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it's funny to consider how much of the conversation around things like "what makes you unique, what makes you different" is dominated by people who aren't really all that unique or different. I don't mean this as a putdown or a jab, it's just one of those optical illusions
people who are really, truly different in non-trivial ways know the truth https://t.co/Gf4utoFuOj
sometimes you have martyr types who want to go out in a blaze of glory (eg amos yee). these are usually kids with a sense that they have nothing to lose. my criticism is that ultimately the max impact these people have is constrained by their short-sightedness. quickly forgotten
I think most of the people who are truly different + lead wholesome lives are people who really make the effort to non-judgementally study the environments that they're embedded in (Obama's life is a great case study, even if you leave out the Presidency) https://t.co/dWx9DfDSGV
Obama still blows my mind, too. A non-Hawaiian in Hawaii. A non-Indonesian in Indonesia. A Christian with a Muslim name. A half-Black dude in white society. A half-White guy in black society. No in-group. No table at the cafeteria. No way to blend in, no archetype to follow. https://t.co/RJsTacaHbO
Which brings me to the NPC meme. Using the NPC meme is typically an attempt to reduce some other person into a predictable shell script. And, considering my own life experience as someone who didn't fit in, and contrasting that with the people who use the NPC meme...
You only use the NPC meme if you can get away with it. Meaning that insulting other people, diminishing them, reducing them, *doesn't cost you*. That's a privilege I have never really known. if I attack and insult the people around me, I still have to face them tomorrow
I could do it anonymously, maybe, but that's time and energy spent on trying to make other people feel bad, that I could've spent investing in myself and my own relationships instead. It's a full time job just keeping up with my own responsibilities, obligations, commitments
interesting point that brings me back to the start. if you're truly different, you don't get to think of yourself as an NPC, even if you want to– because you're just constantly being called out. things just keep happening to you just for existing https://t.co/1TVDaKN5H4
you might WANT to be an NPC, and even try to be one – but in that case, then you wouldn't look down on other people for being NPC-esque. which I think brings me to the tentative conclusion that it's really NPCs who hate on other NPCs. it's self-hatred expressed outwards https://t.co/esUMVgyN9i
basically https://t.co/SPn6BicoD9
Circling back to the start. I honestly don't believe there's anything wrong with not-being-different, not-being-unique. I'm sure there's a great playbook to a nourishing, wholesome life in there. It's funny... we do *everybody* a disservice in the way we treat "great people"
This is a sort of “basic life”, and if you live a good basic life that’s genuinely something to be proud of, IMO. There is so much cruelty and toxicity in the world - if you manage to avoid giving in to that, and you help someone out now and then, I love you and I’m proud of you
Childhood: me: I’m just a nerd others: fuck that... you’re special me: I’m special? Oh shit! Get a load of me! others: fuck you, you ain’t special me: huh. I’m guess I’m not special. That’s kind of a relief. anybody can do what I do! people: fuck you, you’re not normal me: https://t.co/Oo0zzKyI6q
I tend to begin with the assumption that everyone has massive potential, but funnily, when people disagree with me on this, they nudge me towards a view in which some of us are exceptional - then those same people often find that view distasteful. Me too man, but you put me here
@visakanv OH https://t.co/ia7XMOJ3tq