the zurkie show - why does everyone look the same

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

in a world where it doesn't "pay" to stand out... rebel.humanity is built with expression, learning and most importantly passion.stop letting the world tell you that old is "bad" or that style is dictated through code... it's not.sending you all lots of love and peaaaaaaaace!https://linktr.ee/thezurkieshow

If you want to see the world, go on tour with a band. That's what my professor told me when I was back in college, and he would rave about his experience going on a coast-to-coast tour with a band. One thing that I remember he mentioned was this idea that back in the 80s when he went on tour, there wasn't such a homogene of culture. It used to be that if you went down south or you went somewhere in the middle of the west, you were not going to get a Caesar salad. If you asked for a Caesar salad,

they would look at you sideways. But nowadays, you can not only get a Caesar salad anywhere, you could probably find a macha bar. You could probably find, you know, fah, good Mexican food. You can find anything, especially Dubai chocolate.

You could probably find it in every store across the country. And although I think this is great, It's great that we have the ability to experience all of these cultures all in one. I am not against that. Growing up where I grew up, I could eat any corner of the world anytime I wanted to. It was a blessing, right? But everything has started to feel the same.

Look the same. If you are an adult right now and you're kind of getting into this transition of adulthood, you've probably realized that a lot of the apartments that you are being sold to that are pretty expensive because life is expensive, they all look the same. And it makes you kind of go insane. It does, because part of you is like, was it always this way? Was the world just always a strip of highway with multiple different gas stations, fast food options, and maybe a Denny's? No, I don't think it was.

I don't think it was. And I think that what we are witnessing is the end of style. because style doesn't make money. It doesn't. And in a world that is so fixated on revenue and making money, we experience a world that we inhabit that reflects that. That's the reason it's harder to find things that actually work. That's the reason it's harder to find things that you're like,

man, I can buy into this and actually be a fan of this company or this product. It's because it's made to be cheap, quick, and to have the least amount of personality, because if you have some kind of personality in anything, it's going to make it harder to sell. And you know what? That is exactly what is happening to people. Exactly the same thing.

People are not able to build personalities for themselves because of the fear of not being able to sell that personality to somebody else. That's why you have people that dress the exact same. That's why you have this fear. of finding a different kind of jacket that might make you stand out. Everything is built to be sold to you and everyone is walking around like an archetype.

Yeah, an archetype of a human being. It's not human. But then again, we all want to fit in. We love fitting in. Nobody wants to be an outcast, right? Although, hey, ah, is a goaded song. Nobody wants to be an outcast. Everybody wants to fit in some kind of puzzle piece in society.

Of course, I don't sit there and say that's not the case. But it does make me question if, man, what are we missing by having a world that is an illusion? Think about even the United States, right? We grew up thinking that this was a place that championed individualism. Oh, you know, that is where you can become an individual. That's where you can work hard, be your own boss, whatever. But still, everyone looks the same. Everyone's pulling up to H&M buying the same puffer. Where's the individualism?

Nobody really wants to take risks with what they're interested in because it might be weird. Where is the individualism? I don't know if it existed. It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off.

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it because think about this too. I'm sure you have interests. You have things that you really like, things that you would love to like get into, right? But when you think about the amount of time that you would sink into these things and the fact that you wouldn't probably make money from it, you don't do it. You don't do it. Sports, yeah, you know, working out, maybe different. But like, I've had this happen to my life where I've been like, I want to learn how to embroider. I want to learn how to do X, Y, and Z. But in my mind, I'm like, this is going to take more time than it's worth. And that, I think, inhibits a lot of exploration.

Bro, welcome to the world. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right. This has been known. But I think that you can take some kind of ownership back in terms of this style. I try to now seek out things with character. I try my best to buy old things. I try my best to find and experience old mediums. I've been obsessed recently with the idea of like getting back into CDs.

