A Short Contest

Hey, happy Monday. I have a cool idea and, if you have a minute, I’d love your help.

I’m looking for the best quotes from the entirety of this blog for an experiment I’m going to try out.

My theory is, I can take them, present them in a cool and unique way, and have them do really well on social networks– much better than they would do inside of a blog post.

I’d love your help to find them.

You’re probably new here– most of my readers have joined this site within the past month– so it’s highly likely that you’ve never visited my archives. There’s a lot of good stuff there.

I’d like to offer you the incentive to check them out.

So in one week, I’m going to give away between 5 and 10 prizes (not sure yet how many) for finding the best quotes from old posts on this blog.

They can be of any length and come from any post, but you’ll probably notice that anything before 2008 or so is not worth going through. (Just being honest.) 🙂

How to “enter”

Find a quote in an old post, and tweet it out mentioning my name, like so. Bam! You’re done!

Quote

Prizes!

To those who come find the best stuff, here’s my offer. Your choice of:

A Kindle Fire. The price for this baby is currently at $199. I’ll send you one! Yay!

A hardcover, signed version of my most recent book, the Flinch. There is no hardcover of this book available at any price, but I am printing a few for personal use and will send you one, signed, numbered, etc.

A one-hour phone conversation about your company or project. This can’t be bought either, but I have done things like this for large corporations at rates of near $1000 per hour. I’m, like, a total genius so this is huge too. If you want we can talk about kittens.

Something else? Honestly I haven’t thought this out that much, it’s kind of an experiment. Have something else you’d like? Add it in the comments and I’ll see what I can do. 🙂

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program. Thanks! 🙂


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46 responses to “A Short Contest”

  1. Julien Avatar

    Btw, in case you haven’t figured it out, it’s much easier to win this contest if you ‘enter’ early.

    For example, @JosephRatliff just tweeted out “Those who don’t give a fuck change the world. The rest do not.”

    So this quote has now been captured by him and is off the table, making it just a bit harder for everyone else.

    Cheers and happy hunting!

    1. Ruth Avatar
      Ruth

      is there a way we’re supposed to know what quotes have already been taken? If there is an easy twitter way, then sorry for my ignorance-I only got twitter today, for the purposes of this competition ^^

  2. Kyle Reed Avatar

    is it just me, or can i not go back any farther then 2012? Having a hard time getting past that in the archives

  3. Joseph Ratliff Avatar

    Alright I’ll reveal my “secret”…

    –> Entering the “Best” section 🙂

  4. Joseph Ratliff Avatar

    If I win, a signed hardcopy of The Flinch would be cool. 🙂

  5. Tyler Avatar

    Kyle Reed –
    Same for me. The arrow to go back a year isn’t clickable.

    1. Julien Avatar

      Ok, I’ll get this fixed.

  6. Mathew Day Avatar

    Nice, I’m in. It’s time to dig for some epic sh*t!!

  7. Rog Law Avatar

    I’ve been working my way through the archives the past few days anyway, so this is well timed!

  8. Luca Avatar

    Just scroll and scroll and scroll, don’t need the back arrow in archives.
    Either way, Julien this whole game is fucked. You have way too many quotables.

    If I win, an hour of your time is far more valuable than the other prizes. Ka-boom.

  9. Corey Koehler Avatar

    This is a genius move for a bunch of reasons. Either way, it is pretty fun looking through all your old stuff. In fact I’m having a hard time stopping.

    If I win…hmmmm…the Kindle is tempting but I am thinking something music related. Perhaps like co-write a song with me. Hell, you could use it as a theme song for one of your projects.

  10. daniel gottesman Avatar
    daniel gottesman

    I really hope I win the opportunity to have a phone conversation with you. You are one of the most influential young people in the world today. I’m a musician and I would like to discuss with you how it is you can use your art as your business while at the same time not selling out! Hope you get the issue fixed soon so i can search from some sparks or inspiration!

  11. Adam Dukes Avatar

    I have sent you a few. So many to choose from. Yes, I just found this blog a week or so ago.

    Awesome idea, by the way

  12. Jeff Goins Avatar

    Love this idea. I am so in.

