Olio – March 7, 2016

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

I haven’t put together an Olio post in a few weeks. Here’s some of the interesting stuff I’ve found.

Why Creative People Are Rarely Seen As Leaders by Susan Cain. Cain has written extensively about introversion and this is a further exploration of that personality trait.

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Famous Painters Did Not Do Their Best Work While Grieving, Study Says by Carey Dunne – It’s so easy to think of artists as suffering for their work. This article puts that fallacy to rest.

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The cult of ignorance in the United States: Anti-intellectualism and the “dumbing down” of America by Ray Williams – A depressing article that confirms what most of us (those of us not busy shouting others down) instinctively know: Smart people are not generally appreciated in the U.S.

From the article:

“In American schools, the culture exalts the athlete and good-looking cheerleader. Well-educated and intellectual students are commonly referred to in public schools and the media as “nerds,” “dweebs,” “dorks,” and “geeks,” and are relentlessly harassed and even assaulted by the more popular “jocks” for openly displaying any intellect.”

This has been going on for decades now in America; I experienced it as a student in high school. (Remember the term “Brown-Noser”?)

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“Adulting” is an Indictment of Society, Not of Millennials by John Beckett – If you’ve never heard the term “adulting,” this article will give you a good introduction. My children, who are Millennials, use it often. While the article starts out somewhat gloom & doom, it ends on a positive note. I’d also like to point out that Gen Xers were the genesis of this hesitance to grow up, precisely because society has been habitually kicking us in the teeth since we reached “adulthood”.

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And speaking of Gen X …

Gen X Turns 50 – ‘We’re doing well, thanks for asking’ by Cindy Drukier – A positive article on Gen X that doesn’t ignore Gen X.