Not because, you know, oh, it's like, it's cool and they're going to appreciate just because it's a different listening experience. I know. You can have the same thing on CD that you have on streaming, 100%. But you are more likely to listen through a CD front to back like a whole album than you are an album on your phone. It's true. Unless you're on airplane mode, you're flying somewhere, you don't have service. It's just harder because you have

the ability to have a playlist. You have the ability to have so many options. So of course, that is going to scream out to you and be like, no, no, change the song. I don't want to listen to Sabrina Carpenter. Let's turn on some daft punk right now. Let's turn on some SD kid. Like, switch it up. But

the idea of a CD or a vinyl, it kind of forces you into one thing. The physical demand of you having to press on the CD player to take out the CD it's kind of, it's a barrier. And it makes you go, okay, maybe this song that I'm listening to, track five, is kind of

mid, but I'm going to let it go. I'm just going to let it kind of play. And maybe track six is going to be good. In the same vein, I think like, there's a level of commitment issues that we really have with our personalities. I think we can be, you know, we should be able to

change as a person, but like it's, it becomes harder to stick things through and actually try things and give something a good try. You know, you saying, yeah, you know, I gave drawing a shot when you only drew like two things, right? That doesn't, I don't know if that's a fair enough chance. I don't think it's a fair enough chance. Same thing with people. So easy to quickly judge people. They're weird. I don't know. I just didn't vibe with them that one time. Fun thing for me has been realizing that everyone that I, care about in my life that I've built like a good rapport with that that I feel so close to I

didn't really like them at first there was something about them that made me think dang there's not that I'm feeling threatened but I feel like part of me is being challenged and those are the people that will make you grow the people that dress exactly like you and have the same kind of group think as you that's not going to challenge you as a human being it's just gonna make you reaffirm your own biases, your own kind of ideals. And I think that your life is too short to just be surrounded

by that all the time, man. Come on, man. You can't. You can't. Those old people that come up to you at the gym and they try to make a joke, you know, make a funny little meme at you. And you shut them down because you got your AirPods in, the AirPods pros

and they have noise canceling. Like, you are missing out on potentially a friendship. And this is another thing, I think, generationally, that we have become so opposed to. It's the idea of making older friends. And I get why. When I think about older people as a kid, it was always that could be dangerous, right?

And especially with some of the releases of recent, if you catch my drift, if you know, you know, some files have shown that there are some weird people in this world that are very dangerous to young people. But as an adult, you should, in my opinion, seek out relationships with people who have lived more life than you. And not even on some mentorship.

It's more on some exposure because they will expose you to more things that you would have never thought about because they're out of your scope of your world. And we're living our lives a very certain way that I think is very particular to Gen Z. I agree. But there are things that older people can teach us

to kind of make it a little bit easier. They've been around for a little bit longer. And yes, you know, we are going down a path in history where I don't think anybody can predict the future anymore. Even with like AI and stuff, it's like maybe, you know, you don't really know for certain. And I think that learning from the past is going to be even more valuable than it ever was than it ever was. Because style will matter. Style will matter when everything in this world will look the exact same, when every apartment will have the same layout and be grossly overpriced,

it will matter that you know how to have and tend to an old house. It will matter that you know how to fix your own clothing when there are no more tailors left, and people will just be like, throw it out and get a shirt that will last you five days. It will matter. And that is how you hold on to humanity in a world that likes to squeeze it out of all of us.

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Learn more about their customizable plans at squareup.com. Small things, simple things. At least that's what I think, and I could be wrong, I could be wrong. But it upsets me that at least, in the U.S., a lot of these kind of cities that didn't have an exponential boom, you know, in the 90s or in the 80s, and instead they're having it now, bro, they look the exact same. Charlotte looks the same as Austin. That looks the same as Nashville. It just does.

And you can, you know, fight me on it in the comments. It looks the same. The ideas are the same. There will always be a breakfast sando spot in all of these cities. because it's marketable to people who their entire personality is not that individual. It's not. And I'm part of the problem I indulge in it. I agree like I'm not a saint in this at all.