  13. Tricia McCune Avatar
    Tricia McCune

    Awesome idea! I hope I win!

    I have sooooo been wanting to talk about kittens for an hour! haha

    This dude has done some sweet quote work. I want to get one of his Dylan quote made into a tattoo! Maybe you can get some ideas from this beautiful typography!
    http://www.musicphilosophy.co.uk/

  14. Marie Avatar
    Marie

    My favourite is this one:

    “Wear something ugly. Do something stupid. Tell someone the truth.”

    greetings~

  15. Mike Barton Avatar

    1. It is time for you to recognize that what you’re doing is not working.

    – The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It

    2. You need to get bitch-slapped, regularly, and put your arrogant ass in its place. I include myself in that group, of course.

    – The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It

    3. When was the last time you felt that you had to do something, because you knew it was important, but it was too much work, too much emotional labour, and further, even if you did do it, you don’t even know how?

    – The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It

    4. Stop being such a tool. Go do something you actually care about

    – The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It

    5. If you had a TED talk, or some other grand idea, how would you present it? Think about it. This is your one chance. How would you use it?

    – The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It

    6. Why would you work on anything else but what actually matters?

    – The Complete Guide to Snapping the @#$% Out of It

    7 – 107.

    – Every line in 100 Tips About Life, People, and Happiness

    108. What would you give for the opportunity to be in front of fifteen, seventy-five, or even a hundred thousand people?

    – What is the real price of free?

    109. The ability to act is not something you’re born with. Change is a skill you can learn

    – How to Change Your Life

    110. you have to try and break your patterns and build new habits around them, constantly, because that’s how the world now works.

    – How to Change Your Life

    111. set your alarm right now at one hour earlier than you’re used to waking up, and begin tomorrow morning with the hardest task you have.

    – How to Change Your Life

    112. The only real difference between you, the one that does nothing, and you the super successful multi-millionaire, is that the other guy gets up over and over again

    – How to Change Your Life

    113. I’m ok with it falling flat because… I did not die… I was fine.

    – How to Change Your Life

  16. Janine Avatar

    I’m a new convert to your blog. I don’t do Twitter (maybe one day) and I’m not interested in winning a prize but I’ve been been practising not giving a fuck for a week or two and it is transforming my life so I’ll look out my fave quotes and post them in this comments section. BTW it’s not very easy to find the way around your blog. I’ve looked at some of your archive but the constant ‘subscribe’ pop up is really annoying. Can you put an ‘I’ve subscribed already’ option?

  17. Brett Henley Avatar

    This is a fantastic friggin idea.

    Done and done.

  18. Gavrev Eugen Avatar
    Gavrev Eugen

    This is the one of the quotation that made me fill joy when I’m seeing new posts from You. I recollect it each time when I have this problem – GUTS .

    ‘What people truly respect is when you draw the line and say “you will go no further.” They may not like this behavior, but so what? These are people don’t like you anyway, why should you attempt to please people who don’t care for you in the first place?’

    I beg pardon , but I’m not doing twitter.

    PS : there is many more things you can cite. I will start digging, I’m sure I will find something brilliant , it would be the most precious if it will be some ideas which I didn’t understood when i was reading at first time .

  19. Kyle LaFontaine Avatar
    Kyle LaFontaine

    This is a really cool idea. About to start digging through the archives. Shooting for that one-hour convo!

  20. Rue Smith Avatar
    Rue Smith

    Being a die-hard fan of this blog for over a year, I can honestly say I have never felt more alive in my entire life. Every day I am pushing myself farther than the day before.
    And it’s the most amazing thing I can imagine. I am proving my purpose, not just to myself, but to everyone around me. They can see that I am a more inspired happier person.
    When I was a little girl, my father told me, “True happiness is when who you are and who you want to be are the same thing.”
    So Julien, I’ve learned that going off the edge is a lot more of an uplift than it is a downfall. Thank you for all you’ve done for me and for the world.
    “Look– you’re going to get hurt. And sometimes, you’ll see it coming. But you should do it anyway. In fact, you need to. You need scars. You need stories.” — Scars

