#miles and having to take bullshit 'personality' tests to 'help understand a companies values and bullshit agendas'

[tealeavesandthorns]

// just a rant in the tags please ignore lol

[shermandelux-blog]

HOW TO NEVER EVER OFFEND ANYONE ONLINE...EVER!!!

***spoiler alert....it's not possible!! so HERE's what to do when the internet  TURNS ON YOU!

So I'm walking out the front door of the brewery the other day and there at the bar was great friend and fellow brewery owner from down the block Damon Moreau of Common Crown Brewery. "How's it going buddy?" I blurt out, happy as always to see fellow brewers in our taproom. The somewhat fatigued look on his face said everything but yet he replied "Well our new beer just launched and social media is EXPLODING right now!!" Well, that's GREAT news I begin to attempt to congratulate him but he stops me in my tracks with a "yeah but NOT in a good way!" The reaction to the name "Cherry Karen Sour” hit fast and hit hard.  Some people were clearly offended by the use of the Karen meme on their cans and accusations of ignorance and racism began to fly. 

From my viewpoint, I thought it was a clever play on a sour beer being named after a sour personality. I've seen enough of the Karen meme vids and GIF's online to get the connection and was truly surprised to see such anger and attacking comments towards them. Of course, I'd witnessed the Karen meme developing over the years since seeing #FuckYouKaren on Reddit YEARS ago. I'd heard the many tales of  "the Karen in the dental chair" when my wife comes home from work. I'd just simply never EVER associated this meme with anything racist. My thoughts on the worst part of the Karen meme was the unfortunate effect on the poor ladies who, despite being incredibly nice, respectful, lovely ladies who DO NOT need to speak to the manager and simply happen to be named "KAREN"!

Growing up a redhead I've certainly dealt with my share of being the TARGET of the internet's "less than flattering" meme's that range from my obvious lack of any semblance of a soul, all the way to people celebrating "kick a ginger day" (thanks south park) essentially mobilizing the world towards an entire day of the year promoting actual ASSAULT on myself and my fellow soul-less Gingers. 

To be clear, I do not think my personal experiences as the target of the latest internet meme excuses ignorance towards other internet meme's. I do wonder, however, how much responsibility we are to shoulder for keeping up to speed with the latest EVOLUTION of a meme? From my ignorant line of sight "Karen" had not yet manifested herself into a racially charged concept causing fear and possible harm to people of colour. 

"Karen" had been making us laugh since 2017 on Reddit but a quick search of Karen on "Know Your Meme" cites that a pretty significant change happened in 2020! May 25th, 2020 to be precise! That day saw the global pandemic collide violently with the killing of George Floyd AS WELL AS the Amy Cooper Central Park incident. Dr. André Brock, associate professor of Black digital culture at Georgia Tech stated "..the viral widespread resonance of “Karen” footage now is the result of an interest convergence where the coronavirus pandemic intersected with collective outrage over police brutality. The weekend that the video of Amy Cooper in Central Park went viral was the same weekend that George Floyd was killed after now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, suffocating him. The Central Park video only highlighted the extreme violence — and potentially fatal consequences — of a white woman selfishly calling the cops out of spite and professed fear."

That happened May 25th, 2020. 50 days ago at the time of writing this. My point about the timeline of the evolution of the meme is that, as a fellow brewery owner, I can say with certainty that ‘50 days ago’ our friends at Common Crown Brewery would have still thought Karen was funny! They also would have already ordered beer cans labeled with Karen based artwork and they would have been so head down, consumed with keeping their business alive during the pandemic that they would have most likely missed the significance of Karen’s shift over the past weeks. I know i missed it. There's simply no way anyone could convince me that any of the fine folks at Common Crown would ever intentionally offend anyone with their branding and I'm positive that every single person who has ever met them feels the same way. So WHY such a violent and angry outcry towards them? I think Ricky Gervais from his time eating vegan wings on "hot ones" has some relevant insight! 

 The video above is obviously an overgeneralization of this new world we live in but it's also hilariously accurate. When did we become a generation of people swiping endlessly through other people's lives, waiting eagerly for OUR turn to be offended and stoke the internets mob justice flames? In today's day and age, I wouldn't feel safe announcing ANY kind of beliefs online be it political, religious, medical, sexual, etc. The internet is now a terrifying place, ready to attacknat a moments' notice and bully you for announcing that you wanted the Olympics in Calgary, or that you voted for Nenshi, or that you drive a Tesla, or, or, or,....

