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renatus . :)
I LOVE this blog entry on The Breaking Time blog. It comments on the xkcd "sheeple" comic posted a while back and discusses how, to quote the blog, "dismissive condescension is a monumentally stupid way to deal with the world." I totally, wholeheartedly agree.
Excerpt:
So you're smart. Great. Intelligence is a beautiful thing to have. But the world is full of remarkably bright people who make really dumb calls, and people of average intellect who've made brilliant ones. The world is also full of extremely intelligent people with elaborate justifications for very bad ideas. Reality is awakening to the fact that there are a thousand and one talents, each of which might be perfectly adapted to a situation where others are useless.
In addition to the use of "sheeple", I've heard people who appropriated JK Rowling's term "muggles" as a synonym for "sheeple". They can be heard constantly deriding anything or anyone that was outside their (narrow, so very narrow) frame of reference. Hearing this always made me lose a little bit more respect for these people, and that was back in my Time of Silence when I wasn't speaking up and voicing my dissent and dislike for that sort of thing. It's just an odious way to behave, for one thing, and for another thing, it just makes the person saying these sorts of things seem very intolerant, narrow-minded, and very much like an asshole. And I don't think JK Rowling would approve - Hermione's family are muggles, after all.
I also think that people who casually lump people into a negative "other" are sadly deficient in self-confidence and self-esteem.
People who dismiss things out of hand as "stupid" or "beneath my notice" sadly limit their experience of this world. I used to be dismissive (but not necessarily negative toward) fan fiction as a "timewaster" and never looked into it further, and that was such a mistake on my part. I've grown so much since I started reading and writing about fandom, and being involved in fandom discussions is directly related to why I now choose to speak up about things like racism, bigotry, gay-bashing, misogyny, etc. I was aware, but not involved, until fandom got my attention. Life lesson learned: I will never dismiss something until I take a close, investigative look at it, even if this means I have to spend more time looking into and researching stuff.
I'm writing the word "sheeple" out of my vocabulary (unless I'm singing "Slipping" from Dr. Horrible). Not that I ever used it, but just in case. :)
renatus . :)I LOVE this blog entry on The Breaking Time blog. It comments on the xkcd "sheeple" comic posted a while back and discusses how, to quote the blog, "dismissive condescension is a monumentally stupid way to deal with the world." I totally, wholeheartedly agree.
Excerpt:
So you're smart. Great. Intelligence is a beautiful thing to have. But the world is full of remarkably bright people who make really dumb calls, and people of average intellect who've made brilliant ones. The world is also full of extremely intelligent people with elaborate justifications for very bad ideas. Reality is awakening to the fact that there are a thousand and one talents, each of which might be perfectly adapted to a situation where others are useless.
In addition to the use of "sheeple", I've heard people who appropriated JK Rowling's term "muggles" as a synonym for "sheeple". They can be heard constantly deriding anything or anyone that was outside their (narrow, so very narrow) frame of reference. Hearing this always made me lose a little bit more respect for these people, and that was back in my Time of Silence when I wasn't speaking up and voicing my dissent and dislike for that sort of thing. It's just an odious way to behave, for one thing, and for another thing, it just makes the person saying these sorts of things seem very intolerant, narrow-minded, and very much like an asshole. And I don't think JK Rowling would approve - Hermione's family are muggles, after all.
I also think that people who casually lump people into a negative "other" are sadly deficient in self-confidence and self-esteem.
People who dismiss things out of hand as "stupid" or "beneath my notice" sadly limit their experience of this world. I used to be dismissive (but not necessarily negative toward) fan fiction as a "timewaster" and never looked into it further, and that was such a mistake on my part. I've grown so much since I started reading and writing about fandom, and being involved in fandom discussions is directly related to why I now choose to speak up about things like racism, bigotry, gay-bashing, misogyny, etc. I was aware, but not involved, until fandom got my attention. Life lesson learned: I will never dismiss something until I take a close, investigative look at it, even if this means I have to spend more time looking into and researching stuff.
I'm writing the word "sheeple" out of my vocabulary (unless I'm singing "Slipping" from Dr. Horrible). Not that I ever used it, but just in case. :)
