Our culture has weaponized virtue.
Her ex-husband changed his mind at the last minute. He wasn’t going to let their daughter spend the weekend with her friends after all. Instead, they were going to bond. When she asked him why, he said the girl needed to spend more time with her father.
“We’ve been neglecting our family values,” he said. Of course, my friend’s ex wound up not spending any time with his daughter at all. He took his new girlfriend to an indoor fun park, and she tagged along. Eventually, his daughter disappeared. …
They’re dragging us all down.
Maybe you’ve heard of Charli and Dixie D’Amelio. They’ve made millions of dollars from TikTok videos and endorsement deals. Their dad was already worth $2 million, and he recently ran for state senate on the republican ticket. That should give you a fairly decent idea of who we’re talking about. If they ever invited me over for dinner, I’d give it a hard pass. I’ve spent enough of my life acting polite around entitled parents and their kids, listening to them go on and on about their high IQs or how difficult it is being so much smarter than everyone…
Corporations have largely wiped out higher education.
I knew it was going to happen.
My university is kicking me out of my office. They want to make room for a Starbucks, and possibly a juice bar. They don’t know where they’re going to put me yet — just somewhere. One of the administrators even asked, “Do you really need an office? You’ve been working from home for so long.” I thought she was being sarcastic.
I’m one of a dozen professors that’s losing their workplace. We weren’t asked what we thought about it. We weren’t even told in advance. …
Tales only perpetuate inequality.
In 1866, Horatio Alger fled Massachusetts in shame after confessing to “impropriety with boys” and abuse of power. Nobody had a clue at the time, but that shamed church pastor would go on to establish one of the most powerful story archetypes ever known, and become one of the most influential authors in human history.
I’m not kidding —I wish I were.
I’m talking about the “rags to riches” tale, which you can find practically everywhere, especially in magazines like Forbes and Inc. It’s the reason why we celebrate the minting of new billionaires like Kim Kardashian, and why we…
Get used to being dirty.
Her ex-husband always has a complaint.
This time it was the toilets.
He disappeared on my friend almost a year ago, leaving her with two young children to take care of. Since then, he only comes around when he wants to spend time with them — which isn’t often.
Last visit, while using her bathroom, he couldn’t help but notice her toilets were a little dirty. The water didn’t have that crystal blue sheen like it used to. He asked her to try a little harder.
You can imagine what kind of incentive it provides a woman to hear her…
Real patriotism is hard.
His military uniform didn’t matter.
Only his race did.
On a dark winter night, two cops stopped 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario in his brand new SUV and drew their guns. They yelled at him to get out of his car. They didn’t tell him why. When he kept asking, they threatened his life. They told him he was about “to ride the lightning.” Then they maced him. They didn’t do it out of self-defense. It was punitive and malicious.
Here’s the full video.
Only later, well after the fact, did these two cops reveal the reason they stopped a black…
It’s killing us.
Last year Kylie Jenner threw a birthday party for her daughter that cost somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred grand. It featured a theme park called “StormiWorld.” To enter StormiWorld, you walked through an inflatable entrance shaped like her daughter’s head.
It gave some people nightmares.
You can see why:
4 truths from the real world.
They got burned.
That’s what happened to dozens of people who paid thousands of dollars to attend a three-day seminar led by the great Tony Robbins, who incorporates “firewalking” into his events. If you’re not familiar, “firewalking” is when you attempt to walk over hot coals in your bare feet, which is generally a bad idea. Of course, consuming enough self-help deludes you into thinking it’s possible, with no practice at all. In the end, 40 attendees were injured. Some were hospitalized. …
True gratitude means admitting your privilege.
You know what I’m sick of?
I’m sick of highly successful people who attribute everything they’ve ever achieved to their own habits and mindsets.
I’d like to call bullshit on this, if only for a moment. Full disclosure: I’m a highly successful person. But I’m a highly successful person who believes in things like student loan forgiveness and universal basic income — for other people, if not myself.
My hate readers think I don’t like rich guys like Steve Jobs because I’m jealous of them. Honestly, I don’t like Steve Jobs because he was an ungrateful freeloader. According to legend…
A look at parenthood in the 2020s.
He told her she wasn’t going to get the job, despite being the most qualified. Then he explained why. “I’ve been looking at your Facebook page,” he said. “You’re too devoted to your family.”
My friend quelled her rage.
“I’m already doing this job at another university,” she said.
He shrugged.
“True, but this place kills you with work. I don’t think it would be a good fit. You’d be happier someplace else.” It was an interesting move, framing a potential lawsuit in terms of her happiness.
My friend decided to let it go. She’s remained at smaller universities, doing…