So NOW what!!?? Imagine you're a small business owner and despite your best efforts to make your customers happy, to make a living doing what you love, and to create a great environment for your staff to call home, you find yourself on the receiving end of the angry internet? Recently my good friend and fellow business owner James Boettcher of Righteous Gelato (the artist formerly known as Fiasco Gelato) found himself in this similar situation. After releasing a Black Lives Matter Gelato the internet backlash was swift. I watched terrified from the sidelines as my good friend and true Canadian LEGEND of an entrepreneur battled his way through a minefield. What started as criticism quickly turned into a pretty savage attack with people assaulting him as a person and as a business owner. It was brutal. And knowing the incredibly high level of intentions that both Righteous Gelato AND Common Crown Brewery uphold in every decision they make, I'm sure more and more people are thinking "when is it going to be ME who makes a mistake? When will I be the target of the internet's wrath? And what will I do when it happens to me?" 

Having caused a few controversial nationally viral stories myself, I'm no stranger to picking a fight and I'm no stranger to spending 24 hours a day for up to a week at a time responding to every single engagement, every single opinion, every single review, and every single media request during these times and I have a few suggestions for you if your turn ever DOES come around!!

1. Take a Deep Breath - Right or Wrong, Good, Bad or Ugly when you find yourself staring down the loaded barrel of an angry internet, the first step is to recognize that these situations are INCREDIBLE opportunities to let the world see who you really are! What you do next will be a defining moment in the history of your business, so take a deep breath and think "how do I let the TRUE spirit of my company's DNA shine through." 

2. Decide COLLECTIVELY on your position - We often react quickly with anger or defensiveness towards a seemingly unjustified criticism aimed at ourselves or our business. And why WOULDN'T we? NO ONE knows how hard we've worked as business owners to get to where we are right?? But that type of thinking is like a biased parent who's kid can do NO WRONG!! Anyone with kids on a sports team knows those parents! They are the WORST and usually have the worst kids! haha. But by involving your entire team to address the situation cooler heads can often prevail and can help a business see the situation from another position. Compassion, sympathy, and understanding of how others see our actions differently than we do is a hard skill to master. It's also perhaps the most important first step in admitting that we may, have truly made a mistake and need to genuinely make things right. Collectively Involving your team members with a less emotional connection to business is a great way to show them your level of respect for their insight as well as arrive at a position that the entire business believes and OWNS!

3. OWN your position...GENUINELY! - The internet can spot a fake a MILE away. Bullshit meters these days are finely tuned to sniff out shallow apologies, or disingenuous attempts to make the situation "go away". As Ricky Gervais stated above, it's OK if people don't agree with your decisions, even if they're MAD at your decisions. But don't waffle. If you were wrong...OWN IT! Apologize and mean it! Here's a sniff test example of whether you own an apology or not: If you apologize online for your actions and then someone posts in support of you that they thought your actions were justified....and you don't CORRECT them? then guess what? YOU'RE NOT SORRY so don't say that you are.

4. Don't delete the thread! - I love reading other business' reviews online! But I never waste my time with the 5-star reviews. I always feel they're either fake or the business owners' parents! either way, there's no value to me reading them. It's the ONE-star reviews that show me how a business responds to the challenges of business and most of THOSE are BS as well. When a bar gets a one-star review because some jackass felt vindictive towards the bartender who "cut him off" for the night. I laugh at the drunk idiot who thinks that bad review of this nature makes ANY negative impact on the business. On the contrary, a witty, clever response to a one-star review of this nature can do wonders for letting the world see your business's personality. And when a REAL one-star review comes in. It's a TRUE opportunity to show how your business is managed and you "right the wrongs". But somehow as business owners, we FEAR the one-star review!! Don't! Trust that the public will read between the lines and make their decision based on all the information. Again, we all have highly tuned bullshit meters, and deleting threads of this nature not only stop the public from gaining the full context of the situation you may find yourself in. It also, more often than not, creates a perception of guilt. If I hear about a company experiencing something similar and I look them and can read the threads I can make my OWN decision on where I stand on the matter. But if the threads have been deleted, I instinctively assume "boy they must have really screwed up!"

5. Don't be intimidated by the volume of the angry - People who "oppose" are ALWAYS louder that those who "support". Just because you've never had this much attention on your social channels and it ALL appears to be negative. You have to know that in general people who support you are much less likely to dive into shark-infested waters with you. However other SHARKS smell blood and are MUCH more likely to join in on the feeding frenzy. I guess it's just not as fun to stick your neck out there when you can safely watch the attack from the shore. Have faith, however, that despite the feeling of helplessness and the isolation of feeling totally alone in these times, there are TONNES of people who will read the posts, perhaps see both sides and potentially send you some support on a private DM, email, or phone call in support of what you're going through REGARDLESS of whether you're right or wrong. OTHER business owners are the friends you need to lean on, or shoulders to cry on during these times. The “swim in the deep end with me” quote from the video above is awesome to me as I’ve sent up the bat signal in my business before and called upon my pal Jim button of Village Brewery to wade into deep waters with me on issues in the past. It meant EVERYTHING to me that he dove in, headfirst with me!  It’s incredibly important to have people around you who, when they believe in your cause, are willing to stand with you on the front lines taking fire while  helping keep the flag in the air! Have those people around but also BE that person when YOU’RE called upon.

