You're holding the pin
I Give a
F**k
Two strips of black tape and a word most people soften. It says the quiet part: caring is a choice, and this is someone making it in public.
Why this pin exists
Over the past ten years, "not giving a f**k" became an industry. Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k has sold more than 20 million copies. Sarah Knight's books on the same idea have sold millions more. The phrase is on T-shirts, mugs, and book covers everywhere you look.
I read Manson's book. I did not read Knight's. I am only referring to the title. There are nuances in Manson's book, and I am sure in Knight's as well. But I am speaking to the bigger theme.
I don't agree with it.
Yes, we have to choose what we care about. Nobody can carry everything. But there is a difference between choosing your cares and wearing indifference as a badge. When your shirt or your book announces what you don't care about, it puts up a barrier before anyone has said a word. It tells the person across from you: don't bother.
And the things we don't care about right now have a way of changing. What doesn't speak to you today might be the thing that matters most in five years. We can not-care about something without being vehement about it. We can stay accepting, even loving, toward the things that aren't ours to carry.
So this pin is the other side of the bet. I give a f**k about what you give a f**k about.
Reducing barriers to connection. That is the whole movement.
Join the movement
There's no signup, no dues, no group chat. The movement is the small print on the pin, and joining it looks like this: notice something, then do something about it. Then hand the pin to the next person you catch doing the same.
- Wear it somewhere obvious.
- Say the whole word when someone asks.
- Pass it on when you find the right person.