I have plenty of these, since I've always had a hard time being influenced by others. It's harder than it sounds: there's a reason our species passes emotions and ideas around like a wave.
Cats need bells
Outdoor cats need bells because otherwise they decimate birds, small mammals, and reptiles. It's an ecological catastrophe — entire species wiped out. Cats are meant to stay indoors. They're too efficient as predators and we've let them multiply everywhere. If we let them roam free, we must warn their prey.
Having children is a selfish choice
Having children is just as selfish as not having them — perhaps slightly more so today. There's nothing noble about following your DNA's impulse to remain partially alive after death through other individuals. It's literally the definition of biological selfishness.
Just as it's selfish to keep your money, travel the world, and focus on yourself. But having children is more problematic today because we're in severe overpopulation, especially with Western consumption levels. I'm a liberal, so against birth control mandates: if you want kids, I'm happy for you. But I don't understand why my taxes should incentivize a personal choice. The planet is real, and it has too many humans.
Most people don't enjoy working
Most people don't enjoy working. Very few genuinely love it. People dislike it because they believe the world owes them something without much effort. They don't understand that the world is hard, life is demanding, even growing a tomato requires enormous work.
But some people love it because they get more satisfaction from work than from anything else. Nothing noble about it: we love working because work stimulates us with its plot twists, emotions, challenges, moments of tension, big decisions. It's not healthy to hate work, and it's not healthy to love it too much. But people rarely find the balance.
Gender dynamics are more complex than we admit
Young men are often invisible and overlooked by society, while young women are valued but also objectified. Older men in power control most resources and decisions, while older women find themselves in a world of frustration and powerlessness.
But I believe talking about patriarchy as if all men had power is a misleading oversimplification. Power is concentrated in a small elite, predominantly male and elderly. Young men are equally marginalized by the system. And almost nobody cares.
All weddings are the same
All weddings are the same and often boring. I've seen countless ones as a musician and as a guest. When you attend, if you're an empathetic person, you're happy for the couple. But for yourself, you face hours of waiting, repetition of identical rituals, and food waste that's hard to justify.
Visibility and competence are inversely correlated
The skills that make you good at being visible and famous are often the opposite of those that make you useful in organizations. If you easily attract attention and popularity, you often don't excel at actual work. In my industry, I see this every day with marketing superstars, and throughout my career I've met so many overrated managers that the pattern is hard to ignore.
People in groups become dangerous
People are at their best in small groups, but become predictable and dangerous in large numbers. They easily lose their individuality and activate their social, imitative instincts. They shed responsibility. The same dynamic that led entire nations to follow dictatorships without resistance. If someone doesn't change when moving from a small to a large group, they have my respect.
Money is freedom
Money is incredibly important, but for the opposite reason most people think. Money gives you freedom, optionality, security, peace of mind. The ability to leave a toxic job. The ability to drop everything and travel. The ability to take risks — the most beautiful thing in the world.
For most people, money is useful for buying things. Buying can be a trap. It's necessary, but it can become an addiction. There's no power in consuming. Power lies in creating and in the freedom of not having to earn a survival wage every single month.
People with faith are often more serene than us agnostics and atheists. Faith always gives you hope and meaning. We have to find meaning on our own. An enormous effort.
