step forward and be a part of the change. This is not meant to come off like a political statement; it’s just something Iโ€™ve been very passionate about sharing with you all for a while. I’m glad I have the words finally written out to you now! ๐Ÿ˜
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๐Ÿšจ Because I don’t want to keep seeing people needlessly suffer! ๐Ÿšจ
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โค๏ธ ๐‘พ๐‘ฌโ€™๐‘น๐‘ฌ ๐‘ด๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘บ๐‘ฐ๐‘ต๐‘ฎ ๐‘พ๐‘ฏ๐‘จ๐‘ป ๐‘ด๐‘จ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘บ!!! โค๏ธ
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These ideas I share with you now are NOT EVEN MY IDEAS! They are not original! These ideas have been around a very long time! ๐Ÿ˜ฒ
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The problem is weโ€™ve either forgotten how important these ideas are or we were simply never introduced to them in the first place. And if you have never before, consider yourself introduced to them now! ๐Ÿ˜…
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You wonโ€™t learn these ideas browsing social media posts, I can tell you that much! ๐Ÿ˜‰
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๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ป’๐˜ ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€. ๐ŸŽฎ
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I can assure you: there’s a profound sense of humility which comes when you realize how little you know, how far we all can expand our understandings of the world, if we all made the conscious choices to. โค๏ธ
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Iโ€™ll leave you all with wisdom from the great philosopher Bertrand Russell. When asked what advice he’d give to future generations, he said this in 1959: ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ
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๐Ÿ’ฌ โ€œ๐‘ณ๐’๐’—๐’† ๐’Š๐’” ๐’˜๐’Š๐’”๐’†; ๐’‰๐’‚๐’•๐’“๐’†๐’… ๐’Š๐’” ๐’‡๐’๐’๐’๐’Š๐’”๐’‰. ๐‘ฐ๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’˜๐’๐’“๐’๐’…, ๐’˜๐’‰๐’Š๐’„๐’‰ ๐’Š๐’” ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’•๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Ž๐’๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’”๐’†๐’๐’š ๐’Š๐’๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’„๐’๐’๐’๐’†๐’„๐’•๐’†๐’…, ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’๐’๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’•๐’† ๐’†๐’‚๐’„๐’‰ ๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’‘๐’–๐’• ๐’–๐’‘ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’‚๐’„๐’• ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’† ๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’‘๐’๐’† ๐’”๐’‚๐’š ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’˜๐’† ๐’…๐’๐’โ€™๐’• ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’†. ๐‘พ๐’† ๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’๐’๐’๐’š ๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’† ๐’•๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’˜๐’‚๐’š.
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๐‘ฉ๐’–๐’• ๐’Š๐’‡ ๐’˜๐’† ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’† ๐’•๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“, ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’…๐’Š๐’† ๐’•๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“, ๐’˜๐’† ๐’Ž๐’–๐’”๐’• ๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’ ๐’‚ ๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’… ๐’๐’‡ ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’š ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‚ ๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’… ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’๐’๐’†๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†, ๐’˜๐’‰๐’Š๐’„๐’‰ ๐’Š๐’” ๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’”๐’๐’๐’–๐’•๐’†๐’๐’š ๐’—๐’Š๐’•๐’‚๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’–๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’๐’‡ ๐’‰๐’–๐’Ž๐’‚๐’ ๐’๐’Š๐’‡๐’† ๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’‘๐’๐’‚๐’๐’†๐’•.โ€ ๐Ÿ’ฌ
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Thank you for reading! Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful! Much love! โค๏ธ