A Few Short Thoughts About Society That Are Guaranteed to Turn Your World Upside Down
There is “huge depression amongst 28-38 year olds”
Everything is fine.
That’s how I feel right now about the world. Yet I go on social media and it does seem like a decent number of people think everything is on fire.
Let’s dissect the thoughts that are undermining humanity.
The bizarre idea of “Kantian Fairness Tendency”
I came across this term recently.
It seems like society in many areas of life is trying to create this utopian idea of equality. Where everyone is equal and has the same access. This is called Kantian Fairness Tendency.
In reality, this is a fantasy … as much as I hate to admit it.
If you want proof then just look at the dominance of humans. Every other life form on earth is secondary. We’ve killed off entire species. We treat animals as our pets and put them on leashes.
This isn’t fair based on the definition. Yet it’s a reality we all accept. Humans own earth and tell every other creature what to do. We will kill and eat any species we want to fill our stomachs.
Yet when it comes to humans we think somehow there can be fairness for all. The pursuit of this dream creates a path of chaos. It’s what causes all the division.
Writer Ayodeji Awosika says “People with Kantian fairness tendency give too much credit to the rider and not enough to the elephant.”
Life isn’t fair and never will be. Accept that truth and life will get easier.
I have never understood why it is “greed” to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money. — Thomas Sowell
The driver of deep pain in society
The New York Times interviewed a Nigerian man.
He spent decades pretending to be a fisherman and scamming widows out of lots of money. Most of society would think that was unthinkable.
“How could you? You belong in jail.”
Here’s the Nigerian man’s response:
“Definitely there is always conscience. But poverty will not make you feel the pain.”
It’s easy to judge others for their actions when poverty doesn’t affect you. But in extreme poverty you can’t think clearly. You constantly have to think about how you’re going to pay for your next meal.
When your stomach gets hungry good judgment goes out the window.
It’s why I talk so loudly about mastering money. Not to get rich and buy a Lambo, but to stop living short-term and to stop having money drive your behavior.
I’m not perfect. I don’t own a home. Money still, unfortunately, drives my behavior to a degree. The importance is I’m aware of it. I see money opportunities that could force me to act badly and I actively try to do the opposite.
Until we understand the role of poverty in society we’ll never understand the chaos.
One possible solution is to teach people skills they can earn a living from. And to equip them with a financial education so they don’t get robbed blind by politicians who enable free money that leads to inflation.
“Huge depression amongst 28-38 year olds”
A random user on Twitter named Coltybrah said this.
It’s the first time I’ve seen this societal problem explained in such a pure way. People aged between 28-38 remember life in the pre-dopamine era.
Dopamine is the natural chemical in our brain that technology and phones have exploited. Using dopamine, any business in the world can create a form of technological heroin you can’t get enough of - even if your daddy is a navy seal.
TikTok, Instagram, and dating apps like Tinder are the worst offenders.
They turn us into terrible people who are obsessed with vanity and become unnecessarily selfish. It’s why I hate the personal branding culture. All it’s about is “look at me, look at me.”
Coltybrah says all of this leads to us feeling like we have no souls these days.
He says boomers don’t understand this reality, and Gen Z is oblivious because they grew up in this dopamine-fuelled bubble.
The lifelessness leads to depression. It makes you feel like you never have enough. Your mind lives in the future and can’t focus on right now.
“When I get this then I will be happy” has become the leading narrative in people’s lives. Then they get whatever it is and they’re still not happy.
The solution is to limit dopamine culture. It’s to stop watching 15-second cat videos on TikTok and see it like smoking ciggies.
Choose technology apps that have morals. Choose content that has value.
Stay away from slot machines like Netflix and TikTok.
“The Kardashian Rule” that interferes with our perception
I’ve got nothing against Kimbo.
I mean I hate her tv show and don’t consider her a great role model, but she is who she is. She’s probably doing the best she can with incomplete information.
