September 8, 2017

Depression is real, and Andrew Tate needs to shut up.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t get mad because of anything I read on Twitter this year, and then I read this piece of idiocy by Andrew Tate:

Depression isn’t real. You feel sad, you move on. You will always be depressed if your life is depressing. Change it. Thread. […]

Depression is not something you catch from the sky. Take responsibility for yourself and your life. Push forward. And it’s gone. Fact.

Fuck. That. Shit.

Mr. Tate, here are some facts: I live a pretty great life. I have a gorgeous wife whom I adore and who loves me dearly. I have an amazing job where I’m supported and valued and make huge social impact. I have a cat that makes me laugh and smile all throughout the day. I have a beautiful home that makes me feel warm and welcome. I have friends and colleagues who inspire me and motivate me. I see joy in all the little things in life. Heck, people accuse me of being too positive, usually.

Here’s another fact: I live with depression. I have lived with it for years. I have been hospitalized because of it more than once. I have taken an abundance of medication to treat it. I have lost friends, opportunities, ideas because of my depression. My depression doesn’t define me, but it is there, all the time, a part of me.

My life is not depressing. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of depressing. And even if it were, it wouldn’t matter: depression is a medical circumstance that can’t just be willed away—just like cancer can’t be wished away.

I take responsibility for myself and my life, and my life is pretty fantastic. I still have depression, and work to manage it every single day. That will never change, no matter what some idiot with a large Twitter following may think.

I don’t know who Andrew Tate is (though he must be famous if he has 25,000 followers who listen to this kind of drivel) and I’m usually loathe to speak ill of someone, but here’s what I do know: if people listen to the bullshit he is saying, and if they refuse to seek professional help when they need it and end up hurting themselves, that’s on him. Telling people their illness isn’t real, especially when they look up to you, is harmful and hateful.

Andrew Tate is harmful, and he is hateful.

And he needs to shut up.