  21. Sylvia Lima Avatar

    I don’t care about perfect. I only care about progress. You should too. Later on pretty much everything turns into just “a good story”– the kind of thing you laugh about later, or learn as a lesson.Very rarely do we regret the things we actually do– it’s more the things we don’t do. I take this and follow it to its logical conclusion: don’t trust your present self, only your past and future self.
    Source: http://www.chrisg.com/interview-julien-smith-on-fear/

  22. Jamee Smith Avatar
    Jamee Smith

    I can’t access the archives Julien. I will try again tomorrow. I need to win the hour! 🙂

  23. Stephanie Phillips Avatar
    Stephanie Phillips

    Stop Living the Lie; Start Living the Life
    Posted: 09 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PST

    You deserve to be happy. You deserve a better life. But if you refuse to change, then perhaps you deserve the life that you already have.

    3 Lies You Should Believe (and Two You Should Not)
    Posted: 11 Mar 2011 07:17 AM PST

    The truth is that there are many paths we can take, and we’re coming across them all the time. Too late for the NBA? Fine. Go solve world hunger instead, idiot.

    The Complete Guide to Not Giving a Fuck
    Posted: 25 Apr 2011 01:04 PM PDT

    Take back your self respect. Do it today– try it right now. Wear something ugly. Do something stupid. Tell someone the truth. It doesn’t fucking matter.

    100 Tips About Life, People, and Happiness
    Posted: 19 Jan 2012 06:00 AM PST

    13. Get used to feeling stupid. It’s a sign of growth.

    14. It’s easy for people to talk a good game, so watch how they behave instead.

    93. If you see someone who needs help, stop asking yourself if they need help. Instead, just help.

    The Complete Guide to Snapping the Fuck Out of It
    Posted: 11 Jan 2012 09:57 AM PST

    You cannot remain in the ring forever, because it is immensely difficult, but if you never go there, you will never have breakthroughs. Otherwise, your life will be a comfortable carriage ride all the way to the grave.

  24. Mark Moores Avatar
    Mark Moores

    Julien, I am not on Twitter and am not joining it to enter your competition!

    That said, your best quote hands down is:

    “You are actually in the middle of an open field, inside your house, clutching your purse, crying like a little girl while looking at an edge you see on television.

    In other words? You are nowhere near the goddamn edge.

    It’s time you stopped being a fucking pussy.”

    This seems to summarise a lot of your themes and along with “The short and sweet guide to being fucking awesome” I think it is your best blog post.

  25. Jack Avatar
    Jack

    Done ;D from my favorite article from Complete Guide to not giving a fuck…

    Kindle fire please ;D

  26. Michael Schechter Avatar

    I’m going to Tweet my favorite (I’m shameless about entering contests), but here are quotes I’ve already pulled since I’ve been a reader. I hope the help: http://smarterthaniam.com/tagged/julien-smith

  27. Dennis Swennen Avatar

    I’ve already won. I’m going to (re)read your blog even more in the future for all the great advice.

    Thanks Julien!

  28. Ken Korcak Avatar
    Ken Korcak

    77. At least once, date someone that’s out of your league.

  29. Jordan Avatar
    Jordan

    Is there a limit to the number of entries per person?

    1. Julien Avatar

      I don’t see why there should be.

  30. M@ Avatar

    It was kind of a pain to get the quote to fit in twitter with the URL attached… I had to “twitter-ize” it, i.e. change YOU to u etc.

    M@

  31. Jordan Avatar
    Jordan

    Have the winners been announced yet? Patience, ok. In the meantime, I’m curious: was this contest merely an experiment to identify the best quotations from the blog, or is also there another motive? Specifically, I wonder if this was a way to encourage people to check out past posts, since typically they get forgotten under the weight of the “new.” If so, well done. For me, it was mission accomplished.

  32. David Avatar
    David

    Those who don’t give a fuck change the world. ~Julien Smith

    Picture to go along with quote.

    http://epicmotivation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Julien-Smith-Quote.jpg

  33. Emma Avatar
    Emma

    “I was in Thailand while reading this. Skip it and go to Thailand instead.”

    Good advice!

    Thanks!

