SouthernN'Proud
Southern Discomfort
The bright lights at Harvard University have identified another reason for low-performing people to blame society for their problems and not themselves: “stereotype threat.”
A press release from the Harvard Mental Health Letter explains that the condition arises when “members of a stereotyped group risk doing something that conforms to the dominant culture's typecasting. If their performance coincides even slightly with a demeaning belief, they may be reduced to that stereotype, either in the minds of others or in their own minds.”
The condition, say the good doctors at Harvard, can lead to anxiety-provoking self-consciousness that can deter achievement.
And thankfully, they have suggested solutions. Among them: encourage awareness among the subjects that it’s society's fault and not theirs, and, of course, provide plenty of counseling by trained mental health professionals.
**end**
Just spiffy. Now we have Harvard University medical research telling us it's OK to be a fuck up. All you have to do is say that it's society's fault, that you were intimidated into whatever you did so you wouldn't fit a stereotype.
Does any of this nonsense really work in the real world? Has anyone here ever been in a position where you really screwed up on the job, and were able to wiggle out of the hot seat by blaming it on societal factors that overwhelmed you to the point that you had no choice BUT to screw up?
Didn't think so.
I'll be back later. It's time for me to go anally rape Ned Beatty some more, so I can fulfill the mountain man prophecy. Hope it doesn't take away from my job performance.
squeal! squee-eealll!
A press release from the Harvard Mental Health Letter explains that the condition arises when “members of a stereotyped group risk doing something that conforms to the dominant culture's typecasting. If their performance coincides even slightly with a demeaning belief, they may be reduced to that stereotype, either in the minds of others or in their own minds.”
The condition, say the good doctors at Harvard, can lead to anxiety-provoking self-consciousness that can deter achievement.
And thankfully, they have suggested solutions. Among them: encourage awareness among the subjects that it’s society's fault and not theirs, and, of course, provide plenty of counseling by trained mental health professionals.
**end**
Just spiffy. Now we have Harvard University medical research telling us it's OK to be a fuck up. All you have to do is say that it's society's fault, that you were intimidated into whatever you did so you wouldn't fit a stereotype.
Does any of this nonsense really work in the real world? Has anyone here ever been in a position where you really screwed up on the job, and were able to wiggle out of the hot seat by blaming it on societal factors that overwhelmed you to the point that you had no choice BUT to screw up?
Didn't think so.
I'll be back later. It's time for me to go anally rape Ned Beatty some more, so I can fulfill the mountain man prophecy. Hope it doesn't take away from my job performance.
squeal! squee-eealll!
