Dysfunctional Weirdos Vs Functional Weirdos
Who I write for. And why.
Hello, it’s Kevin.
If you like this essay please send to a friend or share on social media –it’s getting harder to break into people’s bubbles nowadays.
Plus it’s only a few weirdos who are into this kind of thing (no offence, none taken!)
If I had to define my “niche” – let’s say some evil internet marketers have a gun to my head – then I would say I write for functional weirdos, as opposed to the more common dysfunctional weirdos.
Luckily I don’t have to define my niche, or what in practice amounts to the same thing, define myself in this way, but let’s run with the weirdos thing for a while, it’s late Friday night and I’m sipping on an English breakfast tea. Wild.
“Weirdos” are those unusual types of people who make up roughly 10% of the population and are not normal people, or “normies” as the kids say, but do it without affectation, trying to be edgy, or making a big deal about it. In fact many true non-normies would quite like to be a normal in some ways, it’s easier, but they just somehow can’t. Many of these types are struggling, some are successful, and a few make the world go round. Some are visible many are hidden, some are obviously weird and revel in it, while others want to be seen as normal for their own reasons.
As a rule, calling other people normies all the time, and trying hard to not be a normie, or desperate to become an edgelord are all probable signs of normie-hood. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Or as Nietzsche said – a weirdo who began very functional (professor at 24) and ended up let’s say a little bit dysfunctional (spoonfed at 44) – when talking about noble-ness, but could easily have been talking about edgy-ness:
"those who betray by their works that a profound longing for nobleness impels them; but this very NEED of nobleness is radically different from the needs of the noble soul itself, and is in fact the eloquent and dangerous sign of the lack thereof."
Leaving aside normal people longing to be edgy, what about the actual weirdos?
Dysfunctional weirdos
Dysfunctional weirdos are either complete losers, in jail, possessed by crazy ideas, lost in abstractions, or simply too annoying for other people to be around . You the know the ones. You have to remember many of the most annoying idiots online are these types. These types are incapable of doing what you need to do for real self change and are too deluded or stupid to consciously work on themselves.
Functional weirdos
Functional weirdos are harder to notice, spread around the world doing their own thing. Functional weirdos are able to live a normal life in many ways, and be able to survive in the world. They have skills and are usually talented at something unusual - weird - and they have non-mainstream interests. But they can keep down a career while also pursuing weird stuff in the background. The can go to social events and not be a weirdo in public…for a while. They can function in the real world. They haven’t lost touch with their reason, they can believe strange things, do strange things, all the while keeping a sense of reality and not getting lost in woo woo land. Don’t get me wrong, i like a little woo like everyone else.
But the key difference is functional weirdos are only dysfunctional in certain areas of life – they have issues of course, problems to solve etc – but it’s not the central part of their identity and they aren’t just on autopilot 100% of the time.
Who I write for
So I am writing for functional weirdos. But the problem with finding functional weirdos online is they are “inbetweeners” – between mind and body, not gym bros or spiritual bros or nerds… but some where in-between. In other words, functional weirdos are not very niche friendly. They cross niches and categories, and so can be found in many places, discussing many topics, learning many skills, including just hanging around normal places doing - gasp - normal things with - gasp - normal people.
Another problem, specific to my own weirding way: I find myself selling a solution to a problem most people don’t realise they have! This is terrible as a business plan of course. According to the point and click mafia, you are supposed to pick a niche and solve a very specific problem tailored to just them, in order to sell a product and magnetize the moneyz. But I am selling something for a problem almost all people have, but don’t know they have.
So I either spend my time trying to convince normal people of this “win the crowd and you will your freedom” i.e. go around pissing into the wind, or i can focus on finding the right people - the weirdos - who already know, or at least suspect, they have this problem and are actively looking for a way to solve the problem directly, or better practices to help transcend their current way of being so the problem simply evaporates.
So what is this mysterious problem?
How to stop being a fleshy robot and become a conscious human being.
Most people will assume they are already a conscious human being and not a fleshy robot - “hey I can change any time I want to! “- so this kind of talk sounds a bit like madness and what’s the point.
We are already deep into weirdo territory here, and so brings me back to the main issue - it’s hard to find new people online nowadays,. Well it is for me, and that’s my own doing (and non-doing aka laziness), but I can’t do (or non-do) it in any other way. But the good news is: anyone who can see this dysfunctional human condition clearly enough to know what I’m talking about here, is most likely not dysfunctional as an individual weirdo.
We could even say that those OTHER GUYS are metaphysically dysfunctional - it’s who and what they are (just a weirdo) whereas OUR GUYS are merely practically dysfunctional in certain limited ways, and can do something to overcome this not-quite-human-yet condition.
Ok so by this definition, the my reservoir of possible readers is getting smaller and smaller, drying up in a hot Cyprus summer. But I KNOW you are out there. I’ve met a few of you online already, and given private lessons to a few of you. It turns out Twitter(!) is the best place to find functional weirdos - I would never have guessed this in advance, i just started playing with it to write aphorisms a few years ago.
A few private pupils told me they had been reading all my stuff on twitter for months before ever getting in touch, so I know some of you are silently reading this Substack too and resonating with it, so if you feel like it please send this to a friend who you think might be into this kind of thing. But don’t worry, most people won’t read all the way to the end and find out you think they’re a weirdo.
Ok have fun,
Let’s get functional!
Kevin
Always a liberation to raise the flag and state explicitly (if only to yourself) here’s where I stand, here’s who I write for, here’s what I’m about.
Excited for this run of yours you are embarking on. Even if the masses miss it, those of us who know *know*