  34. Jamie Avatar

    This is such a useful list, with so many titles I’ve been meaning to read, and some that are new to me. I’ve actually just printed the entire post so I can put them on my kindle wish list. Thanks for taking the time on such an exhaustive post.

  35. Jordan Avatar
    Jordan

    It’s bothersome that you would go to the trouble of a “contest” and then not follow-through. Is there any update?

  36. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    From ‘The Brief Guide to Sucking at Life’:

    “…being depressed (lower-case, not capital, D) happens when you think what happened in the past is better than what will happen in the future.”

    Amen… It sucks to peak early unless you change reminiscing on old times to ‘happy place’ memories as opposed to present shortcomings.

  37. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    From ‘Why Blogs Can’t Be Trusted’:

    “Working against the grain is essential to breakthroughs, critical to profitability (financial or otherwise). You will not get this while reading what everyone else is. Secrets are profitable because nobody knows them, and once things are published, they’re no longer secrets and, as such, no longer valuable.”

    I would push this even further to say that the idea of ‘secrets’ is a fallacy altogether. What people are seeking but failing to find is wisdom. I have no source for the following quote but from the time I heard it, it stuck with me for many years.

    “Wisdom is not transferable.”

    There are certain skills, especially related to personality/emotion that can not be represented as data or intelligence. For the same reason that you can’t immediately do a backside 360 off a 35 foot jump on a snowboard just because somebody told you how.

    You can practice similar movements on a trampoline to increase spatial awareness. You can practice visualizing the physical movements in your mind the same way as you’d practice using ice breakers before talking to strangers. When you finally drop the safety net there is no doubt that you will fall many times. Even when you succeed, there is never a guarantee that you will be able to consistently produce the same perfect result.

    That’s why you see pro boarders (excepting Shaun White because that guy’s a prick) cheering each other on no matter who wins or loses. They all appreciate the massive barriers each has gone through and continues to go through to be amazing at what they do.

    In fact, after a bad fall, if you aren’t injured bad enough that you can’t get up, the first thing you should do is try another trick (something smaller/easier) as soon as possible. It took me years (and riding with much better people than I) to learn this but, fear is manifested in the mind over time. Your subconscious will continue to play the simulation over and over in the background building up walls to protect yourself from making the same mistake again. It’s a terrible reflex and, if left long enough to fester, can lead to a crippling wall of fear on the next attempt.

    I spent 3 years avoiding 360 attempts because the first time I tried one I did it off a large kicker(20ft tabletop) and came down on my heel-side edge (think whiplash with your back facing the ground). It was toward the end of the day on the last day of the season so, instead of redeeming myself, I cut out and went home. I have since faced and mostly overcome the fear but it was a very long and painful process.

    I also picked up wakeboarding a few years ago which has it’s own set of challenges. To fight them the first pull I would get up and huck myself off the wake recklessly a few times until I’d catch an edge and faceplant. I knew it would happen sooner or later and suck just as bad the tenth time as the first so fuck it, why not get it out of the way early. If I didn’t I’d either end up holding back or eating shit because I was too distracted anticipating that I was going to eat shit (it’s funny how that works). Nothing like a big juicy slice of humble-pie to set the right frame of reference.

    Many of the most valuable of life’s lessons can’t be taught. Only learned through practice and persisting through failure. It will only get harder for future generations as kids are sheltered from risk more and more.

  38. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    From ‘The Case Against “I Love You”‘:

    “‘I love you’ isn’t a death sentence for relationships, but it sure as hell does make couples lazy. It takes all of these deep feelings and coalescing them into one vague blob of a sentence that is entirely meaningless.
    Using the word ‘love’ means a lot at first – there’s anticipation, tension, etc. It represents a million little things, but over time, it gets overused. It starts to mean nothing – especially if you’re saying it as often as the typical couple.”

    It’s hard to relate this to non-programmers but referential memory in the brain acts a lot like constants do in programming. Once their value is set in our minds it doesn’t change.

    We have this concept that words have intrinsic meaning but the truth is completely the opposite. Once a person internalizes a word and it’s meaning is reinforced, it doesn’t change… for ever.

    It literally takes a generation or a complete ‘paradigm shift’ (another diluted/overused term) to destroy a person’s perceptual foundation enough to start fresh.

