# The worst advice I've ever heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Metapolitics & General\ **Created:** [November 2, 2026, 9:26am UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188 "2026-11-02T09:26:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evergreen](https://briarfray.org/user_avatar/briarfray.org/evergreen/32/789_2.png) [@Evergreen](https://briarfray.org/u/Evergreen)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 9:26am UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/1 "2026-11-02T09:26:53Z")
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” Why wouldn’t I? Am I supposed to open up every single book I see at he book store and read a chapter before judging it? Do you realize how long that will take? The whole point of the cover is to allow a buyer to judge it quickly. If you as the writer or publisher can’t come up with an interesting cover then that’s your own fault and that alone tells me everything I need to know about your work. Same applies to people. Are you telling me you never judge a person by looking at them? Bullshit. Life would be impossible if you didn’t. You can find out a pretty decent amount about a someone without ever having to talk to them. This is why any reasonable person goes to great lengths to manage their appearance, from their clothes to their gait, and the type of person who doesn’t care about their appearance at all is mentally ill. This applies pretty much everything actually, being able to gauge all things quickly with simple observations is a superpower you’d be smart to master early in life. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/848884/32.png) [@Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/u/Lucretius)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/2 "2026-11-02T19:09:33Z")
Hi, new here. Interesting forum to read. Indeed, Evergreen. To take this literally / materially, the “cover” of the book is intentionally designed to generate a first impression that communicates to the reader/buyer what expectations they can or should have. Upsetting these expectations in a bad way will not increase sales and may hurt the reputation of the book. As you said, managing appearances is important. It isn’t everything but it is taught and can be learned for self preservation, self respect, etc. It also has to do with playing roles. You might be having a bad day but if you can’t have neutral or positive reactions, your “cover” will merely expose that emotions control your life. Or, if you can do a job but you can’t show up on time or take care of hygiene, then the actual labor doesn’t matter because, like many things, it’s also about appearance. I’m not saying it’s healthy to judge people, but there’s usually little reason to doubt your intuition. For example, just had a new guy at work… shows up, has a sort of gruff, anti-social manner. I know he’s going to be an issue so I basically avoid talking to him or showing him anything. I don’t have energy for that and am not in management. Before the end of the day he had gotten drunk on break, came back and was quickly fired. I wasn’t surprised at all. When he was “shadowing” the job, I could feel tension every moment. He had no sense of responsibility, could hardly interact or manage simple tasks. It isn’t “rocket science,” as the boomer elders love to say. And yet, as you point out, I would be the a\*\*hole if I said “he won’t last long.” I saw this idea on X not long ago, that judging is instinctual and can be learned through experience. You see a person with no indication of self-respect and you know you can’t expect anything from them. This is basically always true. I’ve seen people who look nice and somewhat reserved, and they became friends I could count on. Lesson to be had here. The X topic chalks this “don’t judge” to liberalism and the usual civil rights / globo-homo agenda, which I think is accurate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Evergreen](https://briarfray.org/user_avatar/briarfray.org/evergreen/32/789_2.png) [@Evergreen](https://briarfray.org/u/Evergreen)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/3 "2026-11-02T19:17:43Z")
Well said. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/848884/32.png) [@Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/u/Lucretius)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 7:21pm UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/4 "2026-11-02T19:21:42Z")
> [@Evergreen](#): > > This is why any reasonable person goes to great lengths to manage their appearance, from their clothes to their gait, and the type of person who doesn’t care about their appearance at all is mentally ill. Even when you say this, 100%. Sub-culture always relies on fashion to communicate group status. If the group is a “non-group,” that is truly marginal (drug addicts, abusers, welfare, etc) then you can see broad similarities that aren’t specific. Tattoos used to indicate rough lifestyle. Now, by age group, it usually indicates herd compliance and conformity. Maybe, maybe it extends to subcultures like music, arts, military, or less savory things. But so much now it’s reflecting a veneration of pop culture and social media. ---