Sometimes I fear that I think I'm more unique than I actually are, that I actually am, I should say. But you know what? Just have an eye out for the old things. have an eye out appreciate the old things. We're so easy. It's so easy to be dismissive of it and just be like this is so mid

like why would anyone like this or who cares, right? But there's a reason they've lasted so long. There's a reason we keep things in museums. There's a reason that things that are old and have had significance and have been passed down have that significance. It's like what makes something valuable sure the price that a market puts on it but also your attachment to it a camera that could be used

to document your entire life is going to have a different amount of personal worth than a camera that you bought yesterday it just will there's there's there's a life energy that you pour into things and the same can be said about people right and it is it's so sacred so i would say your time which is your biggest life energy, man, use it learning things, building things, get crafty with it, and fight against this style, man. If you move into an apartment, decorate it. I know you're going to probably move out in a year. Decorate it.

Make it your own space. If you are living with other people, make an effort to build your house a home. What I noticed in college, and also as an adult now, is people become so discouraged about the fact that they don't own. the place they live, they don't even have like small things like a soap holder. And I get it, you know, some people are in tough times, you know, so this isn't applicable to anybody, you know, everyone. But it's so important that you add your own style to life and you differentiate yourself. I think that's so important. And you, you will meet other people that way if you actually put an effort to not only, you know, the way that you dress and you express yourself,

But in what you do, go ice skating, go hunting ethically, go, you know, fishing, do things that are important to you. And if you don't know what they are, find random things you think would be. It's so easy to get wrapped up in your own bubble and just start to think that other people's personalities need to reflect your own. and it just doesn't. It doesn't have to. You can be a medley. You can be a medley of different things and you can be a sample of different kinds of experiences and people that you've interacted with and feelings and emotions. You do not have to pick something like it is, you know, like what was that book that they were picking their different signs or whatever? Oh my goodness. Divergent? No, no, no, no, no. No. It was a hunger games, right? Or no, no. There was another thing where they were picking their

clans and there was like a post-apocalyptic. Oh, man, I forget it. If you guys know what I'm talking about, they made a movie, and it was based, I think, in post-apocalyptic Chicago or something. I don't remember, no. Anyways, like, frozen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play.

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Play. Post. Taste. View. And enjoy. Via Rail. Love the way. I'd love to live in a world where things are very different, and there is still some kind of care in design and in humanity.

And I wish that instead of chasing trends and chasing what we know everyone will like, we become more decisive in making things that people will start conversations over, that people will be confused about. Even like with what I do, I really try to just be me. and sometimes I fall short in that. We all are going to have that feeling of like, man, maybe I should do this for somebody else or maybe someone else would benefit from this and I could, you know, do it in a different way. But there is something to be said about staying true

to what you feel and what you want to learn and challenging that, challenge that, as much as you can, as much as you can, Zerkei Show. Although I really appreciate living in a world where I can go to any city and find a breakfast sando and ramen and, you know, a good Caesar salad. It would be nice to also live in a world where every city has its own thing. Its own kind of energy, its own culture, its own thing that is so distinct to that place

that you won't find another store in another place. Case in point, right? It's cool to go to New York and get a chopped cheese, bacon, egg and cheese, right? That's fire. It's cool to go to L.A. and get some... crazy street tacos that are probably the best you'll ever have in your life. It'd be cool if there were other pockets of that in the states and also in the world. And I fear it's just, it's easier to succumb to what's already popular because when tourists

come into town, when you come into town, oh yeah, you know, the Dubai chocolate Labuobo Macha, yeah. No. But maybe I'm also hating and it's not that deep. But I feel like it is, man. Let me know if you think otherwise, Zerky Show. Today's episode of the Zirky Show

was filmed in beautiful Sunny Austin, Texas, here at the ACCC Highland campus. If you know, you know, this parking garage has a great view of the city. If you're ever on like a hinge date and you guys want to pick up some food and eat on the parking garage here, it's fire, man.

It's a nice little vibe. Come during sunset, that will probably be the best meta. Did you know that the Zerky Show is everywhere you go? That is correct. You can watch it, you can scroll it, You can stream it. The choice is yours if you want to tap in.

These are the best ways to tap in, Zirky Show. Do the things that bring you joy. And don't forget to get out in the sun, enjoy the heat, and obviously wear some sunscreen if you need to wear sunscreen. You know, I'd be burning up pretty easily. So it's good for me. Other than that, Zirky Show, if you're trying something new, just know that I believe in you.

And as always, I am sending you all lots of love and peace.