Archive for August 29th, 2007

I don’t know how many of you would consider yourself, like me, analytical to the point of being highly critical of yourself and others. I read an interesting thing on Salon.com last week where someone compared this criticalness to emotional anorexia –”There is something quite emotionally anorexic about this inner critic experience, if you think about it … the limitations imposed and the managing aspect of it and its menacing power over allowing oneself freedom … not only from suffering but from imposing needless constraints in our creative experience.” I know the context of the comment in the article is slightly different, but I think this “critic” mentality is the same and can apply here too. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on this debate.

From a conversation I had recently with Himay, I’d say a lot of the blame for this critical thinking comes from my academic environment growing up. I was in the gifted, honors and AP classes and there was a LOT of competition. Everything I participated in was merit-based: grades and class rank, my “promotions” in newspaper class, my Academic Decathlon competitions, what “chair” I sat in band, etc.

While I think I’ve worked out a great deal of this criticalness (word?) in my personal life (for myself and the people I care about), every analytical neuron in my brain starts firing when I go to work. In my defense, I am truly most critical of myself. (Of course, the person who came up with the “emotional anorexia” comment found it deplorable to use this as a defense.) However, I think the bigger problem is that I have so little tolerance for the shitty performance of my coworkers. I honestly believe they should be doing better in their jobs than they are- given plenty of training and one-on-one mentoring. (BTW, how they perform directly reflects on me, as they are supposed to be following my lesson plans. So its not just that I have incompetency in my general vicinity.)

How do you feel about shitty coworkers? Are you able to make the good overshadow the bad in their performance (”she wants to do a good job”)? Am I emotionally anorexic when it comes to my coworkers? Should I try to “eat” more tolerance and understanding? I don’t really feel like it, but would love the perspective of other highly intelligent, possibly analytical folks who may or may not like their jobs well enough to do the best job they can.

**Ayn Rand would say, “Leave the incompetent to fend for themselves and start a new civilization in the heart of the Colorado rockies where only the smart and useful people can live together.” I think we can safely call that emotionally anorexic.

Why is it that reality TV and gossip magazines are the new scapegoats for all the country’s troubles? Five years ago it was video games, before that it was rap music. This BBC article claims that people who watch reality TV or read gossip rags are either not interested in, or have no time for environmental issues.

Hmmm, I know several people whose careers are dedicated to environmental issues that also watch reality TV and/or read celeb magazines. After 40+ hours a week thinking and working on tough problems, a person just needs a break. You need some mindless entertainment to recharge. And if it’s not these things, it’s something else. I get no hangover from this guilty pleasure - which makes it easier to get right back to work. So why is celeb-watching and reality TV the new bane of existence? To me these arguments are simple-minded group-think.

Of course it is a problem when “reputable” news agencies spend hours a day reporting on celeb gossip. I haven’t watched CNN in a long time so I’ve been pretty shocked that more often than not when I flip it on lately, they’re discussing Britney Spears or some such. Whaaa? And some poor people get all their news from local newspapers and the 10 o’clock news. These outlets have always been full of fluff. That’s a problem

“switching to a plant-based diet does more to curb global warming than switching from an S.U.V. to a Camry,”

NYTimes article