Food for Thought – The Blutooth Bar

A sampling of ideas to sate your appetite for thought. Some are sweet, some are sour, some are spicy.

Take a few to chew on.

Thoughtless words have just as much meaning.
Ideas by themselves don’t mean anything. They take on meaning when they are acted upon.
Everyone is capable of atrocity.
People will do anything to protect their ego.
No lie holds water without some truth behind it.
Any movement, regardless of intention, can go too far.
Contentment cannot be found through material gain.
Words are not always said as harshly as they sound.
There are more important things than being write.
Sometimes it is smart to play dumb.
One man cannot swallow the ocean.
Only one person can be the most important to you.
All people are not equal. All people are of equal worth.
Humans have an unbelievable capacity to overcorrect.
A person’s thoughts help form their beliefs.
Bigotry rejects the truth. It does not seek it. As such it can be defined.
A failure to plan is a plan to fail.
The ends do not justify the means if the means involve destruction of the ends.
If you refrain from purchasing anything from anyone, you make the implicit declaration that you do not care if they go out of business. At the same time, to hold yourself to such a standard toward everything is absurd and unreasonable.
Take one day off and you will fall asleep. If you do, there’s no telling when you will wake up again.
Insults are worthless. Every insult can be rephrased into a compliment and vice versa.
A little pride is a good thing. A little more will make a monster.
Pride can be as damaging as any other mental disease.
A little evil, left unchecked, invariably becomes a great one.
The best way to stop being interested in something is to gain total control over it.
Debates are imaginary fights, so few take them seriously.
To survive in this world, we must imagine we can handle it.
Nothing is good simply due to something else being worse
The closer two people get, the more pimples they can see on each other.
I have already won life. The rest is the bonus round.
If you believe something and do not know why, revisit the question.
Simple is not the same as easy.
Freedoms, once surrendered, are generally only recovered by force.
Bias is the difference between “that’s wrong” and “THAT’S WRONG!”
If there are clearly defined correct and incorrect ways to think, there is no reason for me to think.
The word “um” shines a light on the great chasm that exists between humans. I never say “um” when talking to myself.
We get mad about something being stupid when we want to take it seriously.
True indifference only comes from ignorance.
It’s easy to identify something as propaganda unless you’ve been taken in by it.
A group is only as strong as its weakest link.
Always be skeptical when people speak in bumper sticker.
There is no perfect argument.
People are the best resource. And the worst.
Any hole looks deeper with a dead body in it.
To have a tall tree, you need short trees.
Just because we will keep getting hungry doesn’t mean we should stop eating.
You know that thing you love more than anything? That thing you live and breathe for? There is someone on this planet that hates that thing more than anything. And that person is not stupid, evil, or wrong. That person is you, to someone else’s thing.
Avoid “kitchen sink” fighting. Make one argument at a time and resolve it before moving onto the next.
Most people are normal until you bring up that one topic. Some people make that topic every topic.
We trust people who are like us, however we define that similarity
Respect must always be mutual for it to exist at all.
Beware of retrospective determinism. Hindsight is much stronger than foresight.
People get stuck on an argument they can’t counter until they get sick of it. Then they declare they’ve defeated it, regardless of whether they developed a counter.
We tend to view the best traits in our friends and the worst traits in our enemies.
If someone says something strongly enough that doesn’t contradict what we already believe, we tend to believe it.
To respond to an argument with “I guess” means “I don’t want that to be true, but I have no counterargument.”
A bully is stronger than the victim, simply by definition. Strength is not moral or immoral.
If you’re talking about helping people, why say it with anger?
Power is the ability to influence the world.
A conversation is over once you lose the ability to communicate.
We tend to dismiss things that annoy us, unless they confront us.
To understand the fragility of humans, you have to accept that in the body of the universe, humans are the cells.
Fear and love, when combined, make the most destructive combination. All you need is fear of an enemy and love toward what the enemy is targeting, and you can raise an army. Fear and love together makes hate. Take one away, and hatred dies.
First impressions determine whether one will search for feats and ignore foibles or vice versa.
When you’re obsessed with something, you tend to see it everywhere.
We reject that which doesn’t match our identity.
If it’s not cute, it’s not worth drawing.
You can’t insult and unit people at the same time.
The sooner you send a letter, the sooner it will reach its destination.
War doesn’t decide who is right. It decides who’s left.
Be mad, sad, afraid, and disgusted all day long, but go to bed happy.
We don’t notice our progress until we’ve already transformed.
We do not wish to perceive evil as powerful. We seek to rob it of its power when we perceive it having any. Yet evil, like good, cannot exist unless powerful.
No individual person can be dumber than a collective mob.
Having the same answer to every question is the same as not thinking.
Solving any issue is like fixing a military helicopter, and we need to treat it as such.
