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obstinate

1 April 2010

#90 Never take your hat off for anyone.

The next worst thing I know is when someone tells me what to do. The worst thing I know is when someone tells me what to do in an unpleasant way. I have therefore difficulty dealing with police officers, janitors, teachers, security guards, parents and bosses. I am therefore very pleased not being in school, not doing illegal things, not going out clubbing very often, not being five years old and not having a boss.

When I was a school in Nyköping with my band the other week the principal came up to me in the cafeteria. He didn’t say please, thank you or anything like how fun that you’ve come to play at my school. He pointed with his whole hand at me and said:

- Take off your hat.

What followed can be read on the blog at navid.gp.se and is a long history. But I can reveal that it ended with me not taking off my hat, and also calling him "a big asshole", walking out of there with my tray, and sitting down in the teachers' lounge instead. It was a much more pleasant atmosphere and there were no adult males around that felt a need to pee on the walls to mark their territory.

So.
Never take your hat off.
For anyone.

Required time: 
One second to say no.
Cost: 
Perhaps a public scolding. Perhaps detention or being thrown out.
Cons: 
This person may become aggressive and totally red in the face. It can be an annoying atmosphere that follows you the rest of the day. You may be in a bad mood from the fight.
Pros: 
You learn to stand up for yourself, to not take any crap, to not do things because others say so. Stronger backbone. Better sleep.
Taggar: obstinate, hat, school, principal
20 January 2010

#20 Write an opinion piece just to provoke

It’s easy to become obsessed with the idea that everything you write, say and do must have meaning and relevance. It doesn’t. In the same way it’s easy to become obsessed with the idea that everything you write, say and do must be true. It isn’t. And to sum up, because all good things come in threes, you also believe that everything you write, say and do must have a unified agenda and can’t be contradictory. It doesn’t. So what’s the frequency, Kenneth?

Write an opinion piece just to provoke. Choose a current topic then sit down and write 2500 characters, and Google an image that fits and send it to all the country's discussion pages. Pretend that you are an immigrant woman who gets beaten, pretend that you're a gay man who is harassed at work or an illegal refugee who learned Swedish by e-mail courses. Find an oppressed minority to hide behind and post a witty title:

 

- They want to fire me because I’m a Nazi.

- I lost my baby - now I want revenge.

- Fat people should be killed.

 

Sit down now and read through your entire opinion article and link immediately remove all that is conscience and political correctness. The aim with this piece is to fuck with them all. Try being a splinter in their ass. Just have fun with your provocative side, see how it feels, how it tastes. Worst case scenario, you grow as a person.

Required time: 
Two hours.
Cost: 
Free.
Cons: 
People may get upset, send you angry e-mails, and worst case scenario, send you threatening letters in which they tell you they’re going to do bad things to your cat.
Pros: 
You get a reaction out of people.
Taggar: writing, provoke, provocative, obstinate