The Lie of “It Won’t Happen to Me”
One of the many quirks of human beings is that we tend to think we’re going to somehow, some way, be the exception to the rule. You’re going to be the guy who snorts coke and doesn’t get hooked, transitions into a woman and looks super-hot, or shoplifts regularly and never gets caught.
However, there’s a fine line between optimism and delusion, which we’re constantly misled about online. As Zuby said in one of the best quotes of 2025:
“This is a reminder that virtually everything you see on the news and going viral on social media is an anomaly by definition. ‘Normal’ doesn’t go viral.”
Online, we’re incessantly bombarded with unusual stories and eye-catching behavior.
Do you remember when Charlie Sheen was heavily drugged up and completely out of his mind, but ranting about “tiger blood,” and it was somehow still cool?
