Believe people

People do exactly what they say

When people tell us they are going to do something that we dont like, we often dont tend to believe them. We think, “surely that cant be true, they dont really mean that”, or “They are bluffing!”, or “It wont be as bad as they say.”

It turns out, though, that people often do exactly what they say they are going to do.

Photo by Moritz Kindler on Unsplash

When republicans go and promise something terrible to their most radical supporters, we on the outside look in and think, “There is no way they actually mean this, they are just saying it for the voters.” Thats true, they might not believe what they say, but that does not mean they wont do it.

Sometimes we want to believe that an extremist is lying to their supporters because they lie to us. At one corner they shout, “This election was stolen, and we are going to take it back today!”. At the other they smirk and murmur, “No, of course I dont really believe that — no one really believes that!” The truth must be somewhere in the middle, right?

They do not believe what?

Knowing what they believe doesn’t matter, as it rarely defines what they will do.

Action has little to do with what people believe. Actions are to deliver results, to satisfy urges, in some cases to achieve goals. However, a person’s beliefs rarely seem to align with their actions. People do things all the time without knowing why, let alone to fulfil a belief. What you do doesn’t always say much about why you do it.

The same applies to inaction. People beliefs indicate that action is required. However, they spend their time expressing their beliefs and at no time identify an action. We then feel that, due to their beliefs, action must come as a consequence. However, people often exactly what they say they will do, and in this case, it’s nothing. They didn’t say they would do anything, and low and behold they don’t.

The more you look for what people say they will do, the less you will find it. People will say many things that sound like action. “I will get even”, “ I will succeed”, “We will win!”. But those are beliefs, not actions. Hopes of the results of their actions, though no actions are defined. People shouting these beliefs as if that was an act in itself are no closer to do something than someone who says nothing.

When someone says they are going to do something, believe them.

When they dont say anything at all, believe them.