Know the difference between a word and the meaning behind it.
The things that can hurt you are the things you pride yourself on.
Don’t trust odds when there’s someone at the wheel.
The best criticism you can hope for is that you’re doing something wrong. Fixing it starts with knowing what it is.
The only way to build future me is to destroy past me.
The side that refuses to take a side is as valuable as the other sides.
There is no cure for boring, but there is a cure for boredom: passion.
Hold people to their own standards if you seek fairness. Preach what you practice.
Swear words tend to come out in areas where a person lacks emotional maturity.
Don’t make something for an alien species. Make it for humans.
One of the worst traits in a person is the assumption of malice in others. This trait is also invaluable.
Winning and being right are held in too high regard.
You’re not an adult if someone has to clean up after you.
Don’t let people disqualify ideas simply by saying they are disqualified.
View arguments like a Pokemon battle. Refrain from attacking the other person directly.
You need to have an aim, one that is high but feasible.
Keep walking forward and keep a record of where you go. In six months, you will somewhere else, now holding a map.
Proper weed-plucking is done by hand, not committee.
The meta narrative should not take priority over the narrative. Don’t let Doyle overpower Watson.
If there was an implication, there should be an indication.
People want to believe there’s value in what they’re good at.
Assuming malice in others is a faster route to misanthropy than experiencing it.
If people can blame someone else, they will.
It’s easier to consume than produce. So more people consume.
When people start debating ideas, eventually it devolves into debating which is worse.
If you chop down a tree, you take down the whole tree, both the good bits and the bad.
People can keep blowing smoke to prove the existence of a fire that has long been extinguished.
You can’t tell a blood cell to just become a brain cell.
A moral person is not one who says good things. I say the same is true with an immoral person.
Injection of emotion into law tends to make it worse.
There is a fine line between skepticism and contrarianism.
Everyone is a crack-shot when shooting fish in a barrel.
When looking for the guilty party, consider who has the most to gain.
Why has debate become the art of insulting the opponent without getting insulted back?
When the world is nice, evil holds the power.
If our concern for others is finite, we are left with an unfortunate question: Who do we choose not to care about?
Gods are like lawyers. If you do not have one, one will be provided for you.
You can’t argue against your opponent by attacking their weakest argument.
The “do something” mentality is fallacious if there is an opportunity cost.
There are too many people hungry for destruction. We need creators.
Don’t let others make you defend against things you didn’t say.
Those in authority deserve the benefit of the doubt, but woe be unto them if they abuse that benefit.
Spicy foods can offset cravings for salty snacks.
I don’t want to make real things fake. I want to make fake things real.
When outrage is power, outrage determines who is right.
‘Loser’ is the worst insult. Imagine making it through an entire lifetime and then losing at the very end.
Don’t date someone you pay to be nice to you.
The more words we know that either turn us away or draw us in, the easier we are to control.
Facts are weapons. Weapons are power. Power corrupts.
If we must measure each other in points, let virtue and empathy be two separate scores.
Art isn’t created for the purpose of being the best but for any other reason.
If I am going to agree to the censorship of something, there better be more than words involved.
No one throws just one punch.
The things that make up our biggest vices tend to be things we think we can’t take too far.
Who cares about the good deeds of a monster?
Determining whether nature or nurture matters more is like determining whether length or width matters more when measuring volume. You need both for the end result.
If you think your opponent is evil, why appeal to their sense of guilt?
If you insult a real person for the sake of a fictional one, you have gone too far.
The true face of politics: Praise that which gives us power. Condemn that which gives them power.
If someone just obeys you, they won’t learn anything.
If you’re using the wrong gravity, you’re not going to get to the moon.
Emotions are babies. Ideas are children. Words are teenagers. Actions are adults. They should be punished accordingly.
If there’s one thing a movement doesn’t want, it’s a solution to their problem.
Life is the process of steadily increasing our standards until we can no longer stand to exist.
The growth of society is tantamount to one’s growth in artistic skill. We have gone from complaining about issues in anatomy to complaining about tangent lines.
People like finding patterns and secrets on their own but hate being unable to find them.
When writing a story, make it “therefore”, not “and then”.
Pointing out hypocrisy in a group is a waste of time, like trying to scoop the moon out of the pond.
There are things that we all know that we don’t start thinking about until they are said.
If you boil things down to two groups, the natural inclination is to make one good and one bad.
People have invented moral makeup. Bottled ideas sold to people to make them feel secure about how they think. Just like regular makeup, if you don’t wear it, you will be shamed.
To an artist, stagnation is regression.
If we invented the power to siphon and redistribute happiness, there would be a happiness tax proposed within the year.
I don’t believe in ugly colors.
If I think your standards are too high, your criticism can be disregarded.
You can’t declare what is immoral to everyone.