    That means, while Ford may mean ‘awesome muscle car’ for a lot of old guys. It also means ‘a spoiled suburban girl’s fashion accessory’ to a lot of people from the younger generation.

    The problem with humans is, we’re really good at learning stuff but terrible at unlearning. Some individuals are better at becoming more malleable because they learned to question authority and established ideas from an early age. IMHO, being rebellious by nature means that you put a ‘soft’ barrier between ideas and meaning. When ideas are questioned going in and always taken with a grain of salt then it’s easier to justify rejecting them when they’re proven wrong. The hard part is forming a solid moral foundation (which depends on family/childhood influences) early on before the rebellious characteristics develop.

    Which leads me back to ‘I love you’. When that phrase is attached to one person exclusively, you have to be careful about how it’s used. If you dilute it’s meaning, there is no easy, safe, gradual way to reset it back to what it was originally. Therapy usually fails because it treats the symptom, not the problem. The only way to bring it back completely is to bring that person’s frame of reference back to the moment when it had it’s most powerful emotional meaning and hope it has a strong enough impact to suppress the negative connotation.

    ‘I love you’ used by friends is usually diluted by overuse (especially by some girls). I’ve seen some friends over use ‘I’d give my life for you’, especially when I know intrinsically that I couldn’t depend on for even basic favors. ‘I love you’ used by relationships depends on the relationship. ‘I love you’ used by family also depends on the family. For abusive families it may become an excuse following a terrible act. For supportive families it may become a powerful way to say goodbye, meaning ‘I keep you in my thoughts/prayers even when I can’t be with you.’

    The funny thing is, using ‘words’ or ‘phrases’ are probably the wrong way to represent referential memories. ‘Axioms’ are probably the right term because a word may have many meanings depending on the context.

    If you want to predict how long it’ll take for people to quit buying gas-guzzling cars and measuring their success by how much square footage their house has, the answer is simple. Until at least the next oldest generation dies off because, by the time most people reach their later years, they’re too ‘comfortable’ to question their foundations.

    I’d like to say I came up with all this on my own but I had help:
    http://blip.tv/oreilly-open-source-convention/oscon-2007-steve-yegge-323761

  39. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    From IOYH #106:

    “People are not internally consistent because they don’t have to examine their own behavior. For the most part, they just do what they do…If they’re asked examine two parts of their personality that are actually totally conflicting…then they’ll look at it and make up some sort of excuse as to why it is internally consistent…The fact is, we only focus on a couple aspects of our personality at once.”

    Or the more juicy part…

    “…I’m a…hypocrite like every other person that is here on this planet. You, everybody, all hypocrites. In one way or another. Not internally consistent. Incapable of being internally consistent. Humanity is not capable of it…On one hand, we’ll be petting the god damn seal and going, ‘oh, what a cute little seal,’ and on the other hand we’ll be like, strangling monkeys with the other m*********ing hand.”

    Note: My interpretation. I trimmed a lot of the ‘stream of conscious’ cruft to try to emphasize the good parts. The part about the left hand being the ‘evil hand’ was pretty good but I was trying to keep it brief.

    I’m just gonna throw this out there, I really like some of the stuff you way on your podcast but that ‘stream of consciousness’ shit is hard to quote.

    I really like this concept and it’s the first time I’ve heard somebody clearly describe it. The concept that humans are acting as one mind in a world of ‘gray areas’ is complete bullshit the same as the idea that we’re all capable of multitasking.

    We don’t multi-task, we context switch pretty fast but the more we pack on the more we suck at it. As much as we like to abstract our perception of the world to simple concepts, the actual work/concentration involved is pretty complex. Sometimes, rven for simple things like ‘not dying’.

    Along the same lines, we never think with ‘one mind’. Some of us are dominant in one aspect of our personality. For instance, somebody who is bipolar may be prone to overwhelming emotional responses; sociopaths may have an overpowering logical (or suppressed emotional) response; and people who are very impulsive may have an overpowering primal response.

    Shit, we just discovered mirror neurons (linked to autism) like 5 years ago that have a fundamental impact on how we learn from and relate to others (and may be linked to Autism).

