I think my brain must’ve collapsed cause I couldn’t even math properly yesterday.
Although I did get some interesting responses to the previous email and it looks like you enjoy these types of write ups.
So without further ado. The next 8, not 7 and how we can re-frame and flip these “laws” for our own creative gain…
3) Gullibility.
Scepticism should be framed as empowerment. Where it’s usually framed as cyncism.
Side by side comparisons might look like this… “Here’s the narrative / here’s what’s missing”
This is how you can deconstruct persuasion techniques used in ads, politics, and trends so you can show how belief is engineered. This way you can help people trust themselves more and not authorities less out of paranoia.
4) Hysterical
Emotional regulation can be used as form of rebellion.
If you can normalise calm, slowness, reflection.
Think long form content in a shortform world. Art that invites pause rather than reaction (The trance state I mentioned in 4 from the previous email)
You’d name emotions precisely (anger ≠ fear ≠ grief) This will help interrupt the outrage economy by modelling grounded presence, which is easier said than done.
5) Anxious
If we flip it around. It’s a means to be safe. You’ll create emotional refuge. Which means you’ll create predictable rhythms in content. There will be reassurance without false positivity (Which we saw a lot of in 2025) and even if it means naming shared anxieties without amplifying them, It’ll lower baseline anxiety so people can think and choose more freely and feel connected to you and you work because you are like them.
6) Hedonism
This is a tough one because you have to redefine pleasure as nourishment where a lot of our hedonistic traits make a beeline for escape/escapism.
This is where you can showcase slow joy. Like the craft of what you do, writing, painting, making music etc, nature, conversation, embodiment as a whole.
We’d also look at talking openly about addiction cycles without moralising, cause we’ve all been trapped in a place where we allow hedonistic traits to consume us. Instead of making people feel singled out. We’re collectively in this together.
Similar to how you might’ve seen a few spiritual guru’s on Twitter or Instagram aestheticise rest. They don’t do a good job of tackling excess.
This would help people notice when pleasure is medicine vs avoidance. (even though we want to avoid a lot of things and/or people in general lol)
7) Illusion of power
Highlight actual spheres of influence. Personal boundaries. Attention as a finite resource.
We’d look at our own community scale action over grand narratives that everyone else wants us to pursue.
Replace abstract “power” with lived autonomy.
8) Faith in priesthoods
Now religion and philosophy or any fait is a tough nut to crack but if we do believe or follow something specific. If we’re able to demystify it without nihilism, we’ll be on to a winner.
It basically means translating “expert knowledge” into human language. as an example: “Here’s what they don’t explain”
This is where it invites dialogue (Which we never see because of the outrage economy) although framing it this way won’t make it feel like you’re looking for obedience. (You see this mass obedience level of shit in the political space. If you don’t follow X leaning then you’re a heretic. That shit stops growth in every aspect) So if you apply this to any form of faith, religion or world view. At least if those conversations come up. You can connect with the person without coming across as a crazy person.
This will restore discernment without collapsing into anti intellectualism.
9) Scapegoating
From a creative pov this is pretty easy. It’s all about sharing and creating stories that break binary thinking. Yes you’ll have to show how blame simplifies pain but you can make “both/and” emotionally compelling, which will replace moral superiority with shared responsibility.
10) Rewards & punishments
You can expose how incentive systems shape behaviour. Frame it like “Notice what this system rewards”
Highlight people choosing integrity over advantage, which you see a lot of in the online space, like “You have to post 15x a day on Facebook AND Twitter or your audience will forget about you.” (Bullshit) So you can celebrate refusal, rest, opting out of whole industries or spaces as a whole. (I’ve done it and I know of others who have done it too. You don’t have to stay on a platform and become a performative monkey for whatever algorithm is pushing xyz. I’ve ejected myself out of the copywriting space because it’s become so incestuous with its peacocking and chest beating and I’ve found my people)
It’ll help people distinguish survival strategies from values in the grand scheme of things but this all comes down to just you taking it slow to re-frame everything.
Hopefully this all made sense. Or at least gave you a different insight into what makes us magically and weirdly human.
Stephen Walker.