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"That looks really good. Hey, you know what would go great with that? Fried hamster."

Where it implodes is when the person following that advice turns their emotions inward and stops caring how their actions are affecting other people. And it's entirely too common. Someone letting loose with a string of cursing around your grandma, who doesn't want to be around that sort of language. When you say something about it, he responds with "Hey, this is just the way I am. If you don't like it, fuck off -- I don't give a shit what you think." I've been that guy to a certain extent, and in some ways I still am. Self-centeredness is a hard demon to kill, and it's harder to recognize that it's even there. I suppose that's why it's still around: Most people don't realize there's even an enemy in the room.

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Now does that mean you have to worry about what everyone thinks? Hell no, that's impossible. Ninety percent of the people you encounter in life are random faces you just pass by in the pizza rolls aisle. But you do need to have certain peers and respected figures in your life to prevent you from wearing your pajamas to a funeral or tattooing Boba Fett on your neck.

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"No, no, no, I love the outfit. It's just that the other guys might get jealous of how awesome and fancy you look."

No, the problem is when you confront somebody on behavior that's alienating everyone in their life. They will almost certainly play the "I don't care what other people think!" card, as if that is a universal truth that trumps all context or consequences. That really goes for everything on this list; I'm not denying that every piece of advice here has its place. There's a reason phrases like them become cliches. But the temptation is to use them to boil every difficult decision down into a simple phrase that can't be argued with. And I've learned that if life ever seems that simple, you're probably doing it wrong.

For more Cheese, check out 4 Awful Ways The Internet Is Tainting Everything Else and 5 Reasons You Don't Miss Your 20s When They're Over.