The Cliche You Most Hate

[Euphanasia]

"You can be everything you want to be" fucked a lot of lives.

On the other hand they were dumb enough to believe it so maybe they deserved it.

Yes, cliches like that probably have fucked a lot of lives. However, when I got to thinking about it, I realized it's not really the person's fault for believing it. I mean, you're spoon fed this shit since childhood. People told me everyday that "i could do whatever i put my mind to," that "everything happens for a reason." And as a child, you're not really taught to question. You're taught to listen and learn and memorize and adopt what you hear. So you believe these things. And then somewhere down the road, perhaps in college, perhaps later on in life when you've had enough experiences to realize that all this shit really isn't true, you take a step back and contemplate. And maybe you're really pissed off about it.

That's how I felt, at least. Well, feel. I suppose I'm still pissed.

to me it's quite fucked that something that is supposed to motivate you is a terrible lie.

yes.

 

[vg4030]

If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything

I actually like this one by my boy George McFly

 

[ArtsyGirl]

Well it kinda does. And yes I've lost family members.

From my understanding of the thread the cliche doesn't need to be true, just needs to piss you off. It pisses me off because when I'm grieving its the last thing I want to hear.

 

[dillaxx]

Sofi, to me it's quite fucked that something that is supposed to motivate you is a terrible lie. Some are so unbelievably stupid that it's ridiculous that somebody uses them in real life for any other reason than jokes or old wannabe-chinese-master movies. How is that supposed to motivate somebody with a tiny bit of intelligence?

If someone struggles to achieve something you might say "you can do it" if it's something that's not out of his reach. If it's something close to impossible it's just illogical and any examples/movies that show people who made it regardless of 1/99999999999 chances just prove how immature and irresponsible those people are.

So what about people that want to do something as a career? Why are we stuck on being a professional athlete? It's almost an oxymoron. You don't need a degree of any kind, you do no good to the public, and you get to whine about how many zeros are behind the number on your paycheck. Use a better example.

I talked to someone yesterday that now works in my dad's office as a sleep technician. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was a pre-med major for the time being, but I still wasn't sure. Then he told me he went to school to be an architect but quickly changed directions. He didn't say why, but clearly something had to have happened. If you know what you want to do going into college and then switch all of a sudden, something had to happen. Then there's people that don't know what to do going in and then switch around. Take me, then. What do I do when I start to struggle with school and classes? I guess I want to be a doctor, but outside of that what does one do if the whole "you can be anything you want to be" thing is a fallacy or bullshit? What do I do instead? Drop out, work at the Circle K down the street from my apartment? I can't be what I want to be, why should I even try? Sometimes I feel I should do that because it's the easy way out, but then I feel I'd be letting alot of people down by doing that. But fuck what other people think, I live for myself. But then I'd be lonely, and I hate that too. Do you see the web this whole train of thought creates? I'm stuck in it, and I'm sure many people are too.

 

[masta247]

It's a totally different thing. If you want to be a doctor there are high chances that you will actually be a doctor. Same with most other common jobs. But the thing is that this 'cliche' won't work in most cases. If you know discrete mathematics or logic well then you should know that a sentence is a lie if there is a rational example proving it to be false. Sometimes it might be true but knowing that it says "you can be ANYTHING you want to be" we can easily find many things you can't be even if you die to do it. Come to think of it I think that it's false in most cases. So like I said before, if it's something you could reach quite easily (just putting some work to it) then it's worth to cheer someone up saying that he can do it and he should do it. But if someone decides to do something crazy I wouldn't care less. If he was my friend I'd support him but would let him know that it's a stupid idea.

Most big athletes didn't do it just to be known and wealthy sportsmen.
That kind of motivation wouldn't last long.
They did it mostly for their own entertainment. They knew that they are good at it and they're having fun doing it. There was a point when they got quite big and from that moment they noticed an actual chance to get famous.

 

[S O F I]

If someone struggles to achieve something you might say "you can do it" if it's something that's not out of his reach. If it's something close to impossible it's just illogical and any examples/movies that show people who made it regardless of 1/99999999999 chances just prove how immature and irresponsible those people are.

But who's to say what is and what isn't within someone's reach?

I disagree that it's irresponsible to tell someone they can be whatever they want to be. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Duke]

So what about people that want to do something as a career? Why are we stuck on being a professional athlete? It's almost an oxymoron. You don't need a degree of any kind, you do no good to the public, and you get to whine about how many zeros are behind the number on your paycheck. Use a better example.

