It’s funny how suggestible people are. Tell them something often enough, and they will eventually believe it, even if no convincing proof has ever been presented. This insight has never been more poignantly captured than by some of the most vile people in history. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, said:

“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly — it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.”

Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest generals in history, and later Emperor of France, once said,

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”

Nowadays not many of us have to fight in wars or even serve in the military, where the use of such symbols as an indication of rank is wide-spread. Yet, probably all of us are part of some kind of system in which intangible benefits are used to boost morale, just like the proverbial carrot on a stick — and we make enormous sacrifices for them! The most insidious part is that they cost the employer or organization that hands them out very little or nothing at all. On the other hand, they reap enormous benefits from anyone who falls for this trick.

Plenty of people are aware of “Big Pharma” and its evil machinations. You seem to hear month after month about yet another case of bribery, academic researchers who received gag-orders, or studies that have found to have been doctored with. Thus, people are wary of those corporations, and for good reason. On the other hand, the very same people might happily see a doctor for whatever minor ailment, and never question his or her motives.

In the article “Modest Assumptions” I laid out why people often prefer a less appealing alternative over a better one that entails the risk of failure or defeat. As it is an important issue that can significantly affect your life, I’m going to discuss it in some greater detail.

First, it is interesting to ask why people prefer to protect their ego by acting timid. Don’t they realize that they will miss out on many great opportunities? This starts even on a smaller scale. Let me give an insightful example here: One of my friends has recently taken up Muay Thai, and devotes at least two hours on it per day.  He’s progressing well, and is already better than some of the people in his dojo who have been training for well over a year. His sensei took him aside the other day and said, “Do you know why you’re doing so well? It’s because you don’t take criticism personally.”

Have you ever wondered where your set of morals originally came from? If you think about it, you will probably attribute it to varying degrees to your parents and your environment, and you didn’t really have much of a say about it. You’ve been told that you shouldn’t lie or steal, and you’ve been taught what’s considered good behavior and what to believe. 

The goal was to turn you into a functional member of society, and if you care about reading my articles, then your parents were arguably successful. After all, if making ends meet or putting enough food on the plate was your main concern, you couldn’t care less about spiritual and philosophical thoughts.

One of my favorite themes is the discrepancy between how the world is supposed to be and how it really is. Often, the differences are mind-boggling. Let’s talk about the Catholic Church for instance. While I am sure that Jesus would be appalled if he saw the level of corruption, greed and materialism that has been going on for centuries in the institution that instrumentalizes him, he would be equally shocked if he knew about the moral degradation of more than just a few church officials. But I am getting ahead of yourself.

I have written about the doubtful status of many self-declared experts before. Sometimes, the emperor is indeed naked. While I am rather skeptical of criticism for its own sake, there are some fields in which I really wonder whether the people have any reason to voice their opinions with such confidence.

I have previously written about the negative effects of developing an “ego” about either skills you haven’t mastered yet, and also the related issue of wanting to avoid situations in which you could fail to achieve your goal. The motivation is similar in both cases as it is about avoiding having to admit yourself that you can’t quite live up to your own delusions of grandeur. Thus, the two most promising avenues are not seeking out such situations, and also to react hostile to everyone who might be superior. Surely you know people like that.

When you go to the bank to get a loan, the guy in front of you will take your credit score into account, and also your salary. But not only is the height of your salary important, it also matters who your employer is. It’s best for the bank if you work for the government, or a big corporation. After all, the more secure your job is, the more likely it is that you will be able to repay the loan over time. Of course the bank knows that a certain percentage of people will inevitably default on their payments due to the inherent design of the monetary system, but to understand that, you need some more advanced knowledge about how the financial system was set up. That’s not quite the point of this article, though.

Many people have an absurd sense of entitlement. They think that they should get everything, without making any sacrifices themselves. Examples are easy to find. If you are in a position in which you interact with many clients, either in your own business or on your job, you are probably quite familiar with men and women who believe that they are such special snowflakes that they should get everything for free, or incessantly haggle over prices because they think they deserve a better deal.

In a fascinating biography about the mathematician Paul Erdős, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, some pages are about one of his closest collaborators, Paul Graham. But please don’t despair because this article is not about mathematics as tall. When Paul Graham entered graduate school in mathematics, he found himself sitting in a class whose material he found rather challenging. Not knowing how good his competition was, he felt insecure. This only got worse after some students in the front row urged the professor to speed up so that they can get to “the good stuff.” Obviously, this can be intimidating.

I find it interesting how often people rather give up or not even try instead of making an attempt and risking defeat or failure. On an emotional level, I can understand that we want to avoid negative emotions. However, on a rational level this strategy strikes me as unconvincing. After all, even if you fail at something, and even if it happens over and over, it will be more than compensated once you succeed.

Great examples come from the area of dating. Let’s say you want to ask out the most beautiful girl in class. She’s attractive, everyone fawns over her, and from occasionally talking to her, you got the impression that she’s not only friendly, but that she seems to even like you. Nonetheless, despite all those positive signals, you still don’t dare to make a move. I’m sure this situation is familiar to most.

In one of the more interesting email I recently got, one of my readers, let’s call him Geoffrey, told me that he took a girl home from a bar. Things were getting hot and heavy in the cab already. However, when it was time for them to enjoy themselves in his bedroom, this poor fellow could not get an erection, and a more humiliating experience followed. 

Even though I hardly follow politics, I get to hear about a few more or less important issues. One was that allegedly there was no birth certificate of Obama anywhere to be found. I won’t bore you with the legal implications of it, as there is a bulk of literature about it to be found either online or in your nearest university library.

This article is more relevant for girls than guys. It’s worth reading either way, though, because guys will understand their actions better when chasing a girl, and also why they quickly lose interest once they’ve gotten them. 

One of the many bizarre tips for girls to achieve romantic success is to play hard to get, make the guy chase, or make him wait. They all mean the same thing, namely that you have to deny your sexuality until some random condition has been met. It could be the amount of days or weeks that has passed since you first met him, the number of dates you have had, or the hours you have spent together.