12-17-2020: No, I really do, and I hope that offends you and your big ego.
But here’s what makes the title true, I know more than you do:
… About things that interest me enough to immerse myself into.
… About my own values, opinions, observations, perspectives, people around me, and life experiences.
… About the things that politicians, advertisers, marketing professionals, preachers, teachers, influencers, celebrities, and other forms of Media have been telling me for 51 years.
Those are the things that I am wicked smart at… but that’s about it, it pretty much ends there. I’m really only as smart as someone else that has the same knowledge and life experiences that are exactly like mine.
It’s too easy to sit back and complain that other people can’t see the obvious, well it may be obvious to me because of ‘what I know’, but other people don’t know what I know so how is it responsible to hold them to the exact understanding that I have, it’s lazy and wrong and you do it too, If this offends you unfriend me and stop reading.
I know what I know, but I don’t know what you know, and you don’t know what I know so maybe we should just fight because of our differences. I hope that statement sounds pretty shallow and immature, truthfully I am too sometimes. And in my immature and ego-inflated moments I can find myself judging others and thinking or saying things like:
What is this guy stupid, why doesn’t he get it! (Angry ignorant Ego)
Sure buddy, whatever you say. (Dismissive condescending ego)
This guy is beyond help. (Blinding ego that has no clue how much he needs help himself)
Many people are in better shape than me (emotionally and physically) and they don’t think those thoughts about others… but most do, you probably do too. So let me tell you that you are a know-it-all, that’s blinded by your own big ego because fault-finding and name-calling are too easy, and very lazy…and I hope that offends you.
My ego is partly immersed in politics, 2020 USA election season was disgusting, I come from a right-wing perspective, according to most…so for me It’s easy to connect my own emotions and the 2020 election. 2020 was nuts about anything and everything, the domino effect that china covid-19 had on so many aspects of our lives, we saw anarchy and riots and fighting (and some peaceful protests), politicians practically jumping up and down angry at their opponents, everyone on TV was blaming everyone else for something that no one had control of, well that was my shallow perspective. Above all that the thing that bothered me the most is how divided our country is, and how the media controlled people’s emotions and reactions through manipulation.
You were manipulated during most of 2020, and most of your life and I hope that bothers you and offends you. You probably don’t think that you are easily manipulated (big ego) but we all are and we choose how we want to be manipulated by the advertising that’s on the TV we watch, the radio stations that we listen to, the podcasts, the movies that we watch, the magazines we look at… all of the things that we follow know us, well they know the types of people that follow them, they call it their ‘core demographics’, you are a ‘target audience’ to people that want you to buy their products, get hooked on what they have to offer because that’s what makes them money. Any anger that you felt during the elections was exactly the emotions that the media you follow wants you to feel, mostly OUTRAGE. I have no idea what’s wrong with you because as far as I can tell all of the media that I follow shows how your guy is so screwed-up and how perfect my guy is, so what’s wrong with you mate! You know there is another side of the story, but you don’t like it so you aren’t willing to really research for yourself, because that’s what easy and we’re lazy, and we like the egos that we choose to listen to. Me too, it’s wrong and I’m lazy, and folks in media know that about us, they were the biggest ‘winners’ of 2020, the media and how much they were paid to manipulate us during the election campaigns.
Human beings require food, water, shelter, and other human nurturing, anything else in life is extra, what kinds of advertising or commercials pop up when you’re trying to unwind, some things that will ‘improve our lives’ but mostly superficial crap that we don’t need, but advertisers want you to need them because that’s how they get paid. As you consider the advertising that you see, and then the things that you want it might sink in how much crap very rich people are trying to get us to buy. If I know my core demographic I know how to get most of them to want what I have to offer, and it’s crazy scary how effective the smart advertisers really are.
I’m glad that we are different, and that we all chose our candidates based on our own beliefs, but I hate how easy it is to manipulate us through emotion and ‘herd mentality’. There are smart people you can find on internet that can explain the process if you want to know more… you should because you are being manipulated everyday, we all are.
Everyone in America got angry or over emotional during 2020 and we had every good reason to.
Most people don’t allow themselves the time to deflate and reflect and mature in a healthy manor; you know maybe take some time to figure out why you are mad, sad, frustrated, etc. Instead of looking at myself with honesty and a willing to learn/understand I tend to distract myself instead - alcohol, medication, full-throttled caffeine, loud music, punching things, movies, TV, tinkering, and taking out my frustrations with anything that’s in my way (I’m sure that I have additional distracting and deflecting mechanisms than listed, you do too).