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron

    Those are just the parts we know about. The brain is still largely a mystery because it’s function is too complex for us to fully understand yet. We’ve been building computers and programming abstract models for half a century but we’ve barely scratched the surface of how distributive processing works. The closest we’ve (accidentally) come to modeling the brains structure is the internet.

    Which reminds me of the class I hated most in college. Ethics. I would rather be called a bitch to my face then be force-fed bullshit of that magnitude again. Their pretty little models for ‘Ethical Subjectivism’, ‘Cultural Relativism’, ‘Utilitarianism’, ‘Hedonism’, ‘Confucianism’ pissed me off personally. The great writers/philosophers (ex Confucious, Lao Tzu, Hobbes, Plato, etc) presented their arguments as a means to better examine ourselves, not to be locked up in pretty little boxes to be consumed and regurgitated at will.

    The concept that we’re a complex mix of different (and oft times conflicting) personalities/perspectives just makes sense.

    Shit, even something as fundamental as hormone balance (ie estrogen/testosterone) can make a huge impact. Consider this, the presence/absence of testosterone and/or estrogen can affect gender and have a powerful impact on an individuals personality. I don’t have a link but one day I stumbled onto a blog where a butch lesbian started taking testosterone to emphasize her internal masculine gender identity. As a male who has never experienced the ‘other side’ of things it was enlightening how a woman dealt with facing the powerful impact/influence that testosterone has on the male mindset. For guys that get fat, it’s a scientific fact that the more body fat a guy has, the more testosterone production is decreased and the more estrogen production is increased. That’s the main reason why overweight guys develop gynecomastia (ie ‘bitch tits’). They literally produce mammary glands in their pecs (breasts?) that can only be corrected by surgical removal. Not to mention the mental/emotional effects of the hormone imbalance.

    The concept that we are of ‘one mind’ and are progressing as a society toward ‘universalism’ sounds oh-so-nice but only because it appeals to our false sense of control/security. The dark side of that equation is that it could also be naively dangerous because suppressing emotions/impulses can lead to uncontrollable outbursts in some individuals. Many introverts think we have it hard trying to relate to other people and dealing with society but some people with impulse control issues can, by nature, be a threat to society without any external influence.

    IMHO, the sooner we accept that, as individuals we need to discover/understand our nature and find our own personal balance, the better.

  40. Evan Avatar
    Evan

    From IOYH #106

    Quoted from thenumberfive.com, “…hippies are selfish, unpleasant, and not particularly funny.”

    Holy shit, this isn’t your quote directly but it resonated with me. I don’t know what in this day and age drives people to become hippies but it’s hard to believe that they don’t realize the extent of self-deception that their façade presents. I ‘get’ that growing up white (ie lacking ‘roots’) in a cultural vacuum like the suburbs of a US city can be depressing but reaching as far out as to pickup a cultural identity that died during our parent’s prime is sad.

    I’ve met some ‘hippie’ types who appear to wholeheartedly believe their shit and I pray that they don’t start any cults (seriously). For the trustafarian types who do it because they don’t like to shower or they’re trying to ‘score some hippie chick booty’ give it a f***ing rest. It’s less offensive to watch ‘hardcore gangsta’ rappers pander Gucci products to ‘the hood’ than to watch that shit. All of which can be personified in the two words ‘Ice Cube’.

    I’ve seen ‘hippie’ kids spend countless hours preaching about how they refuse to own a car because it negatively affects the environment… Only to bum rides from their friends on a daily basis.

    Plus, that whole ‘I wouldn’t kill a fly’ talk is complete bullshit. If you’ve ever driven a car you’ve killed hundreds/thousands of insects. Try driving a motorcycle and you’ll soon discover how much time you spend cleaning bug guts off your helmet, bike, and gear. They only have a lifespan of about 2 days anyway, get over it.

    By our nature, to exist will probably cost many animals their lives. If you want to have a positive impact, do something that makes your life worthwhile and don’t reproduce. I mean that, the greatest positive impact that most (read 99.95%) of humans can have on the environment is to not reproduce. Don’t believe me? Go spend a few hours researching the term ‘carrying capacity’. The science is simple, we’ve exceeded ours and technology is only a patch until we learn to balance ourselves better.

