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For some reason, Jordan Peterson is having a moment with his new book, 12 Rules for Life. This has inspired other people to create their own list of rules, and I thought I’d join in. Here’s my list:

  1. Don’t be an asshole.

That’s it. After 59 years on this planet, I’ve decided that it mostly boils down to this. It’s better than the Golden Rule; it’s easier to keep in mind than an actual list; and it’s relatively undemanding. And yet, it works.

Perhaps you don’t like my rule because we all have different definitions of asshole. I don’t think so, really. We all know what an asshole is, even if we can’t define it precisely, and the few of us who don’t are psychopaths who probably ought to be in institutions. And in tricky cases, there’s an easy guideline to follow: assume the best of other people and the worst of yourself. If you’re unsure of whether someone else is being an asshole, they probably aren’t. If you’re unsure of whether you’re being an asshole, you probably are.

Also, take note of what this rule doesn’t require. It doesn’t require you to have any particular politics. It doesn’t require you to be especially nice or kind. It doesn’t require you to be generous. It doesn’t require you to be sociable. And it doesn’t prohibit you from being mean. Sometimes being mean is justified. The asshole rule prohibits you from being mean just for the hell of it, but that’s all.

In other words, we can all have our different personalities and our different value systems. We can fight for those values, and we can do it passionately. You just can’t be an asshole about it. You don’t get to smear people with lies just because they disagree with you. You can’t mock people just because they’re weak or stupid or unlike you in one way or another. You don’t get to take out your anger on other people. In other words: you get to honk your horn if you need to get someone’s attention, but not just because they’re moving a little too slow for your taste. (You can curse them under your breath, though. Being an asshole is a public thing. When you’re alone, you can think anything you want. You’ll be happier if you don’t obsess about all the people you hate, but that’s your business.)

Anyway, this is the bare minimum for being a decent person, and it’s achievable for almost all of us if we just decide to do it. Most rules for life really aren’t. They’re either too hard for lots of people to keep up, or else they work for those with a particular personality, but not for others.

Don’t be an asshole. OK?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we need readers to show up for us big time—again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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