Disclaimer: I don’t really know what I’m talking about because I have no credentials, licenses, and I’m not an expert on any subject matter, but maybe there’s some truth in what I have to say. If so, and you want to learn more from people that are experts then now is the best time to do so, it’s easy to start by Googling “ego”. If my writing style speaks to you then proceed, with caution, because I’m going to offend you again.
There is a Radio DJ that I have respect for (Bobby Bones), I appreciate the fact that he knows he doesn’t have it all together, doesn’t blame other people for his own deficiencies, is trying to better himself, and seems to be a pretty humble guy amidst his skyrocketing fame in his industry, I’ll bet he’s got a good support system and people that will keep his ego in check. What I appreciate the most is that he knows he has problems and is making the effort to do something about it… But you won’t, your ego won’t let you because you’re ‘fine’. Did that offend you? If not you are probably lying to yourself and need a reality-check from someone you love and respect, or me, I have an unfortunate amount of free time this year, I’m usually around, but I won’t guarantee results, I’m not a pro but I do genuinely care about people and honesty.
I think one of the issues with my own ego is that I prefer to be a hard-charging, go at it like a bull mentality when it comes to most things in life I’m ‘mission oriented’, you know the rub dirt on it and drive on kind of guy. The only time I’d stop to ‘smell the roses’ is when I am forced to, so naturally the only time that I stopped to get a reality check is when I had to; like 10 months of Anxiety and Depression (going nuts) in 2020 to be brutally honest.
During another period of my life when I had the most responsibility (and was the most busy) I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over 8 years (thanks kids, Dad loves you). It doesn’t take too long for interrogators to break people down with sleep deprivation because it works. Well wine makes you sleepy, eventually, doesn’t it… yes, but not the way that you want it too, especially if you need a lot to get sleepy. I’m sooo glad that I had all the answers back then, and especially that despite my Dr urging me to prioritize getting sleep, well I tried to deal with it my own way (your own way doesn’t work either!!!). I think that the only way that I was effective at anything during that period was that I was so tired that I couldn’t put my ego in front of everything, maybe like subliminal effectiveness (there’s probably a real word for that)… I also had a lot of loving people around me at the time, some praying loving people. Coffee and advil were my predominant food groups during most of those years, with tons of grilled proteins in between, what a recipe for disaster. I worked hard at work, worked hard at home, worked hard at being a dad and husband, worked hard at helping how I could at our church, but at the time it was all I knew and didn’t know how to slow down, and coffee was the glue that held it all together. If you need coffee to keep your commitments you need help, lie to yourself and tell you I’m wrong…but you need help. Somethings got you thinking that you can take on the world (good luck, everyone that’s tried died trying), you think you can do it all with minimal consequences, but it will catch up to you medically speaking, so isn’t it better to just regroup, recalibrate, get a reality check or an ego check from someone you respect to bring you back to reality rather than killing yourself from the inside out, that’s what you do when you don’t recognize your warning signs and do something constructive about it. Everything you do in life has consequences, we usually have no idea of the consequences until the Dr says you have high blood pressure, but you still need 5 cups (or more) of coffee to keep you moving and this guy is telling you to stop caffeine… so quit lying to yourself, slow down and regroup, maybe there is a way to uncomplicate your life a bit and you can figure out where and why it may have spun out of control, well you probably can’t but maybe someone you trust can see a different perspective and get you to refocus. Most people need someone like this in their lives, you do too. Hopefully you have a person that is genuine and truthful that knows you and can speak to your soul, if not please seek one out because you can’t do it alone, eventually your ego will get the best of you, hopefully not as bad as mine got in 2020.
I respect people that had an upbringing that provided them with security, love, acceptance where they were taught to respect people’s differences and different cultures, and are secure and confident in who they are and what they believe and show willingness to help folks that need it and not look down at them, to me that is a privileged upbringing that can be of any race or color. I’ve met some of these respectable people over the years but didn’t really know what I had admired in them, and they come in every shape and color and tax bracket and none of that matters. Most people do not have that type of being honest with yourself, and well-grounded upbringing, most people need help but they don’t know exactly what help they need, but knowing that you aren’t perfect and that you don’t have it all together is a great start.
Most people who read this will want to puke because it’s ‘opinionated’ and hits unpopular subject matter, because they know more than I do, well maybe I know more than you do and I want you to get real with yourself and get out of your funk. Hopefully you aren’t like most folks, but you probably are, so maybe it’s time to get real with it, and afford yourself a healthy New Year.
No one Deserves anything in life, but Everyone Deserves the opportunity to be real and truthful to themselves and try to understand our emotions and why we react emotionally to our experiences in life. Emotions tell us a little bit about our experiences--good, but take some time to understand what may have triggered your emotions and are you being honest with yourself.