You Should Understand This by Now

"The iron law of history is that people do dumb things. They behave this way for many reasons: Ignorance. Fear. Bad habits. Because they’ve been corrupted. Because they are ordinary people with flaws, just like that. Because they are in pain. There is nothing like a pandemic to put a spotlight on these people and these reasons."Ryan discusses how we should react to people who don't behave their best during times of crisis in today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  You should understand this by now. The iron law of history is that people do dumb things. They behave this way for many reasons: ignorance, fear, bad habits, because they've been corrupted, because they are ordinary people with flaws, just like you, because they are in pain. There is nothing like a pandemic to put a spotlight on these people and these reasons. We see their pictures in the news, we read their nasty comments on social media, and it's frustrating and it's distressing, because they aren't just putting themselves at risk, but other people. And it's easier to accept someone driving without a seatbelt, which affects them, than someone who speeds, which endangers everyone. But this is a reality of life. People will speed. They will speed, not wear a seatbelt,

• 1:14Ryan Holiday?

  and be combative and mean. They will do this, cause an accident, and still blame everyone but themselves. That's just how it is. What can we do? Well, one thing we shouldn't do is say, "Screw it. If they're going to behave that way, I will too." And the other is that we have to be calm and rational in response. The only thing that causes more distress than dumb people out there is being caught off-guard by dumb people. That's why Marcus Aurelius prepared himself in the morning for the rude and the surly, the jealous and the arrogant and the dishonest. He knew that there would be wrongdoers out there, some malicious, but most not, and he didn't let himself get shaken when he experienced it. So all we can do is carry on, not let it

• 1:54Ryan Holiday?

  make us bitter, not let it make us afraid, and do the best we can to be good and smart, despite all the stupidity out there.

• 2:02Ryan Holiday?

  Hey, just wanted to remind you, if you want to take your practice of Stoicism to the next level, if you want some physical reminders of the ideas we talk about here, check out the Daily Stoic store and go to dailystoic.com/store. These products are what help us keep the lights on here at Daily Stoic. They help grow the business, let us spread the message to more and more people. So if you want to support us, check that out. Go to dailystoic.com/store.