The Chris Cuomo Project - Walk and Talk: Keep it Simple

Episode Date: December 18, 2022

In a candid and honest Walk and Talk, Chris Cuomo explores why it’s important to keep it simple, the need to be kind to yourself, the concept of preferred indifference, and how to reject type.  Follow and subscribe to The Chris Cuomo Project on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube for new episodes every Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another Walk & Talk. It's cold. That's good. Why? Because I decided it is. Three points. KISS. Preferred indifference. Reject type. First one, KISS, comes from no specific derivation, but it is a point that philosophy is not complicated. It doesn't have to be complicated. It just gives you a feeder road to your why in life. And why is so important. Kiss, keep it simple. Or as this partner that I worked for at a law firm, keep it simple, stupid.

Keep it simple. What is philosophy? Well, it's the study of knowledge, but what's the easiest application to life? Be kind. Be kind. Jives with every faith. Are you kind? Probably say yes, but you also probably do not practice it on the regular. Sure I do. You don't know me. No, but you know you. That stupid tweet, that snide comment, you agreeing with your friend about unflattering gossip about somebody else,y, contentiousness, pride, competitiveness. I may have said that twice. It's all indication of where my head is. We're not kind as a matter of practice. Why? Because we're weak, flawed, selfish. Selfish. Be kind. Keep it simple. See it in all applications.

Be kind. You have questions about what choice to make. Which one would be a practice of kindness? Wasn't that weak? Aren't I going to give in all the time? Absolutely not. Your kid says, you drink alcohol. Why can't I drink alcohol?

Because you're not at the age where it's legal. And because I want you to learn how to make good choices for yourself. And I want you to see that you don't have to be dependent on what everybody else is doing to know who you are. They're unhappy. They say you were unkind. No, it's absolutely an act of kindness, depending on how you deliver it. See what I'm saying? My hand's cold. Okay, so you can keep it simple. Be kind. A lot of philosophy works that way. Do good, be kind, love mercy. There are all these different applications of it, derivations of of it but the message is the same

keep it simple be kind it works internally also by the way or self-directed well how are you kind to yourself well how do you treat yourself I walked to the cemetery for mostly the ranger family here

where I live very old old, early 1800s, even 1700s. And I said, put the self-loathing away. Put it away. Let it die. I don't know how long it will last, but I said, others will do that. And it really is true. So why do I do it? Is it a way of driving myself? Probably, but also sets you up not to be disappointed when bad things are said,

when bad things happen, when you fall short. Well, I'm already a piece of shit. So you see what I'm saying? You set yourself up. Be good. Be kind to yourself. The rest of the world will take the piss out of you. You don't have to do it to yourself. Be kind. How do you eat? How do you train? Do you walk? Do you walk often?

Do you do exercise? Do you eat well? Do you make sure you're eating to enjoy and not just feed some need other than the obvious, the salubrious, the healthy. Keep it simple. And in doing with that, I think I'll go a little shorter. My hand is stiff.

Second point. Preferred indifference. This is from Stoicism. indifference. This is from Stoicism. Preferred indifference is that certain designations of life need not be important or unimportant because it's more complicated than that. Like what? Wealth. Now we're in a weird phase right now, I would say, where the wealthy or the elites, as they say now, are being demonized often by those same people. What does that tell you? Someone's playing to advantage. Someone's playing you. What does it mean to be wealthy, to be successful? Well, it used to be a big part of the American dream to have the ability to

succeed or fail on your own merits, make your own way, live as you desire. But wealth need not be anything on its face. Preferred indifference would suggest that it's better to be wealthy than to be poor, but it doesn't have to define you. And it's what you do with your wealth. It's how you make your wealth that winds up mattering. So it doesn't matter that he your wealth. It's how you make your wealth that winds up mattering. So it doesn't matter that he or she has money or doesn't have money. It's what they do with it. It's how they live. Okay? All different types of elevated status, which now you could argue is being diminished and reduced. But I think that's opportunistic. And whenever I see people

who are doing really well, say, watch out for the elites, you know, watch out for them. Now, preferred indifference is a very powerful concept. And it really starts to get us into the trick of being, which is what rules do you play by? Oh, that guy, born on third base, thinks he hit a triple. Where does that come in? Jealousy. I know that's when I've done it. You know, sometimes I'll be like, wait, what?