Mark Manson created The Kardashian Rule. The idea is the more viral or popular a person/event is, the more society will think it’s important.
This rule explains why we give too much attention to topics that shouldn’t matter so much. It’s how important issues like climate change and the global bat virus pandemic get swept under the carpet.
It’s why financial inequality is at an all-time high. It’s why most Americans have no clue their leaders created 40% of US dollars in history since March 2020 out of thin air. If the world knew this fact there would be outrage and that would lead to change.
The US dollar would be dethroned immediately. But because the average person is distracted by meaningless news events, they don’t know.
The news wants us to be informed which is code for “be distracted.”
The solution is to stop worrying so much about what’s popular. This leads to an even bigger idea: stop wanting to be popular. If everyone is popular no one is.
A lack of skin in the game
When a tragedy happens it’s common to say “thoughts and prayers for…”
This is a nice way to virtue signal to the crowd that you’re a good human who cares about everyone. The problem is there’s no skin in the game. You didn’t do anything for the people you say you care about.
This challenge transcends well wishes.
It’s a virus all through society. Leaders with no skin in the game make decisions that affect the rest of us. When those decisions blow up there are zero consequences. Many times, their incentivized to do things that are bad for the majority because it funds their Hawaii holidays.
Until we get better at forcing people to have skin in the game, they will continue to get away with murder.
It’s why I’m so passionate about Web3. In this world you can’t get away with “thoughts and prayers” vibes. Your actions are transparent and the consequences are written in code that can’t be tampered with.
Until the Web3 shift goes mainstream, we must hold people accountable by ensuring they have skin in the game.
Otherwise, we’ll all continue to be manipulated by puppet masters who get rich off us.
And if you dare harshly critique people or try to enable cancel culture, you, too, better have skin in the game.
The “softness” reality
Our ability to cope with discomfort is dying too.
Bodies are soft.
Attention spans are that of goldfish.
Minds are burnout and weak.
We have control over these things yet our discipline is at an all-time low. People are told it’s okay to quit or give up. They’re taught to overindulge in self-care even if they haven’t done a solid day’s work in years.
Without discipline, focus, and the ability to deal with discomfort it’s much more difficult to achieve hard things. And hard things keep us alive and get us living on planets like Mars.
Hard = Fulfillment
The two-party clown game
In places like America society wants us to divide into two groups: left or right.
I’m probably one of the only people you know who is neither right-wing or left-wing. The side I vote for is humanity.
When we attach shallow labels to people or put red or blue colors on their home fences, we make society more judgemental. We dumb down the complexity of reality with a pointless label.
A political label turns the world into a clown show. It lowers our compassion and limits our free thinking.
Don’t let anybody use a tiny selection of labels to limit you.
Left-wing and right-wing is a system designed to polarize and confuse. It creates an “us versus them” culture when it should be “all of us together.”
Dare to go beyond the limitations of politics.
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Wow, what a kick to the guts of reality. This was bordering on too much in one go, but I binged and I found it one of the most reality-driven articles I have ever read. I love your newsletters and this was the best by far, so far...
I'm okay with the "Kardashian Rule" as far as it goes (compare my article https://medium.com/@ImprovCowboy/does-this-kardashian-make-my-butt-look-big-3069dd9bc073).
Yes, your focus + your worldview = your point of view + your reaction. And, you can still choose your response, as opposed to simply reacting. But that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.
The simple reality is that we WANT to be distracted. And the essential reason is because we don't want to deal with the messiness inside and outside of us. It's more "fun" to ignore the messes and distractedly chase pleasure until we die. This is what escapism, hedonism and pastimes are all about. In general, this is how we live our lives, myself included.
That's the horrifying truth. Not some shadowy conspiracy. To live freely takes a lot of work. And most of it is the messy emotional kind of work that we avoid like death itself.
Freedom comes from letting go of our chains, not forging newer, better, smarter chains.