Talk is Cheap But Won't Make You Freer Tomorrow
freedom·@freertomorrow·
0.000 HBDTalk is Cheap But Won't Make You Freer Tomorrow
 The recent election season and its aftermath left me thinking about speech. It nicely illustrated the old saying that, "talk is cheap." At the same time, I had some non-political conversations with people that illustrated the same point. These events emphasized over and over how talk is cheap but action is hard. And they showed why most people will never achieve the freedom they seek. So let's look at some examples of cheap talk, how cheap talk substitutes for action, and what you need to do get past the "talk is cheap" stage and build yourself a freer tomorrow. ## Talk is Cheap: The Anti-Trump Movement ## We've all heard that talk is cheap throughout our lives. But watching the people opposed to Donald Trump's campaign for President of the United States really got me thinking about the subject. ### Reaction to Trump the Candidate ### When Trump first announced he was running for President, most people laughed. It had to be some kind of publicity stunt or ridiculous ego-driven fantasy. Surely there was no way that Trump could actually be a viable candidate. But over time he gained stature and began to eliminate his Republican competition, and it was clear that he was in it to win it. The idea that Trump might become the Republican presidential nominee upset many people. They were very vocal about it. They told the world in no uncertain terms that allowing Trump to be President was unacceptable. You might expect such people to take strong action against Trump. And maybe they thought they were. They threw a collective hissy fit. They screamed and whined and gnashed their teeth. As further evidence, they flooded social media sites with angry messages. They told the world how serious they were by sharing and re-tweeting angry messages from each other. Some of them made up lies and slanders and shared them as if they were true. They protested inside and outside of pro-Trump events. They told the world how really, really serious they were by rioting, destroying other people's property, and physically attacking Trump supporters. ### Reaction to Trump the Nominee ### When Trump was nominated, these people became even more incensed. So they threw a bigger fit. They screamed louder. They whined and gnashed their teeth more forcefully. And they flooded social media sites with even more angry messages. They told the world how serious they were by sharing and re-tweeting angry messages from each other. Some of them made up new lies and slanders and shared them as if they were true. They protested inside and outside of pro-Trump events. They told the world how really, really serious they were by rioting more, destroying more of other people's property, and physically attacking even more Trump supporters. ### Reaction to Trump as President of the United States ### When Trump won the election, these people freaked out. Some of them threw an even bigger fit. They screamed louder, whined more and gnashed their teeth more forcefully. They once again flooded social media sites with angry messages. Others of them sank into depression, whining about the end of freedom, women's rights, and all sorts of other stuff. They told the world how serious they were by sharing and re-tweeting angry messages from each other. Some of them made up even newer lies and slanders (along with some truly shameful accusations) and shared them as if they were true. They protested everywhere. They told the world how really, really serious they were by marching on Washington, DC in their hundreds of thousands. To further prove their point they waved signs and screamed and rioted, destroying even more of other people's property and physically attacking even more Trump supporters. ## Talk is Cheap ## Somehow, despite all the fury and social messaging and screaming and violence, Donald Trump won the election. There are lots of reasons why Trump won, but one of them is surely that his opponents didn't take effective action against him.  **Making her opinion known the old way.** While all the screaming and carrying on and wrecking stuff made the headlines, it didn't have much of an effect on Trump or the people that supported him. Aside from the small groups of violent troublemakers, those opposed to Trump were all talk and no action. Sure, they posted millions of messages on social media sites. They tweeted their rage to the world endlessly. And they supported each other with likes and re-tweets. They also shouted down anyone who had a kind word to say about Trump. In the end they burned billions of hours posting against Trump. And wasted untold hours telling anyone who would listen why Trump sucked. And why he couldn't be President, or shouting down anyone who disagreed with them. Surely Trump couldn't possibly win after such an outpouring of hate. But they were wasting their time. Words, by themselves don't accomplish anything. ## Actions Speak Louder than Words ## All too often, we confuse talking about something with