January 13, 2026
Keep Calm and Scroll On
Why Stoicism is one of the best mind hacks ever devised
Internet dukes it out: calm superpower or bottled‑up bro culture
TLDR: The article says Stoicism is about gratitude and steady calm, not emotionlessness. Commenters fight over whether it’s a healthy mindset or a manosphere-style “bottle it up” trend, with some urging mindful practice and others warning it’s harmful if used as a blanket fix for emotional struggles.
The essay argues Stoicism isn’t grim endurance—it’s a gratitude-fueled calm that tames emotions, not erases them, with a side-eye at Nietzsche’s spicy rant and an NSFW Urban Dictionary street definition. But the comments turned the philosophy lecture into a cage match. blamestross asked whether people are practicing “mindful” Stoicism or just dissociating—then defended short-term emotional timeout as training wheels. parpfish lit up the thread, claiming Stoicism’s surge among “manosphere types” is just rebranding “don’t feel anything” as wisdom, tossing out the meme-ready line: “Emotions make you weak. Just suck it up.” belinder kept it breezy with “expect the worst, hope for the best,” while everdrive brought receipts from Epictetus, the ancient king of “these things happen,” painting Stoicism as darkly funny, not dead-eyed. Then PedroBatista dropped the sober warning: Stoicism can be like having a couple drinks to ease social anxiety—fine for some, bad for people in crisis—begging the crowd to “stop with this ‘no emotion’” misread. The vibe: half the room swears Stoicism is a real-life cheat code, half thinks it’s become a mask for bottling feelings, and everyone’s trading one-liners like it’s philosophy night at the comedy club.
Key Points
- •The article argues Stoicism is widely mischaracterized as grim endurance rather than a path to tranquility and transcendence.
- •Gratitude is presented as a central component of Stoic tranquility and resilience.
- •Friedrich Nietzsche’s critique in Beyond Good and Evil challenges the Stoic maxim of living according to nature, framing nature as indifferent.
- •Nietzsche further accuses Stoics of imposing morality on nature and casts philosophy as a will to power; the article disputes these claims.
- •The article advocates selective indifference as a practical Stoic approach that tempers emotions and cites an Urban Dictionary definition to reflect a modern view.