I once wrote an article called 12 Rules for Hating Jordan Peterson. I wrote it in response to a bunch of staff at Random House getting extremely upset at the fact they were publishing his new book.
Does he have some controversial stances? Honestly, not really. But there’s one thing about him that irks the media, certain pundits, and the rest of the apparatus that seeks to block him, and others like him, from having influence.
He preaches personal responsibility.
What’s so dangerous about personal responsibility? It threatens to re-write the narrative. I’ve talked about the narrative many times. Here’s a quote from a post I wrote called Don’t Fall for the Narrative:
If you can make someone afraid, exacerbate their frustrations, and make yourself out to be the solution, you can get someone to pretty much do anything you want them to do. And that’s exactly what you see going on right now.
As soon as people take responsibility for themselves, the power of the narrative disappears. Those in power lose their power. So they’ll do everything they can to keep you dependent on them instead of taking ownership of your life and thinking for yourself.
Notice how any hint of something along the lines of “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” gets shot down instantly. There’s a reason for that. Once you see it, you can unsee it.
Let’s talk about why society doesn’t want you to take responsibility for yourself and how you can stick a big middle finger at them by doing it.
The Societal Pyramid Scheme
In an ideal world, we’d have more of a decentralized structure. Hierarchies will always exist, but in a decentralized world, there would be more opportunities for individuals to be at the top of one of many pyramids. We’d have more independent merchants trading with each other instead of big conglomerates.
There are a bunch of people right now who do live in the decentralized world. I live there. I have no boss. Just a small handful of people who believe in my work. I support a bunch of other creators who make a living the same way. I buy products from tons of smaller businesses — e-commerce stores, artists, online educators, etc.
You see a lot of people making small fortunes, hell big fortunes, in cryptocurrencies. People make money in different areas like freelancing, affiliate marketing, real estate, whatever. The point is that a bunch of people woke up and realized they can have their own small empires instead of feeding into the machine.
The machine doesn’t mind if a few cogs go missing, as long as it keeps the masses in control, which it does a great job of. As long as enough people don’t wake up, the system runs just fine. As long as most people feel dependent on politicians, wages from jobs they hate, and the narrative, they can keep enough people at the bottom of the pyramid.
This is why they constantly hammer the message that you are helpless, that you can’t pull yourself up by the bootstraps, that you are held down by your immutable characteristics, that the rich are keeping you down (even though the people who tell you that are rich themselves), that the only way to change your situation is to play musical chairs with politicians who continue to do nothing substantial for the masses.
The secret to getting out is simple. Understand the game is only rigged against you if you decide to play it.
Same Argument, Different Conclusion
Here’s the thing. A lot of the diagnosis you see about the state of the masses is correct.
If you are working at a job right now and it is your only source of income, you are getting poorer. The consumer price index puts inflation at 5.4 percent high year over year, but that’s just based on a basket of items they chose. When you factor in the loss of your purchasing power plus all of the gains wealthy people made by investing in assets that got inflated, you’re even further behind.
But a lot of people take this information the wrong way. They look at it, throw up their hands, and feel hopeless. Instead, they should be ferociously scrambling to get on the right side of things. They should be looking to make extra income and invest it. They shouldn’t be doing anything else but figuring out how to escape the matrix. It should be on their minds all the time to the point of obsession. But it isn’t.
Yeah, if you don’t do anything about your situation, it will become dire. Nobody is debating that because you can’t. Question is, what the hell are you going to do about it? Sit there and cry? Or try to find a way out?
My major piece of advice is always the same — nobody is coming to save you. Maybe everything that happened to you isn’t your fault, but it’s your responsibility to deal with it. Not because it’s fair, or right, but because what other choice do you have?
You Can’t Re-Write History, but You Can Re-Write Your Story to a New End
Do I face certain disadvantages in my life because I’m black? Sure, but I’m not going to wait for the world to be perfect to get mine, and neither should you. You don’t have time to wait. It would be nice if we could go back in time and erase all injustices, but we can’t. All we have is the present moment.
If we’re calling a spade a spade — the playing field is level enough for you to be successful. I was the top writer on Medium for six months straight. I’ve made multiple six-figures online. No one has really tried to get in my way either. I’m not oppressed. I’m fine.
I know too many successful people of all different backgrounds to believe that you’re inherently screwed just because of your traits. You’re just not. And if you think you are it’s because you’ve been spoon-fed lies from the establishment because they need you to be dependent on them.
It’s the soft bigotry of low expectations at play. It’s insidious. You could even argue it’s racist. Take a look at some of the traits listed as products of ‘white culture’ by the Smithsonian museum:
- Time-management
- Self-reliance
- Rational thinking
- Hard work
- Politeness
Minorities can’t manage their time and rely on themselves? Really? Are you beginning to read between the lines yet? Do you get it?
Everyone comes with their own set of advantages and disadvantages, but that doesn’t mean certain groups of people need to be coddled or infantilized. Pity is a form of disrespect. They look down on us.
It reminds me of a quote:
Notice how there’s never any mass propaganda telling you to be powerful
But in the decentralized world, there are a bunch of people banding together teaching each other how to be powerful, regardless of our starting point. On a long enough time scale, your decisions shape the way your life turns out. You can always change your mind. Why not start today?
Change Your Life in a Year
Here’s a foolproof game plan you can use to change your life in a year. Do nothing else but the following:
- Hit the gym
- No netflix/partying
- Learn a skill
- Create side income
If you buckled down and really focused on just those four things alone, you’d have the foundation for your escape plan. But most people just won’t do it. Instead, they’d rather complain and waste time. They’d rather stake their hopes in sociopathic politicians than themselves.
When are you going to get out of your own way? Most of the stuff you need to learn isn’t hard. It’s just time-consuming and tedious. You’re letting a little boredom get in the way of changing your life. A little discipline, creativity, and ingenuity can change your life.
There are so many opportunities for you to become sovereign these days. The people in power know. And they’re afraid. The genie is out of the bottle.
Unless they shut down the entire internet there’s nothing they can do to keep the decentralized world from thriving. We don’t need these major institutions. We can tailor-make our information sources, education, careers, bank accounts, and communities. They’ll keep the masses at bay, yes.
But the small army grows bigger and bigger every day. For the talented and diligent among us, the possibilities are endless. It’s never been easier for the success of the individual and being in the collective leads to ruin. The right choice to make is obvious. Whether or not you will? That’s on you.