- While @michaelhobbes.bsky.social was talking in this episode, I unlocked a core memory I haven't thought about in 10+ years: the fact that THREE unrelated men at THREE unrelated points in my life said they didn't like me pushing back on them and I should read How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Episode 45: How To Win Friends And Influence People 89 years ago, Dale Carnegie taught Americans how to live like Leo Tolstoy, give speeches like John Rockefeller and neg like Calvin Coolidge.
- One was a leader in an all-volunteer organization who was mismanaging resources. He screamed at me for questioning his decisions, told me to read the book, and then promptly ran the organization into the ground. The whole thing shut down less than a year after I stopped volunteering with them
- One was another student at a college magazine designed to foster intellectual inquiry and debate. He wrote an article online and I commented on the article that I disagreed and explained why. He deleted my comment and said his mother (!) was "disgusted by my vitriol" and added I should read the book
- I really wish I could remember the last one but I don't. It was so long ago that all I remember is the incredulity at being told by yet another man I hope never to cross paths with again to read the book and the laughs I shared with my friends over it. I started to think only assholes read the book
- After listening to the whole @ifbookspod.bsky.social episode, though, I'm convinced that it isn't that only assholes read How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's that assholes who do read it aren't giving me enough compliment sandwiches 🥪