Quimblas don't come from money. My father was governor. We had one good job in that generation. And that's not true. A lot of people did really meaningful things. My father would say more meaningful than he. His sister was a librarian where she lived. And he was like, who's better than she is?

You know, his brother worked at a huge grocery chain. You know, they were raised by a grocer. My father, his father was given a huge gift by a Jewish benefactor. And I say Jewish because I'm always hammering that, that, man, if you live under some, you know, misperception about people of faith, don't bring it here. Especially about Jewish people. They're part of my family. They're the family I choose. I love the faith. I love the culture. So you're coming for mine when you come for them. So don't do it. And I wouldn't be here, really, certainly not the way I was allowed to be, if not for Jewish, one Jewish man in particular,

who took my grandfather in in who was digging graves, digging ditches, taught him the grocery business, gave him a really favorable lease on his grocery store that he let him live behind, raised his family there. So my father's brother wound up being in the same business. And my father was very proud of him, proud of him for a lot of reasons. But what's the point? What's the point? It's how you use your situation and how you see the situation of others. Preferred indifference is the best way. It really is. And I'm very slow to judge things or give recommendations, but don't let status shape you one way or the other. Well, that's a celebrity.

I want them to like me. I should like her. I should want to look like her. I should want to be like her or him or it or they or whatever. No. They are who they are. You are who you are. Take the good.

Leave the bad. Be very subjective about it, but don't depend on it. I don't have to have money. Well, yeah, you do to live. I'm saying it doesn't have to be my sole objective. It doesn't define you. Status, being known, social status, preferred indifference. it's okay that this person telling you this is the head of a party or a company it doesn't make them better or worse maybe it does, but you have to judge that for yourself

but don't let it define you and that leads us to the third point reject type, some of that we just covered that you have preferred ind leads us to the third point. Reject type. Okay, some of that we just covered, right? That you have preferred indifference to status. But we all put ourselves in buckets. How do you define yourself? Male, female. And I'm not talking about simple genetics. And I'm really, I'm really very dismissive of these opportunists who are saying, wait a minute, just because you don't want me to call you female when that is clearly what you were born and your genes isn't my problem, it's your problem.

No, it is still your problem. Because while you're right on the genetics, as we understand them, the genetics, as we understand them, of sex, you know, gender, male, female, intersex, obviously, third permutation of gene, in my simple understanding. Identity is different, and you know that. Now, if somebody plays to it, there is no male, there is no female, it's just an anatomical. All right, well, then they're carrying a point to an extreme that you don't have to. But don't think of it as a win or owning the left or proof of how crazy identity is. That's neither accurate nor fair. And it is caving to a weakness of a desire for advantage. And in almost all cases, it's because they want to get paid.

You know, this stuff about Twitter silencing the right. Look, Twitter stinks and it had bad policies and bad practices. I don't know that Musk is making any of them better. He seems to be just a perversion in a different direction. Maybe the guy before him was a lefty. Well, he is certainly just catering to chaos this guy he wants to be a provocateur because he thinks that's going to make twitter hot again i hope it just creates competition and somebody creates a better platform where you can engage in discussions with people who one are real and two are not there just to weaponize information for disinformation purposes. And, you know, using misinformation, wrong information, and disinformation, different information,

to deceive and to find advantage. Reject type. I have made a change. I've been saying you've got to change the system. You need more parties. You need more choice. You need term limits in Congress. You need the states that wind up being the swing states to apportion their electors. And then you'll start having something less like tribal warfare about everything. Tribal warfare between Democrat and Republican, a binary system that is fundamentally zero-sum, meaning one can only win if the other loses, is the problem. And the party system has always been anathema, the antithesis, the opponent, the enemy of the development of a more perfect union. Because you can't come together as a nation when the whole game is about seeking advantage through

a point of opposition. So reject type. My new feeling is, or my suggestion, it's not a feeling, is the best way to create change is for you to change. Leave the Democratic Party. Leave the Republican Party. Leave the Democratic Party. Leave the Republican Party. Leave them. Why? That will take away their power.

