Elon Musk: an antidote for presumptuous, vain and negative people
Pride, vanity and negativity: three viruses as subtle as contagious, increasingly widespread in our society. There are various remedies for containing their effects. One who bluntly advised a Dutch lady was: simply stop talking to these people!
That is a possibility. Another possibility is to surround yourself — more or less literally — with those characterized by personality traits capable of countering these viruses. A good antidote example? Elon Musk.
The presumptuous
Virus
Interacting with a presumptuous person is a bit like playing on the seesaw, the swing based on the principle of leverage: for him/her to go up, the others must go down. Nietzsche (ironically, the philosopher who became a symbol of human hubris, especially in the eyes of the Catholic world) once wrote:
“For me, presumptuous companions are those who need the wretchedness of their environment to rise for a moment above their own wretchedness!”
The conceited ego likes to be surrounded with lilliputian personalities, incapable of overshadowing it, either because they lack visibility or because their visibility is decreased as they are cornered. Only those who cannot undermine its (presumed) importance are given attention, while the others are strategically ignored.
Symptoms
Strong disesteem and insecurity when in his/her presence.
Tendency to feel “invisible”.
Antidote
Elon musk
“I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”
“Really pay attention to negative feedback and solicit it, particularly from friends. … Hardly anyone does that, and it’s incredibly helpful.”
“I’m glad to see that BMW is bringing an electric car to market. That’s cool. There’s room to improve on the i3 and I hope that they do.”
The vain
Virus
Flaunting the fur, or the jewels. The luxurious car. The boyfriend, the girlfriend. The professional achievements. Every single holiday, outing or even picnic.
Vanity is self-display, like clothes on mannequins in shop windows. Vain people dominate everyday music, because of their prolixity. Their voices chase each other, resonating, overpowering the silence or whispering of others.
Symptoms
A desire to be “invisible” when in their presence.
Strong abdominal pains, especially in response to honeyed manifestations concerning their life as a couple.
Antidote
Elon musk
“Given the choice, I’d rather stick a fork in my hand than write about my personal life. I hate writing about personal stuff.”
“Particularly Instagram, people look like they have a much better life than they really do. People basically seem like they are way better-looking than they really are, and they are way happier-seeming than they really are.”
The negative
Virus
Perennially discontented, the negative person is the serial whining at different scales (depending on convenience): from the city where he/she lives, to the country, to end with the whole of humanity.
Recognizing the evil, calling it by its name and therefore — if in the possibilities — contributing to fight it: all this costs a huge effort, we know. That is why so many people prefer to complain indiscriminately about this or that and, if necessary, about the whole modern world. The negative personality is fundamentally lazy, when not astute. By claiming that the cause of any problem is always external, indefinite and ineradicable, one exempts oneself from the responsibility of any action (or inaction).
Symptoms
Development of the tendency to misanthropy.
Loss of confidence in humanity.
Antidote
Elon musk
“If anyone thinks they’d rather be in a different part of history, they’re probably not a very good student of history. Life sucked in the old days. People knew very little, and you were likely to die at a young age of some horrible disease. You’d probably have no teeth by now. It would be particularly awful if you were a woman.”
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”
Great antidote, this is Elon Musk.
Anyway, for truly irrecoverable cases, you may always follow the Dutch lady’s advice…
