The Wise Ry Guy

!*Pow Pow*!

“*AGGHHHHH!!!*

*OH NO*

*They’re coming for my righteous ass!*”

*GUNFIRE*

“…save yourself *dramatic pause*”

various easily avoidable catastrophes have ensued and will continue to do so

…

woo

ok

I know you were thrown into this

like right in the thick of it

Let’s provide context

Here we have one amazing strong principled sacrificial dedicated faithful passionate righteous individual

great!

For the sake of discussion, let’s call this person “she”

She stands up for what she believes in

She’s opinion is very valuable

She is the bulwark of beauty

The breathing icon of ideas

She is affronted by the contrast between your viewpoint and hers

She claims to believe in her principles

But I think she just believes in herself

And the only way she can validate her belief is to tell it to the people who will assuredly retaliate with their own egotistic perspectives

cause Hey!

I can justify my life!

I’m a martyr!

selfish. Don’t die for yourself.

…

Look

I don’t dislike idealists

I just wish they’d be more down to earth

what this passionate principled defender misses is the value of shrewdness

after all, once you’ve established your foundation, why not let your ideas do the thinking for you?

mm, no

If abstractions are realer to someone than the people around them, will not that person consider it his/her prerogative to speak

And not simply regardless of the context & consequences

But even before taking those things into account?

And I’m not an opponent of dialogue

But I’m skeptical of an idealist’s conscious ability to keep from conflating idea and ego

If ego is in the room, a few things happen (though not exclusively):

The honest people in the room are undermined and disrespected

The people claiming to be insulted on behalf of the ideas are the only ones insulting the ideas

The only good reason to be in the room exited when ego entered

So

Idealists!

Hello!

Chill, just let-

I just-

I wanna say-

ju- mm.

STOP TALKING

thank you

That’s a good rule of thumb right

stop talking

good senior quote too

Just-

Hold on! Sheesh!

Where do you find all of these opinions?!

Did God speak to you!? Can I have his contact information?

Look kid

I like you

You got spunk

People like you make people like me better people

Sometimes I can’t recall my standard, and people like you remind me of what is best and how I should act

I appreciate that, and I admire your spine

But

I have some advice

First-

please, God, stop talking*

you can talk in a moment I just need to work through this for both of us

Reserve your dialogue for the people who deserve it, who listen

Those are the people who want to change for the better and learn, and then repeat that process at a larger scale

And just as the people you convince with your ideas can change themselves positively, then change their family positively, then their community and so on

in the same way, see the change in yourself before you try to change them

You’re not a scientist, and you’re not a motivational speaker.

You’re a guinea pig

Above all else, if you’re gonna get lost in the cosmos abstracta

Leave your ego behind

Otherwise, dialogue contorts into the equivalent of a screaming match between a brick wall and a Will Ferrel character

Truth is enough to have at stake without adding self-esteem and social status to the mix

Here’s how you can know whether you care about the right things

Who do you talk to?

Stop providing ammunition for the fickle

You might find yourself becoming the people you attract with your ill-considered opinions

The people you talk to will tell you the true extent to which you pursue ideas honestly

without even opening their mouths

although

They undoubtably will

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*This article is not directed at anyone specific. It is, in fact, directed at an idea.