Cause I'm not worth it

No, you can’t cut in front of me in line. You know why? Because you’re not worth it. And neither am I. I know you’ve seen the L’Oreal ads, I have too, but that slogan isn’t true beyond treating yourself to cosmetics. In relationships, you don’t deserve treating people worse than you would like to be treated by them. So unless you now and then think that I deserve cutting in front of you, take your place in line. Behind me.

In The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt says our constant striving for high (and often undeserved and artificial) self-esteem makes us all think we’re entitled to special treatment by our fellow humans. This inevitably makes us feel offended by the slightest infractions, and accordingly – unhappy.

I don’t know about you, but I blame L’Oreal.

Mass atrocity

Here’s a thick sentence to wrap your head around:

“Threatened self-esteem accounts for a large portion of violence at the individual level, but to really get a mass atrocity going you need idealism – the belief that your violence is a means to a moral end.”

I’m not going to tell you who said it until you tell me if you like it or not.

People I learn from

For no good reason, here’s a list of people who teach me things:

* Joseph Heller
* Lucy Kellaway
* Seth Godin
* Malcolm Gladwell
* Peter Gabriel
* Prince
* Jared Diamond
* Daniel Day-Lewis
* Bill Maher

Thanks!

John Thain

While Merrill Lynch was firing employees last year, then CEO John Thain redecorated his office for 1.2 million dollars. How can you even do that? Even if I imagine the ultimate fantasy office, I have trouble topping 200 000 dollars. What did he do with the extra million?
Now he says to his defense that the decision to redecorate was taken in a “very different environment” and that the costs were “a mistake in the light of the world we live in today?” Really? I would say that as long as anybody is starving on the planet, any self-congratulatory indulgence like this is a disgusting mistake.
And the question remains: What the hell did the greedy man buy?

My criminal friend

I know it's old to compare everybody to the Nazis, but Hemköp on Söder come pretty damn close. A friend of mine got hauled into the back of the store by a security guard last Thursday because he had absent-mindedly munched four (4) pieces of candy before paying for them at the counter.

Despite apologizing, he had his nationality (and weirdly also that of his wife) questioned, he was told he couldn't use his cell phone, the police were summoned and now a prosecutor has to wonder if the reason she went to law school was to deal with make-believe offenses like this.

What is Hemköp doing here? Taking a brave stand for law and order or bothering a grown man (and good customer) who made a mistake, not to mention police and judicial officers?

Seth, my man

I’m not really interested in marketing. Yet I am. And it’s largely thanks to a man called – and named – Seth Godin. Here’s my quote of the day from his latest book, Tribes:

“Many people are starting to realize that they work alot, and that working on stuff they believe in, and making things happen, is much more satisfying than just getting a pay check and waiting to get fired, or die.”

Amen. Now we just have to figure out how to get paid doing it.