You don’t lash out at people you’re above. You lash out at people you’re afraid you aren’t above.
If someone says “huh?” when you engage them in conversation, you have said something they were not prepared to hear.
If you cannot point out a person’s flaws, you see them as God.
More time spent on an identity tends to correlate with less time spent on character.
Avoid putting people in a situation where they have to tell you ‘no.’ It makes them subconsciously like you less.
Do not accept canned arguments.
Guns and seatbelts serve the same benefit.
No one is part of “the” problem. There is far more than one.
Words are more powerful when indirect, but only if you interpret it correctly.
People don’t like being called less than human. Or more.
Winning an argument doesn’t usually feel like a victory.
There is no food that is so unhealthy that you should never eat it. It would need to cease being food first.
Food is defined by its taste, first and foremost.
We don’t want to admit good things happen to bad people. We don’t want to admit that bad people can do good things.
Fish swim in the ocean. Such is man.
It’s hard for a movie to make you mad if it doesn’t have an ego.
The goal of a chef is to make their client take two bites.
Rhetoric is unsubtantial or insincere.
Don’t become the parent that bans junk food.
If it is not bad, I likely won’t notice. Not unless it’s important.
A story is not garbage just because you don’t like the message.
The fallacy is not that all things should be balanced. It is that the fulcrum should always be in the center.
It is much better to warp your social commentary to fit a story than vice versa.
The government’s scissors are thicker than the lines.
Don’t erase the distinction between who you are and what you believe.
If it affects something significant, it is not a nitpick.
Wants define needs.
The brightest stars shine the brightest.
Sometimes you have to paint someone you hate as a good guy.
Don’t hold up your shield while swinging your sword.
As in chess, don’t tell your opponent their next move if you see through it. Factor it into your strategy and plan a counter.
Not all fires are put out with water.
People engage in damage control after they have given up on defense.
People punch back if they feel like they have been punched.
All it takes for the greatest evil is to believe a certain goal is good, no matter what must be done to achieve it.
If someone brings up an argument only to attack it, they doubt their own strength. Confident fighters fight living opponents.
The things you’re allowed to fully control are things that are entirely yours. Any more than that is immoral.
It is sad when the closest someone will get to admitting defeat in a debate is to claim that the argument “doesn’t matter.”
Special things are attractive when you have someone who says not to do them.
Measure the size of the problem by the size of the solution needed to fix it.
Telling someone that something they love doesn’t matter is just begging for a game of nihilism chicken.
If it is legal, people will do it. If it is not, people will try.
Acting solely on personal whims hurts your macrogame.
There are people willing to take arms against the darkness despite knowing for certain that the darkness will win.
If we can just not be aliens to each other, we can probably get along.
The strong resent the weak. And vice versa.
He who interferes with what doesn’t concern him will find what doesn’t please him.
It is sad to see a person become their beliefs. Where even making light of their views in jest is to breathe fire in their face.
Stories are puzzles. They just aren’t deterministic ones.
In a debate, you can’t let your opponent change the sea level.
If you’re fighting the tide, be sure you know why.
The bigger the group you criticize, the less meaning it has.
At age 26, I am officially one year old.
I’m not much in the business of telling people what to believe. I’d rather make suggestions.
We all realize we’re falling in the darkness, but not all of us believe there’s a ground beneath us.
By default, people would rather complain about problems than solve them.
Ask people to think. Don’t try to fix them.
It’s best not to ignore the signs when things start fading.
You’re allowed to go a little too far.
Once you’re married, your sexuality is “married.”
In a debate, no judging and no deflecting.
The greatest skill in comedy is the ability to say something funny without laughing yourself.
Treat your mental ailments as seriously as your physical ones. See a therapist with the same urgency that you would see a doctor.
People who don’t know what they’re talking about will always speak broadly.
Someone can live in Australia without being on the wrong side of the world.
I am sympathetic to people who advocate for change. I am less sympathetic when people complain when they don’t get it.
If someone does something at your expense and it’s funny, you’re fine.
Black Truth: Something that is normally true, but used as a weapon for another purpose. A blatant corruption of truth.
You can detect propaganda when you know something is wrong but don’t know why.
It’s more difficult than believed to find things that are both funny and 100% true.
When you put backstory before the story, you’re telling me that who a character was is more important than who they are.
Receiving something you ask for is as valuable as a single tissue.
Hypocrisy’s a pretty scummy roommate. It’s a shame it pays half the rent.
No one likes talking to someone when they’re holding a bear trap behind their back the whole time.
If you’re offended, people will only care if they agree or like you.
Violence is an admission of defeat.
Discrimination is wrong because it is unfair. Then what if discriminating is not unfair?
Ask yourself: If they were wrong about everything, would their tactics be different?