    “There is a word that, if you argue, and you argue well – that you appeal to people’s emotions – the word that I recently found – what that was, was ‘demagogue’. And I think that being a demagogue is a bad thing…you gotta wonder whether or not appealing to people’s emotions, instead of appealing to people’s logic is…It certainly works a lot better but I don’t know if it’s of the highest order. Or if it’s appealing to the lowest common denominator of people.”

    I thought I knew what demagogue meant. I learned it in my ‘Political Systems and Ideas’ course in college. Shit, it even had a powerful meaning then (ex Hitler, Mussolini, etc) but I soon forgot because I couldn’t relate it to my present life.

    I always thought of it as some greater concept that only applied to politicians and corrupt leaders but the way you frame it makes a lot more sense.

    Fuck, it doesn’t take leadership to be a demagogue. Only a willingness to manipulate others to do your bidding by taking advantage of their emotional impulses.

    I removed the confession about being a (potentially good) demagogue. But I seem to remember reading posts about you idolizing Two-Face and the Joker. For fucks sake, you present a pretty strong case against yourself.

    I get the appeal to rebelliousness but why pick the bad guy when there are figures like Rorschach. He’s fundamentally fucked up and wholeheartedly rejects the status quo but you can’t deny that he’s still a good guy. I mean, as bad as his actions are, he’s still driven by a moral foundation. Joker and Two-face, they’re both ruled and rule by emotion alone. As corrupt as they are their power comes directly from pandering to the lowest common denominator.

    Answer me this question. Is it possible to be a demagogue AND appeal to the highest order? I’ll use Oprah as an example. She’s rich, had a show that appealed to women’s emotions (obviously) and gave away a lot of free shit but how much of that money came out of her pocket personally. Here’s a better question, how many commercials or books promoted prior to the free shit being given to the audience…

    You know where I’m going with this because I distinctly remember a podcast where you spent a lot of time bitching about how you don’t accept swag in exchange for cheap promotions on your podcast.

    In reality, Oprah’s not an altruist, she’s a puppet. A very rich puppet who spent a large portion of her life being the canonical ‘face of women’s preferences’. In fact, Oprah is a demagogue because she became rich by appealing to the emotions of women specifically. Did some good come of it, I’d say yes. But was she appealing to a ‘higher order’ as you describe. I’d say no, she was appealing to her sponsors and taking all the credit. Shit, if she wasn’t in the media business I wouldn’t be surprised to see her run for senator/president. She could have given Bush a run for his money.

    “I think it’s what rappers do too. Just get a solid beat behind yourself and you can say anything you want – anything you want and people will start chanting it as a slogan.”

    Yep. I’m not gonna pretend that I can relate to the soul of a black man that grew up in poverty. I can’t. I’m a white male, born into a stable family, who grew up in the suburbs. I’m a real gangsta

    The reason I always like hip-hop was because some artists broke out of the standard appeal-to-the-hood bullshit and put more emphasis on the problems of society and/or self. The type of stuff I could relate to. I felt like I was watching a new art grow up within our society the one day, it all faced away and was replaced by designer brands and rims.

    The sad part is, I see guys in the military doing well for themselves but they waste the good money they make on the same dumb shit they grew up watching on music videos.

    They don’t realize that wealth has nothing to do with material possessions. People who have money don’t want to stand out. To stand out means to be alone. They re-invest that money and try hard to be like everybody else.

    It’s ironic that hip hop as a musical medium has faded to black while the international BBoy (ex Planet B-Boy, RedBull BC One) and Graffiti (ex legitimization and sponsorship by large corporations) cultures have never been stronger.

  41. F.Hoyt Olsen Avatar

    One liner from the wisdom of dad(me)

    “The independant female is like Sasquach….everybody’s heard of it but nobody has actually seen one.”

    I have yet to be proved wrong…ask why if you want.

  42. matthewlockwoodhotmailcom Avatar
    matthewlockwoodhotmailcom

    “Set your phone to ask you once an hour whether you’re being productive. Watch massive change occur.” awesome….. dude you rock.

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