tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272246.post-8987673806128554122007-03-19T01:45:00.000-07:002007-04-27T22:59:28.893-07:00Thanks to my friend Peety, whose highly entertaining blog is here<br /><br />http://peety-passion.com/<br /><br />I found a fascinating article by sociologist Bill Allin called "Why Intelligent People Tend To Be Unhappy," which begins with a thought-provoking quote:<br /><br />"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."<br />- Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (1899-1961)<br /><br />If you're puzzled as to how this could be, you haven't been paying attention; despite the lip service we give to how swell intelligence is, intelligent people are generally disliked and distrusted in our culture, and it's perfectly logical that they'd be less happy than average as a result. We hold intelligence in such contempt that even in the job world, where it should be eagerly embraced for its potential to make $, bright folks are often screwed:<br /><br />"Western society is not set up to nurture intelligent children and adults, the way it dotes over athletes and sports figures, especially the outstanding ones. While we have the odd notable personality such as Albert Einstein, we also have many extremely intelligent people working in occupations that are considered among the lowliest, as may be attested by a review of the membership lists of Mensa (the club for the top two percent on intelligence scales)."<br /><br />Or, as Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams put it:<br /><br />"It turns out that the people who join Mensa and attend meetings are, on average, not successful titans of industry. They are instead - and I say this with great affection - huge losers. I was making $735 per month and I was like frickin' Goldfinger in this crowd."<br /> <br />http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/11/are_smart_peopl.html<br /><br />Even more important to happiness than job success is the ability to be a fully accepted member of the human race; we're social animals, and, while there ARE people who're content to be alone, nearly everyone wants friends and a romantic partner, and in general to fit in and be liked in whatever groups they find themselves in. It's no secret that many of the sharpest folks do NOT fit in; how do they get to be so socially clueless? It starts early:<br /><br />"Education systems in countries whose primary interest is in wealth accumulation encourage heroes in movies, war and sports, but not in intellectual development."<br /><br />That doesn't make SENSE; why encourage everything BUT intellectual development if your main goal is to accumulate wealth? Whatever the reason, that IS how it works in America, sadly.<br /><br />"In classrooms, the smartest kids tend to be left out of more activities by other children than they are included in. They are 'odd,' they are the geeks, they are social outsiders. In other words, they do not develop socially as well as they may develop intellectually"<br /> <br />"Their emotional development, characterized by their ability to cope with risky or stressful situations, especially over long periods of time, also lags behind that of the average person."<br /> <br />This creates a vicious cycle, because the more a kid lags socially and emotionally the more they'll be excluded, and even mistreated, which makes them fall even further behind. Worse, unlike with most childhood problems, the adults in their lives aren't inclined to try to fix it:<br /><br />"Adults tend to believe that intelligent kids can deal with anything because they are intellectually superior. This inevitably includes situations where the intelligent kids have neither knowledge nor skills to support their experience. They go through the tough times alone. Adults don't understand that they need help"<br /> <br />Even if parents and teachers DO see that a bright child is NOT handling things well, that they're friendless and solemn, they won't take action because that's what they're USED to seeing with bright kids; they accept it as somehow normal and ok rather than realizing that it's proof that the child has become a pariah and/or emotionally crushed and needs adult intervention.<br /><br />"Western society provides the ideal incubator for social misfits and those with emotional coping problems. When it comes to happiness, people who are socially inept and who have trouble coping emotionally with the exigencies of life would not be among those you should expect to be happy."<br /><br />http://www.scribd.com/doc/8778/Why-Intelligent-People-Tend-To-Be-Unhappy<br /><br />I really enjoyed this article-it filled in some major gaps for me. Thank you, Bill Allin and Peety. :-)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6272246-898767380612855412?l=omniverse.blogspot.com'/></div>Omnihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535142570254270177noreply@blogger.com