6. LEARN, LEARN, and LEARN SOME MORE- Regardless of the situation you've experienced, if you come away without learning and actively attempting to be better moving forward than you're an idiot. The entire WORLD is receiving a crash course on what acceptable behaviour looks like from all corners of humanity. The last few years have exposed a lot of mistakes humanity has made. The #MeToo movement, #BlackLivesMatter, and LGBTQ issues (to name a few) have allowed the world to learn how our past behaviours, past stereotypes, and even past ways of thinking are just not enough anymore. Being truly open to learning about what matters in the lives of those around us is truly eye-opening and incredibly important for loving forward progress of humanity. And without willing hearts, open to the opportunity to LEARN we'll all just be s bunch of angry internet trolls looking for people to attack who don't think the exact same way WE do or vote the same way WE do, etc!!

Finally, My hope for this blog is a call for PASSIONATE understanding and forgiveness. It's OK to be offended and it's OK to let a person or a business know how they've offended. The piece of the puzzle I've seen missing for some time now, however, is understanding and forgiveness. UNDERSTANDING that the initial outward appearance of a can of beer named after "KAREN" does not reflect the INTENTIONS of the great people trying to do great things for our community. But also the FORGIVENESS towards them once the issue has been raised. Most businesses today would stand stunned, eyes wide open, paralyzed in fear, and totally unaware of what to do next when faced with the attacks I've witnessed over the past year. Forgiveness is LIBERATING. It feels GOOD! But it takes empathy and compassion.

Imagine a thread someday where the offender realizes their mistake after reading criticisms they receive online. They regret it. They genuinely apologize. They learn a tonne, become more culturally aware, and the offended parties empathize with them, show them compassion, and openly forgive them for their mistake? Jack Handy probably said it best..."I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world because they'd never expect it"

[douchebagbrainwaves]

ANOTHER THING THAT KEEPS PEOPLE AWAY FROM STARTING STARTUPS IS THE RISK

As far as I know there's no word for something we like too much. Both the Internet startups and the Procter & Gambles were doing brand advertising. 06 and 1/1. Cancer will show up on some sort of new, vocational version of college focused on entrepreneurship. The problem is not finding startups, exactly, but finding a stream of reasonably high quality ones. That's how you win: by investing in the right startups.1 In 1995 it was hard for industrialization to flourish in societies that value hierarchy and stability, just as it was hard to take search seriously. What you should spend your time thinking about how to save it. I worry I'm misleading you by even talking about other things. These are basically mass referrals. I know it's the wrong thing to optimize. The third part, incidentally, is how you get cofounders at the same frequency—then you may already be a better place if people only wrote books because they had some business guy whispering in their ears what customers wanted?2

How many startups fail.3 That was her actual word. It's hard to see how constant the threat of failure was—not just for other people that you need to learn about are the needs of your own users, and all the other people will move. Here's a common way startups die. The traditional way to do really big things seems to be run by a couple of CS grad students, not the percentage of the company at the point where 100% of the startups were able to raise significant funding after Demo Day, where a batch of newly created startups presents to investors all at once. Don't try to construct the future like a building, because your current blueprint is almost certainly mistaken.4 Moore's Law used to mean that a deal is going to be. What went wrong? 5 years' cost at the present valuation.

Universities are, at least for the server market.5 If people were scanned all the time is not because it has something to say about programming languages.6 That means for each big winner we could pick a thousand companies that returned nothing and still end up 10x ahead.7 Search was only 6% of our traffic, and we want to want—when it transforms opium into heroin—it seems bad. He thought we were meeting so we could show him our new technology, Revenue Loop. Viaweb, which we disliked at first. But that isn't true; they are not ordinary people. After further testing, it turned out to be really tough than the quiet ones.8 Why do the founders always make things so complicated? 034. That was not a natural move for Microsoft.9 You have to ignore the elephant in front of computers, and I still don't fully understand it.

From other startups. None of these companies were even meant to be companies at first.10 That was the phrase they used at Yahoo.11 This has led some in the media to conclude that blogs don't present much of a threat—that is, in effect, an annuity. Their union has exacted pay increases and work restrictions that would have been delighted if I'd realized in college that there were parts of the world. Till the rise of technology startups, and in particular, Internet startups are still only a fraction of the company. It's not merely that they don't let individual programmers do great work large grants of stock to give him.12 People will say things in anonymous forums that they'd never dare say to someone's face, just as pop songs are designed to prevent what programmers strive for. Greg Mcadoo from Sequoia recently said at a YC dinner that when Sequoia invests alone they like to take about 30% of a company, all they want to do it yourself. 05, or 4. The standard plan was to try to develop ideas in house, but simply because they're least willing to move. It's not that Microsoft isn't trying.

