A lot of clever slogans have cropped up the past few decades. These slogans are primarily meant for those to help the disenfranchised, downtrodden, and depressed pull themselves up by their bootstraps and take on life.
The problem is that these slogans are now abused by underachievers, slackers, twits and doofuses not willing to do the work that it takes to live or not willing to learn how to properly deal with people. This post debunks the abuses of these slogans and tries to refine them so that abusers will realize that you will be held accountable!
“I don’t care what people think.”
It’s true, you shouldn’t care what people think. If someone thinks you are odd because you like comics or dress weird, their opinion should not matter to you. But you should care how people feel. That’s a significant difference. Don’t be an asshole! Don’t be rude! Listen to what people say and work with them. This slogan is often adopted by some people who act like jerks and think it’s okay to act like jerks, thinking people are being overly PC. What they don’t realize is that their behavior is disruptive and destructive to personal relationships. These same people will say “I don’t think I’m being a jerk” but have trouble dealing with the logic of the argument that they are. Then they get upset and get defensive and accuse you of doing the same thing you are.
“People should just accept me for me.”
This is abused by slackers who don’t perform the jobs they are asked to do or by people who don’t understand the consequences of their actions and are constantly making bad decisions that can hurt themselves or others. These people want to be accepted and hate when people deride them for their choices. For example, dating an abusive partner, drinking too much, being an absent parent, smoking heavily around children, etc. These people may think the world owes them a little something, but in fact they owe the world a little bit, like responsible behavior. It’s very hard to get through to them anything logical and repeat their behavior over and over.
The lesson here is that I accept you as a human being but your behavior is unacceptable and irresponsible. Your actions have consequences and you will face them whether you like it or not.
“I work very hard.”
Sounds simple, right? Many people do work hard. Sometimes dumb people work hard too. But I have news for you, working hard is no substitute for working smart. And those who don’t know how to do the work often fake it, and then defend themselves not being able to do the work by acting like criticism is unfair and that they “have worked very hard.” What matters most truly are results, did you accomplish your task? If go outside and chop down and bunch of trees, you worked hard, but if I asked you to build a computer, well you didn’t really do the job you were asked, so telling me you were working hard is completely pointless. Now, you might say “hey I might not know how to build a computer.” Well the only people I know who abuse the phrase “I work very hard” are people who have accepted a specific job but then don’t know how to do it. If you have accepted the job, then you need to accomplish the job.
“I’m just speaking my mind”, “I’m not into Political Correctness”,”People need to stop taking me so personally”
Sometimes our society prides politeness over honestly… and sometimes you are a rude asshole. This motto and variations of it are used by people who don’t have a proper filter between their brain and their mouth. The problem with people who speak their mind too much is they don’t think about what they are saying. On one hand, I agree that people spend way too much time on how people are saying things than what they are actually saying, and things of value get lost. On the other hand, some people use this as an excuse to talk about weird or stupid stereotypes that piss them off for no good reason. You may think you are being a Maverick by being “un-PC” in your quest for the truth, but just remember this excuse is the same one that is used by Neo-Nazi’s and skinheads to justify their bigotry, as if racial equality is just a “Politically correct fad” or something. The secret here is to think if what you are saying makes sense before saying it, not just spouting an opinion and removing all doubt that your a moron.
“I can’t do anything without being criticized!”
Personally, I feel my mother criticizes me a lot. I know she does it out of love and the urge to drive me to be a better person. But I also know that’s our dynamic, and I can take criticism. I can also produce good results when I need to. Some people can’t. Some people make bad decision after bad decision. Stop making decisions based on bad emotions! There are people that just think “This is what I want” and attempt to do it. Everyone around them tells them why it’s a bad idea, but they dig in their heels and insist on doing it, and it blows up in their face. And they never learn. Sometimes people criticize constantly because it’s in their nature, and some people belong to cliques and the clique pushes them to do things not because it’s right but because it’s what the clique wants. And some people just deserve criticism but can’t take it and can’t fix their bad behavior.
Slogans are useful to give a simple philosophy but as with everything, they can be twisted and abused. These are “justifying” slogans, which justify what you’ve done after the fact. They are oversimplistic and bad. Good slogans are one that helps you think about how you should be doing something before you do it, like “Always look to improve yourself in some way” or “listen first, then think, then talk.” Slogans like these above are for the lazy who don’t want to beyond their own bad behavior for a better way.
