Happy Friday,
Let me tell you some bizarre things I read this week. Between Medium and Substack, I seem to have hit arrogance gold.
1—“It’s not that I’m an alarmist, it’s that you might be an idiot.”
Sir? If one person calls you an alarmist, you can probably ignore it. Depending who the person is, of course. If it’s your Mom, maybe you should listen. But when it’s enough people to warrant a public rant in response…? Maybe you’d be better off owning that puppy. Or something? Because insulting your readers isn’t a good look.
2—“LinkedIn is toxic.”
Here, let me play editor for you. The word you wanted was “feels.” LinkedIn “feels” toxic. To you. Because you’re talking about you, right? Otherwise, that’s a rather sweeping general statement, and sweeping general statements are usually wrong.
3—“People with self discipline don’t trust feelings because they know feelings can’t be trusted.”
Said like a white man with 100K followers. Self discipline is managing how much time you spend on Instagram. Or maybe not having seconds. It’s not ignoring things that don’t feel right or doing things that feel wrong. Ask a real psychologist. You might be truly surprised.
4—“Meditation is just relaxing, stop telling us to relax”
No, sorry. The basis of meditation is learning to detach from your thoughts. You know what the best meditation is? Counting thoughts. Cindy made me mad. (that’s one) My butt itches. (that’s two). I could write a whole article about what meditation “is” and the effect on trauma and stress on veterans and abuse survivors. Rest assured, it’s not just relaxing.
Oh, the irony…
All of the people who said that crap (above) wrote posts lambasting Kim Kardashian for saying women need to get off their asses and work harder.
“I have the best advice for women in business,” Kim Kardashian said. “Get your f—cking ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days”
Kardashian laughed it off and said it was a publicity stunt.
Maybe it was. Maybe she’s backpedaling.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a Kardashian or some writer on Medium or Substack, believing your own press isn’t a good look.
Amass a big enough audience and some people think they can say what they want.
I guess they can, though.
Doesn’t seem there’s ever much repercussion. Their audience just eats it up and cheers and comes back for more — and I don’t understand.
When I write, I spend a lot of time fact checking and citing sources. I always thought credibility mattered. I believed credibility and trust went hand in hand.
But maybe I’m wrong. What do you think?
More reading…
He Survived 4 Nazi Concentration Camps And Was Murdered By Putin
Love Over Everything. “The Salt Path” Hit Bestseller 80 Weeks In A Row
P.S. If you are reading this in email, you can click the title to see the online version, where you can leave comments, just like on Medium.
xo,
Linda
This morning I read an essay bemoaning the fact that the standards for appearing in public, particularly at special events, has slipped. One guy responded by ordering the author not to be judgmental and to keep her nose out of other people’s business. He also said she didn’t sound like someone he’d enjoy spending time with, which sounds pretty judgmental to me. Who cares, anyway? Medium isn’t a dating app, dude. Get over yourself!
Wellllll....I think you are right. Especially "When I write, I spend a lot of time fact-checking and citing sources. I always thought credibility mattered. I believed credibility and trust went hand in hand." :)