We should keep being nice

Philippe Beaudoin · May 29, 2026

“We need to stop being nice.”

Hmm… no, that is definitely not my favorite phrase. I understand where it comes from: we want to matter, we want our values to exist, to shine. But to claim that kindness leads to losing oneself—as this phrase implicitly suggests—is to encourage the exact bullying instincts we are trying to distance ourselves from.

Words have weight. They change the world. When you have a platform and you choose to use it to say “we need to stop being nice” rather than “we need to stand tall,” it’s not insignificant. That is how a culture is shaped.

If you give me a microphone, I would say instead: “we must be proud of our values” or “we must resist ideas imposed on us if they don’t align with who we are”…

We matter. We have values that can help the world be a happier place. Those values include kindness. We don’t need to deny that in order to stand up for ourselves.