actually doing it. It happens to everyone, and far more often than is good for us. How often has someone told you their grand plans and assured you that they were going to do them? How often do they actually follow through? Proverbs like, "Talk is cheap," and "Actions speak louder than words," exist because this is such a common phenomenon. It is so easy to talk about what you are going to do, then back down when confronted with the time and energy it will take to make it happen in the real world. ## It is a Common Problem ## And this isn't something that happens just to neer-do-wells. I am an expat in a city full of expats. In other words, I am surrounded by people who have taken massive action in the past. They have made major plans and executed them. Picking up and moving to another country is something that the majority of people just don't have the drive to do. But still, even among this group of highly capable people, I see plenty of examples of the "all talk, no action" syndrome. ### Examples ### One guy I know insisted he was going to find himself an Ecuadorean wife. He failed, even though he had once been a high-powered executive. And he had just expatriated months before. Clearly, he could get things done when he tried. But as far as I can tell, all he did was talk about how he was going to find a wife. I never saw him do anything to implement his plan. Another example: One night, a friend told a group of us how she was fed up with her life in Ecuador and was going to try living in another country right away. We all listened, and tried to convince her not to give up her life in our city. But she was adamant. A few days later I was talking to her and asked about her plans. I offered a couple of suggestions from my own experiences on moving from place to place. She made some kind of non-answer and changed the subject. The next time I made a suggestion, she became furious, at me! Apparently, all her plans to move were just words designed to gain her sympathy. By suggesting action instead of meaningless talk, I was putting her in an awkward position. She could either do something, admit she was just blowing smoke, or yell at me to get me to stop asking awkward questions. ## The Social Media Vacuum Makes Everything Worse ## While talking instead of doing has probably been a problem since people learned to talk, I believe the problem has gotten a lot worse in the last few years. The reason, of course is social media.  **Social Media makes the "talk is cheap" problem worse.** Before social media, you had to have someone physically present to do all your talking, complaining, screaming, and general carrying on. That limited how much time you could spend blabbing about whatever. And sooner or later the person you were blabbing at would find something better to do than listen to you. With social media sites, you can blast your opinions to vast numbers of people instantly. They might not listen, but you can at least get your thoughts in front of far larger audience than before. Besides giving you reach, social media gives you a measure of protection. If someone doesn't like your opinion on social media, the worst that will usually happen is that they will call you names, then block you. If you annoy someone badly enough in a face-to-face setting, you might get yourself punched in the mouth. As a result of this protection from real consequences, you can go totally nuts on social media, saying all sorts of horrible things without paying much of a price. Combine these two characteristics and social media becomes an ideal environment for ranting on about anything and everything, without having to back up your words with actions, or face any consequences. These sites suck you in. You go online, people like, share, re-tweet your snide comment about someone, you argue with some jerk who clearly knows nothing, and discover that you've just squandered 3 hours of your life. You may have won every argument and impressed all your followers with your wit, **BUT YOU HAVEN'T ACCOMPLISHED A DAMN THING IN THE REAL WORLD**. ## Talk Must be Followed by Action If You Are to Become Freer Tomorrow ## You have probably guessed where I am going with this. Thinking about what you need to do to become freer tomorrow is vital. Planning things out makes you much more likely to succeed. And talking to someone else (like an accountability partner) about your plans can make them more concrete and practical. But at some point, all the thinking, and planning, and talking has to end. It doesn't matter what you plan to do to become freer, at some point you have to stop thinking, and planning, and talking, and actually take effective action. Once you get to that point, you would do well to remember those old sayings. Talk is cheap, and actions do speak louder than words. Get to it. The sooner you stop talking and start doing, the sooner you will be able to enjoy the freedom you are looking for. ------------------------------------- ###### This post is based on one which originally appeared at [FreerTomorrow.com](http://freertomorrow.com). ######