I've known several people who have the attude expressed by the letter writer here. And I never know what to tell them.
I want to say "Grow up! Quit sucking! People who base their egos on bitching about everyone else are yucky and nobody wants to be friends with them! Also, I've been listening to Radiohead since at least 1996 and I can assure you that plenty of other fairly mainstream people have, too."
But I don't.
I just kind of smile and nod and pray they are being ironic when they refer to people not like them as "normals," "mundanes" or what have you.
CC
7 comments:
I'd have written "statistically speaking, unusual people are rare" and then continued on to say, "which implies that you are probably not actually unusual, rather you are a typical person trying to find a way to elevate yourself above others based on arbitrary choices you've made. So stop it."
I think he was way too supportive of her egoistic trip. And Radiohead? Give me a break. If you're going to be truly original, try some obscure Hungarian Polka band or something.
(I say this, living in the middle of hipster-ville in Chicago, where I see that letter writer's attitude daily and have to guard myself against it.)
I find myself occasionally indulging in these sort of histrionics from time to time, too.
It's a very tempting response/habit pattern to fall into when you've felt alone, isolated, and generally misunderstood from time to time. But having had the mirror turned upon me and seen my own comments and behavior echoed in the words and deeds of other people has been a humbling experience.
Sounds a little like garden variety immaturity. At 26 it should be starting to wear off.
I guess she's going through the liberal version of "I'm so special" teenage angst. Probably because I grew up among Republicans, I went through the conservative version (i.e. an Ayn Rand phase during which I think I actually once used the word "secondhander" in a spoken conversation, may God forgive me), which involved less Radiohead but the same old belief that one is creative and original while others are horribly normal. (Though at least the Randians have the virtue of being creative in profitable ways, instead of just writing poems no one wants to read and art no one wants to put on her wall.) But Kim is right, and if you're still like that by your mid-20s, it's time to declare yourself a libertarian/ anarchist politically and refuse to buy any book or album put out by a large corporation.
Smile. I had an Ayn Rand phrase, too. My roommate and I nearly named our cat "Dagney."
That was a dark time...
CC
That girl should move to Portland, Oregon and find out just how normal she really is.
I have no time for people whining about how everyone else is too normal and unoriginal to get them. They are actually more frustrating than people who say, "I'm bored."
Besides, our society has plenty of interesting, amazing, creative people. They don't walk around wearing signs declaring themselves as such.
Besides, our society has plenty of interesting, amazing, creative people. They don't walk around wearing signs declaring themselves as such.
Unless they're on strike.
[ba da bum!]
OK, if this were an Objectivist blog, that line would have killed.
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