I talked to someone yesterday that now works in my dad's office as a sleep technician. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was a pre-med major for the time being, but I still wasn't sure. Then he told me he went to school to be an architect but quickly changed directions. He didn't say why, but clearly something had to have happened. If you know what you want to do going into college and then switch all of a sudden, something had to happen. Then there's people that don't know what to do going in and then switch around. Take me, then. What do I do when I start to struggle with school and classes? I guess I want to be a doctor, but outside of that what does one do if the whole "you can be anything you want to be" thing is a fallacy or bullshit? What do I do instead? Drop out, work at the Circle K down the street from my apartment? I can't be what I want to be, why should I even try? Sometimes I feel I should do that because it's the easy way out, but then I feel I'd be letting alot of people down by doing that. But fuck what other people think, I live for myself. But then I'd be lonely, and I hate that too. Do you see the web this whole train of thought creates? I'm stuck in it, and I'm sure many people are too.

Preach-esque of the highest degree.

 

[dillaxx]

Preach-esque of the highest degree.

If there's a God, I ask for him to please get you off my nuts. We've gone in and out of this discussion before. If you want to incite a bitch slap fest, I'm not falling for it.

 

[Sebastian]

OK, all this cliche-badgering is starting to piss me off so I'll state the obvious which you guys clearly don't understand.

The cliche you guys are arguing about is used as a MOTIVATIONAL TOOL, not meant to bear a universal truth. Cliches vary in terms of what they mean to portray but this specific cliche you guys are arguing about is not meant to represent truth.

Duke, I can't believe you're even engaging in this stupid argument.

DaFunk (I think it was him) was actually saying that he believes this cliche to be true (with so called "obvious exceptions"). So Duke tried to explain that this is obviously not the case, by pointing out some examples.

Plus, you say it is not meant to represent the truth: Well, i think its safe to say that there are a lot of people who think it is true.

 

[Flipmo]

Here's a good one... It's a huge shit sandwich, and we're all gonna take a bite.

Enjoy!

 

[Preach]

If there's a God, I ask for him to please get you off my nuts. We've gone in and out of this discussion before. If you want to incite a bitch slap fest, I'm not falling for it.

Lol.

Ya, I also don't get this discussion.

One thing that did stick out is, why does a life get fucked because someone tries to do something and fails, something which they probably should have known they could never do? There's a value in trying, failing and coming to a realization, something you guys are missing here. What you're doing is like feeling poor for a person in a wheelchair, and they aren't necessarily thankful for your sympathy. A lot of them would most likely feel insulted. Apply a similar logic to closing your eyes to the truth. Deep down most people know what they are capable of, but it's important to step to the border and see what you're about.

I believe everyone does lie to themselves and consistently try to reach an unreachable goal at least once in life. Just like everyone tries to spite mommy and daddy. It's a part of getting to know yourself.

And look it, now you pulled me in as well.

 

[ill-matic]

if your life is "fucked" because you didn't reach a goal, then you're a wuss.

dust yourself off. try again. try something new. shit happens, move on with your life.

 

[masta247]

if your life is "fucked" because you didn't reach a goal, then you're a wuss.

dust yourself off. try again. try something new. shit happens, move on with your life.

That's what I mean, but the point is that if you really really want to reach one thing it might be too hard to handle if you fail. If you strive to be something that's really really hard to reach you should definately have a plan B instead of blindly following your 'dream' because "you can be what you want to be".
I think it's much better to be universal in life. If not one thing than another.

 

[Rahim]

"I'm sure you'll do great" or "You'll be just fine" - it does depend who is saying it to me but it pisses me off sometimes when people say that when I don't even know the outcome of my situation.

I've said it to people in the past but you can't really say that unless you know for sure that the outcome will be good for that person. Can exceptions be made if you want to wish that person well or because you care about them? Well, thats up to the other person. As optimistic as I am, I know that you can't predict the outcome for someone and always be right about it.

 

[Duke]

If there's a God, I ask for him to please get you off my nuts. We've gone in and out of this discussion before. If you want to incite a bitch slap fest, I'm not falling for it.

Boy, you get riled easily these days. You made a long post on a "train of thought".

Just like Freddy likes to do.

Hence, Preach-esque.

Not everything I say to you is meant to make you cry. You're not that important or interesting.

 

[dillaxx]

Not everything I say to you is meant to make you cry. You're not that important or interesting.

Well, if you want to express that the best way you can, it would be awesome if you didn't say anything to me and stayed on topic of the discussion.

 

[Duke]

Well, if you want to express that the best way you can, it would be awesome if you didn't say anything to me and stayed on topic of the discussion.

Well, obviously that's not going to happen.

 

[raywaters11]

you girls are so cute
with your bickering
its rather adorable

 

[Duke]

You know where you can stick that half a haiku?

 

[Jokerman]

I can, I can, I can, if I want to, want to, want to.

That's actually the name of a book. Perhaps the most annoying self-help title I've ever heard.