The currency of every relationship is trust. Spend it wisely.
The most terrifying concept in the universe is a devil in disguise.
You can’t dictate people’s passions.
Propaganda is a form of pornography.
Do not let love and compassion for your in-group become veiled disdain for the out-group.
There are times where it will anger you more to see someone happy than if they directly insulted you.
Kids are not dumb. They are just easy to manipulate.
You can tell how civil a conversation is by how many honest questions are asked.
Everything in our society boils down to currency. If not money, then social currency (i.e. trust).
Any pursuit will eventually hit diminishing returns. At that point, we must find a new pursuit or endure Zeno’s paradox.
What I see, by-and-large, are people with all of the control complaining that they don’t have ALL of the control.
If someone tells you there are enemies out to get you, it confirms that there are enemies out to get you: either the people named or the people speaking.
Humanity has an obsession with breaking records.
Tangents cannot be resisted, not by mortal men.
If we hadn’t invented flags, music could have been used instead. But man, that would have been annoying.
There are three signs of weakness in a debate: 1) Accept everything your opponent says because you are afraid to reject it. 2) Reject everything your opponent says because you are afraid to accept it. 3) Become unable to do either because you’re afraid of the truth.
Most people are just waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
‘Probably’ is not trustworthy.
The height of immaturity is to claim authority while taking no responsibility.
Pretentious and serious do not mix.
Treadmills are for people with nowhere to go.
If it’s not your God, then criticize it.
Everything, as it ages, moves toward entropy.
It’s easy to be an angel in heaven. And a demon in hell.
Evil wins when lies become the truth.
So many people are just looking to be told what to do.
We can either see life as ‘us vs. them’ or ‘all of us vs. death.’
The difference between heaven and hell is how much we want to be there.
We don’t have free will unless we can tell ourselves ‘no.’
If you want to get smarter, act like a cocky know-it-all. The people with actual knowledge will jump at the chance to teach you.
Every step forward could be a step back in disguise.
Preference is not actionable.
You can’t squeeze water from an empty hose.
Evil has no magic behind it.
Anyone can claim to be God.
Pay attention to what people don’t say.
Every side character is in the queue to be a main.
A hero takes on the risk they can afford. A superhero takes on the risk they can’t.
Don’t spend your life in Hell.
You say “a tax.” I hear “attacks.”
The times where it can hurt to ask are the times where the result only benefits one party.
One man’s amazing is another man’s Cthulhu.
You can’t reach the top without bouncing off the bottom.
Calling something ‘hard’ doesn’t make it easier.
Love inspires pretentiousness.
Vying for fame makes you weak to shame.
Never board a sinking ship.
Good artwork always reads like a random sentence in a much longer conversation.
Angels and demons share one key characteristic: Neither are human.
When a character puts on clothes, the clothes become part of the character.
If people believe something, they’re not gonna suddenly not.
If you want a society of people who do good, make the right way the path of least resistance.
There is no emotion toward anything that you are morally compelled to feel.
Fidgeting is a tell, that either you’re too nervous or not nervous enough.
Don’t be made of fire. Don’t be made of ice.
People will consider a parrot’s words until they know they’re a parrot’s words.
For something to change, something must change.
Giving power to the weak does not make them strong. It gives them the option to remain weak.
Emotion is not a skill or ability. Controlling it is.
People love having secret knowledge, as it gives them an advantage over everyone that does not.
The criticism you respond to is the criticism you accept.
The things you put your identity into are where your vulnerabilities lie.
It’s harder to trust people who refuse to ever be the punchline.
Being able to hold back laughter is a great skill, especially when telling a joke.
Surprise is an emotion amplifier. It makes horror scarier, jokes funnier, and romance more endearing.
Don’t ever outsource your humanity.
Don’t put too much of your identity in someone else. You can’t control what they do.
The goal of a writer is to sell you reality. Their success is based on whether you buy it.
You are entitled to your opinion. You are not entitled to mine.
If you want to learn something, figure out what you don’t know.
An adult has a bigger vocabulary, but a child can say more words.
Don’t let your expectations define your reality.
Everything is normal once it turns familiar.
People will start caring when you make something good.
Most people are dumb because of what it costs to be smart in any one subject.
If the government is all that is keeping you safe, then you are not safe from the government.
Annoying characters are the worst when the author is on their side.
No matter what system you’re working with, game theory applies.
It is difficult to stand out when you have principles. Unless, of course, no one else does.
You’re not ‘sorry’ if you do it anyway.
When a thought-terminating cliché takes hold, people invariably develop an allergic reaction to it.
The worst people on the planet will beg for mercy after denying it to others.
I’d rather be ashamed of the things I made than the things I didn’t.
A lack of curiosity belies a lack of understanding.
Sarcasm is not worth a response.
All color comes off in the wash.