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# I don't care what other kids are doing
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/i-dont-care-what-other-kids-are-doing/
- Published: 2026-10-14T20:11:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-14T20:11:07.000Z
- Author: Matt Birchler
- Tags: Links

Lex Friedman: [A few more thoughts on why embracing X is wrong](https://lexontech.org/a-few-more-thoughts-on-why-embracing-x-is-wrong?ref=birchtree.me)

> “The Ellisons are bad, too” is a great argument for paying attention to the Ellisons. It’s not an argument for X.

I remember one time as a teenager my parents sat me down in the living room to discuss something bad I had done. A couple decades later, I have no idea what I'd done to get myself in trouble. Whatever it was, it didn’t fly in the Birchler household.

I had a retort I thought I could checkmate my parents with – my stupid teenage brain thought I thought I was smarter than everyone else and that everything I did was justified – and I told them there were so many things a teenager could be doing, so I really shouldn’t get into trouble.

My parents didn't buy it for a second, and I'll never forget my dad telling me in so many words, "son, just because there are worse things you could be doing, or that other kids are doing bad things as well, that doesn't mean you're doing good."

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I'm not about to tell you that everyone who uses X is bad, you know that's not my opinion, but in a world where it's impossible to make purely moral decisions in everything we do, we should all recognize where we're making trade-offs and not try to paint ourselves as being purely logical.