So I got drinks with my buddy Cooper who's a very talented videographer and I was like, hey man you should share more of your shit and he was like nah, bro. That's just not me and I said fuck you. That's not me bullshit. That's literally you. That's what you do and here's the thing. You're not afraid because it's not you, you're afraid because it is you. That's what the fear is because it's a lot easier to put out a not-you like an effigy and watch everybody burn it and then you sort of sit back and watch like that's not me though. So I'm okay. But you're afraid that if you actually go out there, they'll hang you and burn you alive. That's true. You're afraid but that's not existence. Like first line of How to Disappear Completely by Thom Yorke, Radiohead is that there, that's not me, saying that's not me is how you disappear. And don't get it twisted — invisibility is not transparency. The whole point of seeing through things is that eventually you see something real, the real truth. When you make art, you need to be like one of those glass frogs, like you need to be so honest and your skin and bones need to be so clear and transparent that people can see what you ate for lunch. That's not me, fuck you. Tat tvam asi, thou art that, it is you, it is literally you. Let's break this down. First person: I am me, I am says God. Code's me, let me be me bro says Cody from Surf's Up. Second person: thou art that, you are that, that is you. Third person: he is him, him is not somebody else that you become, him is when the not-you becomes the you. If you want to become him you just become you. Him is not somebody else, him is you, if you want to be him you have to be you. He's him. Not being you, that's like the whole plot of Cyrano de Bergerac, I think that ends with him dying, or Let It Shine starring Tyler James Williams and Coco Jones. There's literally like whole stories about how not being you is a bad thing. So yeah, bro, if you're not doing something because you're saying that's not me, fuck you, you're full of shit. It is you. That's what scares you is that it is you and it's much easier to not be you and pretend that it is you but it is you and the only way you become you is by being you, not by being somebody else. The real Slim Shady has to stand up. No one's asking for the fake Slim Shady. It's like only like earthquake test buildings, it's like your resonant frequencies depending on your height. I'm trying to shake to a frequency that's not yours, your amplitude is gonna be smaller. You've got weak-ass amplitude because you're not vibing to your own vibe. You're not being you. If you want maximum amplitude, if you want maximum volume, you have to vibe to your vibe, you have to be you. The not-you is not the way, the you you. So be the you you and vibe hard.
This is a blunt authenticity sermon built around a single inversion: you're not afraid because "that's not me" — you're afraid because it is you. Using his friend Cooper (a talented videographer hiding behind "that's not me"), Harry Miller argues fear marks identity, not distance. Putting out a "not-you" effigy to burn is safe; putting out the real you risks being hung. He links this to Radiohead's "How to Disappear Completely" ("that's not me" is how you disappear), glass-frog transparency (art requires being so clear they see what you ate for lunch), and the Sanskrit Tat Tvam Asi — thou art that — unpacked across first person (I am that I am, God / Cody's "let me be me"), second person (thou art that), and third person (he is him — you don't become someone else, you become you when the not-you falls away). Cyrano, Let It Shine, and Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" become parables for the same law: pretending not to be you is a tragedy; resonance only happens at your natural frequency — shake at someone else's frequency and your amplitude collapses.
Miller's "fuck you, it is you" is bracing, but risks collapsing discernment into authenticity absolutism. Not every "that's not me" is fear in disguise — some is boundaries, taste, or season. The choreographer who says "that's not me" to a style that violates their body, the introvert who declines the stage that drains them, the craftsman who refuses the clout project that betrays his north star — they're not hiding an effigy, they're honoring a limit. The missing question is which "not me" is fear (avoiding your frequency) vs. which "not me" is wisdom (protecting your frequency). Without a container (community, elder, metric) to test the difference, "be you" becomes its own performance — the loudest self, not the truest.