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When Is it Worth Saying Something Controversial?

Twelve things that many people think but wouldn’t have the guts to say

We all think things we don’t say. And usually that’s wise, but here’s a safe place to consider what might happen if you did.

Here are 12 things that many people think but don’t say. As a thought experiment, ask yourself whether and under what circumstances you might want to let ‘er rip?

  • You’re so rude. You don’t answer my emails or phone calls.
  • Boss (or supervisee), you’re the worst! You’re (choose one or more: stupid, lazy, dishonest.)
  • What in the world are we going to do with the 175 million people with an IQ under 100 in our information-age global economy in which ever more jobs are going to require high-level reasoning and learning ability? I see The Revolution coming.
  • You’re a hypocrite. You call yourself an environmentalist but live in a big environmentally wasteful house and drive a gas guzzler. Or you claim to celebrate diversity but live in a neighborhood and send your kids to a school with few African-Americans and Latinos.
  • America is driven by marketing, dishonest politicians, and biased media. Ugh.
  • I applied for a job and you didn’t even give me the dignity of a rejection letter?! You left me hanging forever?! You disgust me.
  • I’m tired of people who play victim.
  • I'm tired of people who call for teamwork so they can slack.
  • You stupid materialist: You work at a job you don’t like just so you can have a fancy address, drive a Mercedes that’s three times as expensive as a Toyota and requires more service and repair, and you wear designer-label clothes that make you a walking billboard for a corporation and for conspicuous consumption.
  • You’re going to an art or music college? That’s a bizarrely priced four-to-six-year summer camp pretending to be a college that prepares you to make a living in an artistic career. Besides, you have no talent.
  • I’m tired of all the taxes and societal focus on those with the greatest deficits rather than on the best and brightest, who have far greater potential to contribute to humankind.
  • Life has no meaning. We’re insignificant specks unable to move the needle. So let’s just break out the booze.
  • Update: A commenter below added 12 more. I commend them to you.

The takeaway

Is there anything you’d normally restrain yourself from saying but that you might like to say? To whom, and under what circumstances?

Marty Nemko's bio is in Wikipedia.

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