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No One Should Ever Learn Anything
Learning is extremely dangerous
I had a friend who sometimes felt “dumb” during conversations with cultural references. She grew up in the middle of nowhere without a TV or books.
So, she bought a big ‘ol book of cultural references. Like an encyclopedia, it had an alphabetical list of major cultural touchstones, from ET to the moon landing in ’69.
One night, we were having a deep conversation. The book came up. “Why do you feel like you need to read that book? No one cares if you don’t get references.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “My brothers made me feel stupid all the time and I never want to feel stupid again.”
The Devil You Know
This woman has spent 30 years treating everyone in her life like older brothers she has to “keep up” with.
By her own standards (I asked) that is not the ideal way she would live her life. So why does she continue to feed into it?
Because the devil she knows is better than the devil she doesn’t know.
The Devil You Don’t Know
Feeling “stupid” and reading encyclopedias you don’t enjoy may seem like strange behavior. But it’s a hell of a lot better than whatever chaos might emerge if…
