RE: Bell Curves and the Gaslighting of Genius: Part 2
We teach the works of poets and philosophers, revolutionaries and scientists that brought us to where we are today, and then dissuade our children from being like those people in their sleep/work schedules or focus of production.
I sooooo resonate with this. I remember being in high school and everyone telling me that I had to go to college to succeed, especially my parents who both graduated college and weren't even using their degrees. It was like everyone was ignoring the people who carved their own way through life, and had so much success precisely because they DID NOT follow the same path as others. But instead of encouraging our children to find their own path and follow in the footsteps of those who've changed the world as we know it, we teach them to conform to the world as is. To choose the safest majors and the safest industries so that they can have a job and be taken care of. We are sub-communicating that we don't believe in our children and their ability to change their reality, we believe in the world as it is and the necessity of conforming to reality.
Not only did I choose not to go to college, but I doubled down and didn't even finish high school. Everyone told me I was crazy, and when they asked me what I was going to do with my life I simply told them to have a little faith. But when I look back on my life and see all the amazing experiences I've had precisely because I did not choose a path that was safe and pre-paved for me and instead let life take me on an unpredictable adventure, I realize I wouldn't have had it any other way. I never would have made it in a stable job performing perfunctory tasks. I needed to ride the highs and lows of trying to make it on my own. I needed to learn about life directly, not about how to avoid her hardships. There's no better feeling than betting on yourself and winning. And sometimes it feels like we're raising generations of kids to never make that bet on themselves, and selling them into a lifetime of college loans before they even know if they want to be what they're paying to become.
Anyway, excuse my narcissistic rant. I just get passionate about how quickly we turn deviating from the norm into a symptom that there's something wrong with us, and encourage our children to buy into a failing system over believing in themselves. But the deeper a hole is dug, the taller the building that gets erected in its place will become. All struggle has the ability to turn into the foundation that we build all our future successes upon. But first we have to believe that we're not crazy for wanting something different than what we're told to want. We're simply being true to who we really are. And the real insanity is how many people have bought into the narrative they've been sold, and are now invested in convincing everyone who's willing to deviate from that narrative into thinking that they're crazy for doing so.
Great post! Really looking forward to reading more from you!
I see you also played poker- I dabbled in it also and have a couple friends that are professional. I basically dropped out of high school senior year, and ended up doing my GED shortly after (I luckily had only a single class to finish so it was quick work). I took 5 years off before going back to college, was a dj, did radio, tv skydived . I'm glad i got my degree from the standpoint of me loving to learn, and I took classes like physics and biochem, that I would never have sat down and studied on my own unlike other subjects. But I have a HUGE debt and I will doubtfully work in the field (I did pre med and all of the doctors I met told me I would be miserable- that degree is just a feeder degree for grad and doc studies, its not really a degree to get a job with any way). I will either hustle my way out of the pit or I will be suffocated by crushing debt until I die lol . I made a twitch and a mixer account. I streamed one night on twitch and then got hung up on not liking my name hahaha then I got hung up on being on camera recently due to feeling bummy . I am 100% wanting to get back to it and even have a dedicated corner... so any day now I will take you up on that offer and we can hash out and have some fun. I'm not super competitive when I play HS though, I sort of just constantly switch and play whatever is fun , so you'll probably just whoop my ass
Totally with you on this. Anything that causes us to stretch in new directions is a positive. I think I came off a little dismissive about the value of higher education in my earlier response. One of the things I like most about college is that it tends to attract some incredible smart and gifted people and whenever I'm in a big college town I can almost feel the knowledge in the air. I just think that currently college is often overpriced and oversold, and wish there were more alternatives for young people wanting to accelerate their future and discover what they want to do with their lives. But I am probably just being cynical. The good always outweighs the bad and for all I know all of this debt will fuel the crypto revolution and soon change the world for the better.
Streaming can be a lot of fun, especially when you're hanging with someone you vibe with. When I duo stream with someone we're usually playing on the same team, so to speak. Just discussing how we view each play and generally shooting the shit.
Though if you're into more casual play I think we could have a ton of fun playing some meme deck in wild. Which would be a nice change of pace from my normal tryharding. And you don't even have to be on camera if you don't want. One of my buddies comes on the stream and he is purely on audio. Works just fine and is still a ton of fun.