brokentumblr.

I might be a cynic, but I get kinda irritated at super successful people advocating single minded pursuit of one goal, one plan.  I get the same feeling when these statistical outliers argue that you should act without fear.

I plan everything.  I think you probably should, too.  I will happily admit I have a tendency to be somewhat risk-averse, which I’m working on, but I still think all risks should be calculated.

If the “This is Bad” feeling in your stomach isn’t countered by a “This is Good” thought in your head, something is wrong.  While not having the gut reaction to risk is bad (as it means you aren’t doing anything new), very few motivational types will take the time to say that the intellectual justification is important too.  These people are successful specifically because the need for intellectual justification is so hardwired into them they literally cannot imagine acting without it.

[My personal pet peeve is the movie/book Pursuit of Happyness.  It’s a story celebrating a man for taking an unpaid internship to follow his dreams, and get the life he and his son deserve.  He gets the job, which is great.  And it would be a very motivational story, IF HE WASN’T A SINGLE PARENT.  If you have a kid, and no job, you get WHATEVER JOB YOU CAN to take care of your kid.  You don’t go from shelter to shelter until you magically turn into an investment banker, or what have you.  Betting on yourself is great, but not at the detriment of taking responsibility for yourself.  I personally think Will Smith told a great story making that film, but taught a terrible lesson.]

There are a million dedicated, talented, brilliant people who pursued a single goal with all of their heart, and never became world-shattering successes.  Many of them have achieved a lot, and had perfectly satisfactory lives, but very, very few are hundred millionaires who are loved the world over.  As a society, we love to ignore the role luck plays in success.  Not that successful people are just lucky, but that circumstances out of their control play as much, if not more of a role in overall success than the things they control as an individual.  This isn’t pessimistic - it’s still nearly impossible to succeed without being dedicated, hard working, and intelligent.

[Unshockingly, I read the book outliers.  But this has bothered me for longer than I’ve known who Malcolm Gladwell is.]

attentionindustry:

Letting the current generation of lawmakers decide what is and isn’t permissible online is like letting the pre-flight lawmakers decide that land ownership extends infinitely up into the air.

Which, if I’m not mistaken, is exactly what some people thought should happen, in the post-Kitty Hawk USA.

This is the level of absurdity we’re talking about, when we talk about demanding that bits be treated as the legal equivalent of atoms.  We’re talking about banning air travel because a spot ten thousand feet above Jim-Bob’s cabin is somehow a key element of Jim-Bob’s day to day life, and flying over unnoticed infringes on his rights.

There’s a collapsing content business because people are still trying to legislate bits into atoms, and spending countless millions on lawsuits, lobbying and hackneyed technologies to make this happen.

It won’t work.  The invention of the plane made it necessary for Jim-Bob to let go of the imaginary right he had to the space above his head, the same way content industries need to let go of the imaginary value of text and images that can be instantly copied at no cost, and transmitted at no price.

I don’t care if the world worked one way for your entire career.  It doesn’t work that way anymore.  Making it illegal for the world to have changed just ruins any chance of developing sustainable businesses.

Put another way, prohibition created organized crime.  Endless rivers of money went to criminals because, well, people were gonna drink anyway.  A law that does not change behaviour isn’t a law, it’s failed governance.

Let the planes fly, because the second we realized they could, the world changed.

Inspired entirely by this quote from Dr. Jay Parkinson.

Thinking ‘Preach’ really loud every time someone makes a good point.

Developing truly epic speeches in response to imagined slights.

britticisms:

“It’s a freedom that white children have that black children don’t have…They get to pick from this huge array of personality types, behaviors, authentic selves that they can put on and take off. There is a challenge for black children in terms of, when they go to the identity closet, how may options of what guise they can put on and take off, and still be considered authentically black.”

—

Facing Identity Conflicts, Black Students Fall Behind : NPR

My entire childhood –not just education – was based around this concept. I was lucky because my mother was a teacher and so the value of an education was not just an idea or a mantra but a definite way of life. Education was not just something that happened to other people but an all-encompassing facet of everything I did.

The idea of what is “authentically Black” is one that many young Black children begin to face at an early age. The first time my “authentic Blackness” was questioned was during the second grade. I transferred from a private, Catholic school where every kid was treated the same, to a public elementary school where, despite the best efforts of the faculty, pre-conceived ideas of race were already infiltrating our young minds.

I had to make a conscious decision towards the end of the year to put on the “academic” identity, even if it meant distancing myself from the then-emerging “young, Black” identity. What most upset me was the fact that I had to make a choice, and that by focusing on my education, I was somehow choosing not to be Black. By caring about school, I was trying to “act white.” Because I wanted to learn, I was trying to be someone else, someone not Black.

I think that’s why I’ve always struggled with, and been fascinated by, the idea of an authentic self. There are identities and lifestyles that I can’t fully immerse myself in because of the constrictions that come from racial stereotypes, prejudices, and my own limitations of the self. Going through life is a test of decision. I base my actions on observations because I don’t feel entirely comfortable in my own agency and I don’t think I ever will. I can’t pull on or take off an identity easily (and my choices are ultimately limited) and so, choosing to care about education was something that I took on completely, regardless of what others would think. It was a conscious decision and one that I had to accept the consequences for.

In the article, writer Nancy Solomon wrote about one student, “So, when a youngster like Keith walks into class late with his pants sagging, sits in the back and doesn’t participate — he is basically striking a pose.” It’s a conscious decision to not care. There are only two options. Our selfhood is limited.

This is the absolute truth.  My situation was complicated somewhat further by being mixed, but there’s a judgement that happens, especially in schools with a smaller black community - being academically minded, and behaving in a manner that will lead to success in that arena, is often judged as acting ‘white’.

Pretending this only happens in schools is another part of the problem.