The Chad Playbook for Real Strength
Power Is Cheap; Duty Pays Dividends
When discussing politics or ethics, I’m often struck by the differences between how I and others think about what “strength” means. What others praise as strength, I condemn as cowardice; what I might call weakness, others applaud as a winner’s mindset. Here, I argue that while many fine people identify strength with the raw exercise of power, true chads realize that strength lies in discipline and devotion to duty.
I. Power-Centric vs Duty-Centric Strength
Many people consider strength power-centric, associating it with winning, taking control, and not apologizing (like Neitzche’s “master morality”).
In contrast, I think of strength as duty-centric: exercising courage and willpower through commitment to moral responsibilities.
To be clear, power-centric strength is important! I work in quantitative trading, a competitive industry where a focus on the bottom line (profit) is essential. Caring about winning will make you more likely to succeed in everything you attempt in life.
However, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in power-centric games that one forgets the ultimate duty-centric meaning of strength.
II. I’ve Won, But At What Cost?
The tobacco industry was famously aware of nicotine’s addictive and harmful properties before the general public was. In the same year 7 tobacco CEOs lied under oath that nicotine was not addictive, smoking killed ~430,000 Americans.
Through factory farming, the meat industry shaves cents off the cost of producing cheap meat. In the process, they’ve created one of history’s worst moral atrocities:
Sick pigs are killed by being beaten to death against concrete.
Piglets are routinely castrated and have their tails cut off with no anesthesia.
Half a million chickens are boiled to death each year in the US.
These are “wins” only in the narrow ledger of quarterly earnings. When considering our moral duties, they are sad failures.
III. Duty and “Real” Toughness
Sometimes I talk to the kind of guy who identifies with Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. Sure, they say, it’s regrettable that billions of animals are tortured, but that’s just how the world works! Power-centric strength is all there is. The idea of “duty-centric strength” is just cope made up by soyboys like me who ain’t tough enough to do what must be done.
My counter to this is that there are many cases where society defaults to the duty-centric view. In fact, these “tough guys” are often the first to enforce the duty-centric standard!
The deadbeat dad: Lots of fathers abandon ship after their baby mama has had their baby.
From a power-centric perspective, deadbeat dads are awesome. They’ve propagated their genes without having to spend any more resources! Way to win!
From a duty-centric perspective, it’s cowardice to abandon your family in their hour of need.
The deserter: Sometimes soldiers flee rather than face combat.
From a power-centric perspective, it’s wise to desert and get the upside without having to face the downside. As Lord Farquaad said, “some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make”.
From a duty-centric perspective, running to save one’s skin while comrades hold the line is rarely admired.
Even the Patrick Batemans of the world instinctively recognize the duty-centric strength in having the discipline to stick to one’s duty rather than surrender to impulse.
IV. Case Studies in Conflicting Intuitions
A. President Trump
Many of President Trump’s supporters regard him as the embodiment of power-centric strength: swagger, verbal aggression, refusal to concede.
Put more explicitly, he’s boasted about groping women, flew 7 times on “terrific guy” Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, has at least 25 sexual misconduct allegations, lies over 20 times per day, and is still unwilling to publicly admit he lost the 2020 election.
Viewed through the duty-centric lens, these behaviors reveal a profoundly weak person who’s unable to master his ego, tell an uncomfortable truth, or accept a legitimate loss. Few people who admire Trump as a power-centric strongman would welcome a neighbor who brags about groping women, is a serial liar, and throws a fit after losing a game of poker.
B. Julia Wise and Jeff Kaufman
Contrast Trump with people who donate to effective charities. Over their lifetimes, Julia Wise and Jeff Kaufman have donated >$500k to top GiveWell charities, saving >100 lives (ignoring the impact of the $1.5M they donated to other charities). Where some power-centric people see naïvete, I see disciplined commitment: living below one’s means year after year because strangers’ lives matter. While I’m not at Julia and Jeff’s level yet, I’ve taken the 10% Pledge and am giving what I can.
C. Strength Directed Sideways: Ethical Consumption
Factory farming is, by numbers, one of history’s worst crimes. Most people aren’t willing to totally abstain from animal products. However, partial commitments—switching from chicken to higher-welfare beef, offsetting animal product consumption, or supporting protein innovation research—require duty-centric strength which deserves deep respect.
VII. Conclusion
History is an unforgiving accountant. Its ledger records the body counts behind discount cigarettes and the suffering hidden in cheap chicken just as clearly as it remembers the lives saved by disciplined generosity. When the final audit comes due, the Virgin “I-Did-What-It-Took” will stare at a balance sheet littered with silent casualties, while the Chad “I-Did-What-Was-Right” will see a trail of rescued lives. Would you rather be the virgin or the chad?