2023 May

Post image for How to Think About Politics Without Going Insane

The first thing every human learns about politics is that there are things you can say that will make people hate you, and things you can say that will make people approve of you.

What those things are depend on the beliefs of the people around you, which depend mostly on where and when you grow up. Say aloud that you think thieves should go to jail forever, and in some places your peers will agree with you and make you feel good and normal, and in other places they will call you a horrible person and whisper about you at the other lunch table.

The same thing happens with every politically-tinged belief you utter, even before you even know politics is a thing. If you suggest that hunting for sport is wrong, visible tattoos are a reckless life choice, conscientious people don’t drive SUVs, or church teaches people to live moral lives, you’ll get either approval or pushback, depending on who’s around.

You learn quickly what the others want to hear and what they don’t, ingraining within you a sense that some of your thoughts make you worthy of acceptance, and some make you contemptible.

Post image for 10 Things I Want to Communicate to the Human Species Before I Die

We all have our causes. Henry Heimlich was determined to teach the world that you can save a choking victim with abdominal thrusts. I want to convince the world to eat unseasoned vegetables, help irksome strangers, and do eccentric thought exercises.

. . . and many other things. Here are ten insights I feel a need to impress on the world somehow.

Take my pleadings as seriously as you like. I’ve written in greater detail about some of these points already, and will elaborate on the others eventually.

1. Your shopping cart doesn’t need to go wherever you go.

This is a minor point, but most people don’t seem to know this. You do not have to wheel your cart right up to every item you want to buy at the grocery store. The cart is a bin with wheels, not a car. If there’s any appreciable cart traffic, you can park it in an out of the way place, then fetch any nearby items much quicker on foot. It’s seldom necessary to navigate a two hundred pound cargo bin down an aisle choked with other carts, just because a few items on your list are in that aisle. Gather on foot, move around the store with the cart. This method ensures you never need to block anyone from accessing anything or passing by, and will almost never have to wait behind someone else who is doing that. Treat the cart like a mothership rather than a truck.

You are quite lucky that you've never had your grocery cart accidentally hijacked! It has happened to me several times, so nope, no way, I now always keep mine close by.
May 26, 2023 at 9:57 pmCarolyn
I had a good friend in law school whose father was a professional conman in the 50's. His dad told him to always keep your shoes polished, because people will trust you. I'm not suggesting using polished shoes to take advantage of people, but it does show that taking care...
May 26, 2023 at 11:36 amCarl Weinkauf
I have a similar political story to you -- tending toward the word "liberal" but finding its meaning has shifted to mean something quite illiberal. Today most of my strongly-held political beliefs are related to cryptography, surveillance, privacy and censorship, which are all technical and obscure enough that there aren't...
May 25, 2023 at 6:06 pmAndrew
@jeff: Ah, I think I get what you mean by nice-guy-ism now. I actually don't advocate that. I think some perspectives are absolutely terrible, make no mistake. But espousing which views I think are good and terrible in this post would distract from its point, which is a meta-level argument about...
May 25, 2023 at 4:40 pmDavid Cain
Thanks for your nice reply. Sorry my comment was so long. It's not appropriate in a forum like this. Also, it was rather critical of a mostly-great post. In fact, this paragraph made it into my lifetime quote collection, and I've already quoted you in my public writing: "Our motivation to...
May 25, 2023 at 12:44 pmJeff Syrop

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May 2023

How to Think About Politics Without Going Insane

10 Things I Want to Communicate to the Human Species Before I Die

1. Your shopping cart doesn’t need to go wherever you go.

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