My Abnormalities – Thoughts from July 22 and 23, 2023

July 22, 2023

I was talking to a new employee about several subjects. I have alternative points of view to almost everything he said. He was saying it’s not illegal to use a VPN (virtual private network). I agreed, but said he was lying when he did. We use free services in exchange for information about our surfing history. Using the services without giving up information is breaking the contract of using free services. I said my biggest problem was not being willing to lie about what I was or wasn’t doing. I know I’m going to get ads in certain places. Those ads should know what I will actually buy. I want targeted ads rather than random ads for things I don’t care about.

From using VPNs, we moved on to talking about prisons. I said we would be better off if we didn’t have them. He questioned whether I would let out all the prisoners. I pointed out that prisons are already here. All we can do is rehabilitate the people in them. We could prevent people from going to prison by helping them when they are young to avoid doing things that land them in prison. Teach them to care about others (without the religious crap) because there are mental illnesses that are the actual causes for their behavior. We only care about certain people in society and we’re surprised when other people have problems in life.

Someone watching our discussion said that the new employee would be good for me. He would give me other points of view to consider. I didn’t disagree with him in words, but I was thinking I was only disagreeing with societal norms that I’ve heard from many sources. My disagreements with common thinking is as an outsider. He mentioned moral issues, and I wanted to stop the whole discussion and explain that I prefer the word ethical because it gets away from religion. I didn’t, though. It all comes back to how you treat strangers. Online companies comprise large groups of strangers. If you think companies want anything from you beyond your money, you’re wrong. They are a business who works with other businesses. All of them want customers who want to buy their products or services. Hiding information from them is a waste of your time and theirs.

I feel like a snob when I talk to other people about logical and ethical things. I have worked all this stuff out in my mind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean I can solve all the problems of the world, but I can explain the sources of the problems. In any conflict, the major problem is a lack of compromise in all sides. Those with the most power have the least incentive to compromise. Facts don’t matter as much as who will compromise and who will not. People get bogged down in facts and information when they need to step back and consider what is best for the most people. I’ve listened to many people’s stories and there is one commonality in all of them. The more you think only about yourself, the lonelier you will be. All the people, stuff, and riches in the world don’t matter if you don’t actually care about any of them.

July 23, 2023

I have something to confess, so put the kids to bed and listen up. I’m only going to say this once in this Thoughts paper. This is not what I planned on talking about today, but here we are. I am a writer standing metaphorically in front of a reader asking that reader to go with me on this one. What do you say? Are you in? I’m going to pretend you answered me and it was some form of, “I guess.” Now that we’ve made the equivalent of a blood oath to one another, let me commence with my confession. It’s difficult for me to admit, but I’m … I can hardly say it … I’m normal.

I know you’re thinking the bombshell I dropped in the last paragraph wasn’t something to be ashamed of or a huge confession, but it is. It is for me. I love what makes me weird. It’s what sets me apart from all those normal people. When I’m honest with myself (which I always am), I have to admit I’m normal most of the time. I show off my abnormal side in these writings because it’s more entertaining. Many of my thoughts are ones other people don’t have, but people don’t see my thoughts when I’m walking down the street. They just see a normal-looking guy. I’m normal on the outside. My insides are an accumulation of strange brain spices. My words are the foods I let people try from time to time. Some are bitter and I know who has the pallet to try them. I save my weird dishes for special occasions. Most people get my sweet and salty dishes of normality. Consider yourself lucky. I’m boring when I’m acting normal.