Kevin Kortum

Manu

You either believe in something and you’re willing to power through, or you don’t, and you do what everybody else is doing.

I guess it’s safe to say Manu doesn’t believe in the idea that “the truest sign of intelligence is the ability to entertain two contradictory ideas simultaneously.”

I don’t know who or what this is in reference to, but as a general idea it feels like a shortsighted, heat-of-the-moment type statement that ignores the reality of the world millions of people are forced to reckon with everyday of their lives.

If I had to live 100% aligned to all of my beliefs, I’m not sure I’d be able to function. As a small (but extreme) example: I’m a pacifist—but if I want to put a roof over my head and feed myself, I’m essentially forced to help fund the worlds largest military that is contributing to a genocide and just blew up a school with more than 150 children in it. Just because I don’t uproot my life or go to jail for tax evasion doesn’t mean my stance as a pacifist is any less true.

We all make decisions like this everyday of our lives, some minor, some more severe. Hell, in some places living one’s truth could be a death sentence.

I get these are extreme examples when we are more likely talking about something like hating Meta, but using Instagram, or hating AI, but occasionally utilizing it—both of which I’m guilty of myself—and I’ve probably already put more time into this than the original post, but I can’t help but be irked by such vague and, frankly, inconsiderate generalizations like this.