From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 17:19:03 MDT
Spike writes
> I have been pondering something that is related to this
> thread. We know of cases where a notion gets deeply
> embedded in the psyche of a society that can profoundly
> affect the character of that society. Even if the actual meme
> is false, its spread can have a deep impact.
> A notion which has become very widely accepted by
> western society is that people who fail at life seem to share
> the characteristic of low self esteem.
A *recent* study, I believe, found the self esteem
of juvenile delinquents to be too *high*. Has anyone
else heard this? It certainly goes against the long
standing conventional wisdom (which I never believed).
For sure, if you do a web search, you'll only find
the usual studies pointing to a *negative* relationship
between self-esteem and troubled youth. I'll lay money
that this is a bad meme, just as you say.
> When we are given honors for nothing, deep down inside
> we *know* we have accomplished not one damn thing.
That is very true; I've had at least one person describe
in detail receiving teacher's praise for something that
he knew he had put no effort into, and what it made him
think of the activity.
> The applause is just noise, the accolades meaningless.
> The result is the recipients of phony honors merely
> develop disdain for the society that confers it, a deep
> cynicism towards those that force hollow honors upon them.
Yes, but not necessarily disdain in every way. One does
see the society, the teacher, the group... whatever...
as *nice*. The medium is sometimes the message. You
may come away thinking that art is meaningless or stupid,
but you'll also remember that the teacher was *nice*.
In our kinder and gentler new world, nothing, it seems,
is so important as being *nice*. Tag, or anything where
there is the least excitement or competition, isn't *nice*
and so must be banned.
> I suspect our society is seeing the results...
Yes, while we may not accomplish anything else, no one
will be nicer than we.
Lee
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