I used to find the Demotivator Posters insanely funny, e.g. mistakes, mediocrity, individuality, and procrastination, for precisely the reason stated in this poster on motivation: “If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.”
While I still dislike the trite advice of motivational posters, I no longer find the Demotivators funny. I suspect that’s because I’m not be as cynical as I used to be. That’s good news, since I’ve actually put some effort into reducing my cynicism in recent years, after realizing that it fostered precisely the kind of alienation from values that Ayn Rand dissected at length in “Art and Moral Treason” in The Romantic Manifesto.
Still some of the Demotivators contain a lesson worth learning, such as Meetings: “None of us is as dumb as all of us.” However, the best is undoubtedly Sacrifice:
That’s perfect!
Via John Enright, I think.
