You find him charming. He tells you how bad the world is and references his ideas back to ancient philosophy. His stories are highly-shareable and collect more ‘likes’ than you could ever hope to get in your lifetime.
They come up with quirky phrases and headlines that remind you of past movies like “American Psycho.” Their stories have elements of humor wrapped in stories of chaos.
“This time is different” is the motto of their work. They tell you America will collapse. They tell you millions of people are going to be homeless in the streets. You read their work and think to yourself “what’s the point?” Their work never leaves you on a high. You never feel like you can do anything after reading their articles.
There are so many stories to choose from yet you always fall in love with theirs. There is something about a global crisis that gets you excited and keeps you coming back for more. This man is an excellent critic. They can critique any leader with power. There is always another way and every leader they encounter does it wrong.
They can spot the problems, the lies, but never the solutions.
Solutions are not part of their narrative. It makes more sense to add to the conversation rather than take the conversation down a different path that leads to a solution.
Reading their work is exhausting. You feel like you’ve run a marathon and are out of breath after reading their latest story. Their thoughts suck the life out of you. Your energy levels seem to disappear into a fourth dimension. Your feelings about what is possible in your life disappear into a space vacuum that leads to another galaxy full of toxic air you can’t breathe.
No matter the downside, you still read their work. There is always something new they have to share with you that could ruin your life. Not to read their work seems like a missed opportunity. Not hearing about another threat you didn’t see coming seems careless, gutless even. You could risk your life by not giving in to their bold claims backed up my lose evidence from people you’ve never heard of.
Chaos is their narrative. They can clearly articulate the next few decades and what they’re going to look like. They are like a fortune-teller — but for people who dream of the world ending because of one rogue asteroid. Every scenario they present seems worse than the last. If the invisible health crisis didn’t kill you or you didn’t wear a mask, then the recession certainly will.
The only way to describe the feeling from their work is with one word: hopeless.
You get nothing but problems and opinions, and your life is full of those already. He’s hard to resist though. He went to a good university. He has had a star-studded career in business. He can quote all the esoteric quotes from history. He’s well-traveled. He’s good looking.
You find yourself wondering whether a man so smart and successful already, could be wrong. “He can’t be, right?”
Suddenly, one morning, his words will get you. You’ll be having a difficult day and his words will strike you just at the right time. Those words will tell you to give up. Or they’ll cause you to relax your discipline muscle.
Before you know it you’ll be swearing at the person you love, or worse, swearing your lungs off at a stranger on the internet who sparked your anger with their social media post. Then you’ll teleport to your desk at work via a video call and say something to your boss you don’t mean. Before you know it, the chaos the man peaches will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
He warned you it was all going to end, and now it’s just begun. First you lose your job. Then you can’t pay your rent. Tomorrow you could be homeless.
Thankfully, there is a solution: turn off the chaos.
When he posts that headline that tells you America is doomed, click away. If he keeps popping up with his gems of chaos, mute him. If you search your favorite website and his articles pop up first, take drastic action: block him.
Whatever you do, do not fall for the work of a man who seeks only to preach chaos and spread fear in return for your demise. It might help them feel successful in life or further their writing career, but it won’t help you.
You have to face these uncertain times and it’s not easy. You don’t need more people in your path telling you the road ahead is blocked and there’s no other route. Give up on a man who spread chaos. You’ve got more important things to do like survive these uncertain times and help out your neighbors.
You can turn off a man who spreads fear and predicts the end of the world. Even if he’s right, it’s not going to help you in your life.
You need hope and inspiration, not chaos.
