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Andrew W.K.’s status has elevated over the course of the last ten years or so. He went from being a guy who makes simple “party metal,” to somewhat of a party ambassador. Recently he’s begun a weekly advice column for The Village Voice, and his most recent entry into said column may just be his most sound advice yet. Answering a question from a reader about how to deal with negativity on the internet, Andrew provided an incredibly lengthy answer full of absolute gold. Read some choice extracts from the piece below:
Despite how far the computer, Internet, and social media have come, they’re still in the relatively early stages of development — maybe even the infantile, pre-adolescent stages. Just like with human toddlers, one of the most exciting and empowering developments for a young person is the discovery of the word “no.” When a child first learns that they have the ability to say no, they usually get hooked on negating just about everything around them.
The self-proclaimed “party messiah” went on to say:
When people hate something, it doesn’t necessarily bring it down — it often times makes it grow stronger by giving it more attention, more energy, and more power. The time we spend thinking about something, criticizing something, and talking about something — especially with passionate emotions involved — the more energy and power we feed that thing, and whether we like it or not, that sustains it. How many times have we found ourselves engaging in the same arguments about the same two-sided issues? How many times have we found ourselves obsessing over how much we hate a certain celebrity, cultural issue, or political situation? We’re giving our sacred and precious energy to that thing we hate, and many of those things are counting on your hatred to further their own dreams and desires. Who are you giving your power to? Most of the time, it’s better to fight for what you love, and not waste energy fighting against what you hate.
Then he finally, and so eloquently concluded:
Most of all, don’t get bogged down by bullshit. See beyond the nonsense and realize you don’t have to have engage or have an opinion about everything. Sometimes we just don’t have to care so much. That’s not being ignorant, it’s being focused on what matters more to us. Keep your energy and valuable time focused on what you want, not on what you’re bummed out about.
For a guy that makes music that most would refer to as dumb, he’s a pretty damn smart dude. Read the entire piece here.
