If They Give You Ruled Paper, Write the Other Way" – A Guide to Pissing Off the System

Chris Conidis

If They Give You Ruled Paper, Write the Other Way" – A Guide to Pissing Off the System

Ah yes, the ruled paper. The nice, neat, pre-determined lines that someone else drew for you so you can conveniently stay in your lane, keep your thoughts between the margins, and never, ever, get any wild ideas about thinking for yourself.

See, they don’t actually want people—they want products. They don’t want individuals—they want interchangeable workers who shut up and do what’s expected. They don’t want ideas—they want participation trophies for regurgitating the right opinions at the right time.

And the best part? They sell this mindless obedience to you as "success." They tell you to be a “productive member of society,” which is just a fancy way of saying, "Make yourself useful to the machine or we will financially and socially destroy you."

Welcome to The Script

The script is simple. You follow the rules, you get a gold star. Deviate from the lines? You’re a “problem.” Question the system? You’re “difficult.” Refuse to participate in the fake enthusiasm of modern life? You’re “lazy, bitter, and need therapy.”

They don’t reward intelligence. They reward obedience. They don’t care how smart you are—they care how compliant you are.

Thinking for Yourself Is Basically a Crime

You know what happens when you start writing the other way?

• You notice how bullshit everything is.
• You start questioning the rules instead of just memorizing them.
• You begin to see that the game is rigged, the house always wins, and nobody actually cares about what’s right—just what’s profitable.

And then? Then, you’re dangerous.

Because people who think for themselves are a liability. They don’t blindly consume. They don’t waste their lives on meaningless social scripts. They aren’t afraid to throw the whole damn notebook away.

Why They Hate People Like You

If you write the other way, suddenly, you become the glitch in the matrix. The one who walks off the treadmill instead of running in place. The one who laughs at the people still fighting over Monopoly money.

They need you to stay in line, because if too many people start thinking for themselves, the entire house of cards collapses.

So they call you weird, cynical, a troublemaker. They pathologize independence. They make free thought feel like a defect instead of an asset.

How to Piss Off the System (And Have Fun Doing It)

1. Question everything, especially the things they say are “just the way it is.” If something is so natural and normal, why do they have to work so hard to convince you?
2. Stop performing enthusiasm for things you don’t care about. Society runs on fake passion for meaningless goals. Stop clapping for your own exploitation.
3. Deny them access to your mind. The media, corporations, influencers—they don’t want you thinking critically. They want you emotionally triggered, endlessly scrolling, and too exhausted to resist. Say no. Log out. Walk away.
4. Don’t ask for permission to be yourself. No one’s going to give you a gold medal for thinking differently. You’re gonna have to take it.

Final Thought: Set the Ruled Paper on Fire

Writing the other way isn’t just a rebellion. It’s a survival tactic.

Because if you keep following the lines they give you, you won’t even realize you’re in a cage until it’s too late.