Notes About Social Science Topics
Notes about society, why people are like that, relationships, culture things, etc. Newer notes are at the top!
Why Smart People Follow Cheap Gurus
More than that, the guru rewards the smart person's self-image. He doesn't say, “Follow me because I know and you don't.” He says, “You already know. I'm just reminding you.” And that trick works. It flatters the ego while smuggling in a belief system. It cloaks subservience in the language of empowerment. “You're not a follower,” says the guru. “You’re a fellow traveler.”
This is how cults of intellect form: with TED Talks and self-optimization podcasts, charisma disguised as clarity, and aphorisms that collapse under scrutiny but sparkle on the surface. The smart person is not immune. In fact, they are more susceptible because they believe they're immune.
And so they nod along, quote the guru, repackage the language, and spread it, becoming proselytizers in tweed and tech vests. But they're really borrowing conviction, outsourcing uncertainty, and mistaking confidence for insight.
Source: Why Smart People Follow Cheap Gurus by Joan Westenberg (archive) / Noted: 2024 April 16
public performance of solitude
Research suggests that all this homebody chatter is not just for show: Young people really are more prone to staying in these days. One 2018 paper, published in the journal Joule, found that Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 spend a whopping 70% more time at home than the general US population. In another 2018 survey, conducted by the marketing research firm Mintel, 28% of millennials between 24 and 31 said that they preferred to drink at home because going out was too much effort, compared to just 15% of baby boomers who agreed with that statement.
But it’s also true that all those Etsy t-shirts and introvert comics are part of a somewhat paradoxical phenomenon: The internet has given rise to a collective, public performance of solitude.
Source: Why millennials never want to leave their apartment anymore by Sarah Todd for Quartzy (archive) / Noted: 2019 November 20 / Discuss: On Dreamwidth