And it will make them cater to your interests more than you catering to theirs. Reject type. So many of you have a little social experiment that I perform. You ask somebody, hey, you consider yourself independent? Now, sometimes they jump right to partisan designation, but I'm saying, no, as an individual, you think you're independent?

Almost all of us are going to say yes, right? What are you going to say? No, I'm a lemming. No, I'm a sheep. I like to be led. I like people to do my thinking for me. Nobody says that. Everybody's going to say they're a free agent. That's why I asked the question, are you free? Are you really independent or do you succumb to a team? I'm going to vote for the Republican. That's what Hershel Walker revealed. And look again,

I'm not disrespecting him as a person. I don know him but I'm saying he had no qualifications except that he was red and maybe for some that he was Trump's guy although I really think the bloom is off that rose much to the advantage of the Republican Party but I say reject type reject type

you don't have to fit into a bucket to a designation, to a class, to a category. Be independent. Make your own. Your own what? Your own values, your own mores, your own rules for yourself. Of course you have to obey the law. But you don't have to follow any group without thought.

Oh, I don't do that. I don't always vote the party line. Yeah, but most of you do most of the time. And I don't know how that can be the case when you can't agree with a lot of what's being put out there. Yeah, but it's better than the other one. Ah. And there's the problem.

You're surrendering to type. And I think we can do better. And that is about definition of yourself and really being independent, really being a free agent. Not easy. There's a safety in numbers. There's a culture to it. People in your family, people like you, people where you are tend to be a certain way. That's type.

You know, you look back at the great thinkers, the men and women who distinguish themselves, they're almost always fighting type, creating their own classification. We can all do that. I'm not anti-Democrat, anti-Republican. I'm anti that system. And by the way, that should be the main way to be.

You know, people are like, oh, wow, that should be the main way to be. You know, people are like, oh, wow, that's that's really radical. No, it isn't. There has been a rejection of the party system since it sprang up here. That's what the progressive movement was all about. I have a whole opening argument about this that you can see on my Instagram. It is anathema to a more perfect union. It fundamentally keeps us apart. And the easiest change is for us to be the change.

For you to be the change. And I have to tell you, this is a lot easier than all the other recommendations that I've made. You know? Well, but then I can't vote in the primary. If enough people leave the parties. And start going at their state officials. Because the part of the primary system. This isn't in the constitution.

The party system is not in the constitution. It's not a creation of law. You never voted on parties. This is culture. Custom. Structured. By those in power power to maintain power. And yeah, there have been reforms, but not enough.

It's time for it to happen again. And when I say progressive, people who see themselves as conservative, don't get your hackles up. It was about change. It doesn't mean AOC, who's a total boogeyman, by the way. You can't even name Green New Deal. Come on. She hasn't been about anything.

She hasn't really accomplished anything except a huge social media following, giving voice to discontent like a lot of other leaders. So you give her power and you make her some kind of, you know, thing to oppose, person to oppose. Reject tight. Keep it simple. Preferred indifference where you don't get caught up in status. What? Yeah, go on inside. And reject tight.

Be independent. Be a free agent. Be about you and your interests and your own. I'm not saying that you don't care about anybody else. You can be interdependent, interconnected. But you don't follow. You lead. You don't do what they tell you to do.

You don't say it because they say it. You say it because it's right, because it works for you, or it doesn't. All right, I hope this was of value to you. I hadn't walked in a few days. I'm happy that I did it. I had been fighting it. I didn't want to do it.

Why? It's cold. It's tired. I was stiff. There are always reasons not to do something that's going to be good for you. The test is to see whether or not you can do it anyway. And you're going to fall short. I do it all the time. I hope you're doing better than I am. There's that self-loathing. You know what? I'm doing well enough, at least for right now. I'll speak to you again soon. Take care. Take care of yourself. Be good to yourself. Be independent.