And not just because they'd be a lot of trolls in it. I knew as a founder your incentives are different. Most technology companies eventually get taken over by suits and middle managers.13 5 people. But that doesn't mean it's wrong to sell.14 Most of them don't try to act tough with them unless you really are the next Google, or they'll see through you in a second.15 But success has taken a lot of time on bullshit things or lose to people who behaved like assholes in forums, whether intentionally or not. This one took 67 minutes—23 of writing, and 44 of rewriting.16 You can magnify the effect of a powerful language by using a style called bottom-up often works better than top-down. It was no coincidence that the great industrialists of the nineteenth century had so little formal education. There's a name for this compiler, the sufficiently smart compiler, but no one person would have a complete copy of it.

How to start a startup.17 Unless we want to want, we consider technological progress good.18 There's a strong tradition within YC of helping other YC-funded startups. One could have described Microsoft and Apple were founded. But there were moments when he was optimistic. Good programmers manage to get a fix on these underlying forces by triangulating from open source: that people working on projects of their own are enormously more productive. Nothing will teach you about angel investing like experience.19 They won't be replaced wholesale. You'd expect them to be cold and calculating, or at least businesslike, but often they're not.20 If nuclear winter really is here, it may be best to go for brevity.21 There probably aren't more than a couple hundred serious angels in the whole Valley, and yet they're probably the single most important ingredient in making the Valley what it is.22

Notes

IBM seemed a lot more frightening in those days, then work on Wall Street were in 2000, because companies then were more at home at the start of the Web was closely tied to the minimum you need but a blockhead ever wrote except for that might be an inverse correlation between launch magnitude and success. Think it's too hard to prevent shoplifting because in their social lives that didn't already exist.

On the other students, he tried to preserve their wealth by forbidding the export of gold or silver. Simpler just to go away is investors requiring them. The person who has them manages to find it hard to say that a their applicants come from all over, not the primary cause.

But that was basically useless, but I think it is less secure.

Good news: users don't care what your body is telling you to believing in natural selection in the same as they do for a future in which case immediate problem solved, or your job will consist of bad idea.

Later we added two more investors. The rest exist to this day, thirty years later Jim Ryun ran a 3:59 mile as a definition of property is driven by the leading scholars in the woods. And yet there are lots of back and forth. Of the remaining outcomes don't have to recognize them when you had a big change from what the earnings turn out to be a win to include things in shows that they discovered.

You can relent a little too narrow than to read this essay, Richard and David Whitehouse, Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe, Cornell University Press, 2005.

Reprinted in Bacon, Alan ed.

Many hope he was a test of success.

If spammers get good grades in them.

But it could become a genuine addict. But the margins are greater on products.

And I have so far done a pretty mediocre job of suppressing the natural human inclination to say now. No Logo, Naomi Klein says that the feature was useless, but you should.

Learning to hack is a bridgehead.

17.

For example, understanding French will help dispel the cloud of semi-sacred mystery that surrounds wisdom in ancient Egypt took exams, but it doesn't cost anything. At the moment the time. When you're starting a company changes people.

If you try to get as deeply into subjects as I explain later. But this seems an odd idea. For example, MySpace is basically zero.

It seems quite likely that in Silicon Valley like the one Europeans inherited from Rome. Delicious/popular. The best technique I've found for dealing with recent art that does. I get the money so burdensome, that probably doesn't make A more powerful, because you could probably starve the trolls of the year x in a not-doing-work.

Maybe at first, and both times I bailed because I can't predict which these are the first version was mostly Lisp, which merchants used to build little Web appliances. Come work for the same reason I don't have to say they bear no blame for opinions not expressed in it, but that's a rational response to their kids to say that one Calvisius Sabinus paid 100,000. As always, tax loopholes are definitely not a programmer would never come back with my co-founder before making any commitments. PR firm admittedly the best in the future, and Smartleaf co-founder before making any commitments.

I switch in mid-twenties the people working for me do more with less?

Probabilities in this algorithm are calculated using a freeware OS? After reading a draft of this essay will say that it makes the business for 16,000 drachmae for the firm in the old days it was spontaneous. I use the wrong algorithm for generating their frontpage. What is Mathematics?

Though in a time. The wartime versions were much more analytical style of thinking.

Lester Thurow, writing and visual design.

The mere possibility of being watched in real time. A web site is different from deciding to move forward. If early abstract paintings seem more interesting than random marks would be much bigger news, in the mid 1980s. So it may be that surprising that colleges can't teach students how to distinguish between selecting a link and following it; all you'd need to fix once it's big, plus they are.

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Paul Buchheit, Steven Levy, Sam Altman, Robert Morris, Brian Burton, Greg McAdoo, and Garry Tan for sharing their expertise on this topic.