**Author:** ![Evergreen](https://briarfray.org/user_avatar/briarfray.org/evergreen/32/789_2.png) [@Evergreen](https://briarfray.org/u/Evergreen)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/5 "2026-11-02T19:32:57Z")
Yes, in this way people will often invite others to judge them as another form communication. You get a tattoo because you want people to come to some kind of a conclusion about you. It’s also important to consider that these types of visual signals are becoming more common as society in general becomes increasingly closed off and antisocial. ---
**Author:** ![buddy\_vestigial](https://briarfray.org/user_avatar/briarfray.org/buddy_vestigial/32/871_2.png) [@buddy\_vestigial](https://briarfray.org/u/buddy_vestigial)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 9:16am UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/6 "2026-11-03T09:16:36Z")
There is a reason this advice is prevalent. Most people lack the taste and discernment to adequately judge a book by its cover. In the beginning, in adolescence essentially, you should be reading as many books as possible regardless of cover so that you can develop the necessary pattern recognition to understand which covers typically signify which style of content & quality there within. On a more advanced layer you will see that people purposefully alter their cover to conceal who they really are. This is why you see “legitimate” millionaires dress like they’re middle class as a defense mechanism from people constantly treating them as a commodity when they believe that they can get a piece of their wealth. And ironically that’s become it’s own distinguishable trope now as well. And you would never get to know those people for who they really were if you were to judge them by their cover. Learn the rules so that you can learn eventually how to break them creatively. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/848884/32.png) [@Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/u/Lucretius)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/7 "2026-11-03T16:13:01Z")
> [@Evergreen](#): > > these types of visual signals are becoming more common as society in general becomes increasingly closed off and antisocial. Yup. I think it plays into simulation. Like, some (or many) people are deeply invested in certain subcultures (anime, tv shows, video games, health, etc). They almost never glimpse outside of that subculture. They’re not really inviting anyone to their culture, but if someone has the signifiers they’re already “in.” In a way it’s natural and good to gate-keep one’s culture or sub-culture so that it isn’t infiltrated and weakened. At the same time we would probably agree that Reddit and similar online places gate-keep cultures that are naturally destructive and awful. They gate-keep their own destructiveness and it gets played off as “normal.” Seems like an example of the abused protecting their abuser. Weirdly, religious sects are not too different from these pseudo-cultures and pop/sub-cultures. Streamers now are sort of cult leaders. Just examples - Tucker, or Hasan. They have legions of people generically on the right or left. Many people cannot see this artificial binary. Other industry talents or figures are the same way. Consumerism / products as well as all real and hobby activities are being funneled into these automatic or automated sub-groups probably because it’s easier and more lucrative to manage. > [@buddy\_vestigial](#): > > Most people lack the taste and discernment to adequately judge a book by its cover. True, buddy\_, I get frustrated with this. I mean, we know AI videos are everywhere, we see how easy it is to manipulate things. And yet people are still entertained by wondering if obviously fake imagery _could be real._ I try not to blackpill…it’s silly to get blackpilled over this stuff. Most everyone believes the nuclear bomb, cold war, Oct 7, covid, holocaust, etc. There’s no option to “not believe” these grand narratives, because disbelief is “not an option.” In the same way people can’t discern quality so they choose slop. Not only do they choose slop, but they enjoy it. Pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/848884/32.png) [@Lucretius](https://briarfray.org/u/Lucretius)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://briarfray.org/t/the-worst-advice-ive-ever-heard/1188/8 "2026-11-03T16:16:26Z")
> [@buddy\_vestigial](#): > > On a more advanced layer you will see that people purposefully alter their cover to conceal who they really are. This one gets me. I “play dumb” in social settings like 90% of the time. You can’t say things that don’t have canned, ready responses. That leads you to either say nothing, or just mumble socially-acceptable platitudes. It’s distressing. Usually people think you’re either dumb, or weird. Humor helps but it isn’t “enough.”