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> "Always take sides."

I've heard and read this advice numerous times, and it is even very old advice.

"Rulers must never remain neutral. If neighboring rulers fight, you must take sides, because if you do not, the winner will threaten you, and the loser will not befriend you. Whether or not your ally wins, he will be grateful to you. However, if you can avoid it, you should never ally with someone more powerful than yourself, because if he wins, you may be in his power."

-- Niccolò Machiavelli, 1513

There certainly must be something to it, but in my opinion sometimes there is a place for neutrality. If it is expressed without any nuance as above, I don't think it is good advice.

What about Switzerland?

> Always take sides. By not taking a side you are automatically wrong.

Hard disagree. Sometimes "I don't know, we should research that more" is the best response. Maybe even often rather than sometimes.

That's a side. It's not the side the person asking wanted, but it commits to action unlike: "either is fine".

> Always take sides. By not taking a side you are automatically wrong. This doesn’t mean you should engage in identity politics, etc. but when faced with a choice take the time to make an informed decision.

This is a good way to piss away incredible amounts of time on irrelevant things. You are definitely not “wrong” by choosing to ignore an argument about which Kardashian is better looking.

Taking a side does not mean submitting yourself to an argument. The advice is "take a side", not "advocate/defend a side in all circumstances".

It involves grokking the arguments from both sides and if it’s anything non-trivial it will take hours to actually give it due diligence. “Taking a side” without being some political hot-head dipshit is a massive waste of time.

You don't necessarily need to be right, either, but the point is to take a stand so that there's something substantial to discuss. Put another way -- allow yourself the opportunity of being wrong. The assumption is that good faith dialectic follows, though of course that is an assumption made only on good faith.

Nope, that’s still a massive waste of time. There is an endless pool of deep nuanced disputes in a world with billions of people.

Look at just the US elections coming. There are probably 10,000+ seats of significant municipal, state, or national power up for turnover in two weeks. You cannot form a meaningful opinion on even 1% of those and it will be out of date almost immediately.

Usually my conclusion is more like:

1) There is no such thing as "both sides." There are always more than two sides.

2) They should all die in a fire.

Not sure that helps anyone, but I call 'em as I see 'em.

> Plumbing is easier than you think. Learn to do it yourself.

Yep, same with electrical work around the house. Obviously not for everyone, but once you get past the initial hurdle of getting comfortable and safe with electricity, there's great pleasure to be had from knowing that you can fix any issue, with minimal cost.

>Pick people, not projects.

I follow this as well and it makes life better.

I think “the office” is the best example of this. It seems like it would be a terrible job to sell paper but it still seems like a really fun place to be.

Don’t get married depends on country.

Some countries won't even let you do hospital visits if you are not family.

And some states marry you even if you don’t get married. It’s called common law marriage and you can end up with all the divorce stuff without even having had the wedding.

3 years of cohabitation and joint finances where I live

only difference from marriage is that to get out of a marriage you MUST have a divorce; ending common law relationships leaves a 2-year window where a proceeding can be filed, and will behave like a divorce if filed. but it doesn't have to happen.

<< Don’t take advice from strangers on the internet :)

This really should be the fist rule of the internet.:D

It’s more fun to put it at the end :)

>Pick people, not projects.

This is really important. Addendum: pick the right spouse if you can, easier said than done. It's better to be single than have a dysfunctional spouse.

Taking sides require a certain degree of context so if you are really clueless, you shouldn’t take sides till you know enough