Our governing elite are increasingly selected not for intelligence or ability, but for conscientiousness, agreeability and conformity. The consequence is a new kind of midwit tyranny.
"Our governing elite are increasingly selected not for intelligence or ability, but for conscientious, agreeability and conformity. The consequence is a new kind of midwit tyranny." Exactly. Perfectly expressed.
I agree with that, but I must admit I take issue with the generalization of "head girls." My 11 yo daughter is in many ways a "head girl." She gets straight A's at her top ranked private, conservative, Christain school. She is one of the top swimmers and soccer players her age in our urban area. She's read about 800 actual books (I don't count them as real books unless its Harry Potter or harder). The only book that took her more than a couple days to read in the last couple of years was Lonesome Dove (which blissfully occupied her reading for nearly 2 weeks because it is really hard to find good books for her at this point). She has never met a challenge she wasn't willing to conquer (to a fault). She wins awards in academics, character, and sports all the time. She is adored by her peers, teachers, and 99.9% of people who have met her of all ages. She is well spoken and kind.
She also has an understated charisma and confidence most adults NEVER develop. She does not cower to peer pressure or any mob (again, to a fault). During Covid she adored going out as a family mask free during the mandates (it's the only time she wanted to go grocery shopping). Even around her woke friends, she calmly and plainly expresses her disgust for race and gender ideology. She is proudly unvaccinated and will look adults in the eye and kindly point out the definition of aerosol when they advocate masks and that if the experimental vaccines worked, they would have actually worked, when they promote vaccinating the young or healthy.
She delights in being taken to the naughty room at doctor's offices waiting for her appointment because she refuses to wear a mask. She has clapped back at more than a few peers and adults that as a healthy kid she isn't a threat to those at risk of dying from Covid, but their fridge often is. This from a CHILD that has overcome health adversities most adults couldn't imagine. She pushes through pain with the determination of an MMA fighter. She does this all with a stronger faith in God than I have ever had at any point in my life.
She is human and I have many fears for her future. She's not perfect. The pressure she puts on herself terrifies me at times. The standard she holds herself to is insanely high. While she will readily own mistakes, she beats herself up when she makes them, and finding a healthier way to do that is a goal we are working on. She is grumpy n the morning. She is beautiful and is not very good at noticing sketchy things in her physical surroundings and at times that makes me physically sick to my stomach.
After leaving the hospital from an emergency appendectomy in late fall 2021, having stood up to a barrage of medical student/ resident condemnation that she was open that she wasn't scared of Covid because she was 10 (at the time) and had no intentions of getting any vaccine that's experimental especially because doesn't appear to work, she looked at me, eyes darting from ketamine, and said "Mom, I can't be a vet. I need to be a doctor because if that's the future of medicine we are all going to die." (We don't allow our kids narcotics with surgery, and they aren't necessary).
One of the few things I don't spend much time worrying about is that she will turn into one of today's mean girl 'elites.' She despises the Emily Osters of the world who sacrificed her generation because, at least in her mind, they are too lazy and mean spirited to bother to care if they are factually correct. The Osters of the world are the girls she loves to beat in every aspect, and often the motivation to try even harder in order to do it.
What you describe as your daughter is NOT a head girl. As a non-head girl myself I can attest that the characteristics of agreeability towards, and conformity with, the group are key to success in today's (corporate) world. Independent thinkers/actors such as your daughter are relegated to the sidelines.
I think I see what you are saying. I agree completely my daughter (and my son too) would be sidelined in today’s corporate world. That’s ok. My husband and I aren’t cut out for office politics and neither are they. We’ve always steered both our kids away from the big corporate world. We have impressed upon them from toddlerhood they need to learn a skill set and be very very good at it to with a goal to spend most of their professional lives working for themselves and answering to clients and maybe business partners not corporate overlords. We also do this by example.
I walked away from a very cushy job at a large public multinational about 5 years ago because I couldn’t take the insanity, lies, stupidity, arrogance of the c-suite, and McKenzie (which might be the most corrupt, mean spirited, hateful, inept, arrogant, deceitful consulting firm in the world). It would break my heart for either of my kids to get trapped in the big corporate machines so many of my friends are stuck with.
Random aside, and not sure where you are, but spread this video about Kathy Manning before Tuesday if you can. The first link is the video. The second link is the source citations for the video.
Originally from GSO, now Wilmington. My AWFUL stepmother idolized KM! There is no telling how much money she sucked out of my stepmother who never realized money was all Kathy wanted out of her. Glad that chuck wagon hit a dead end, so to speak. I have received and shared this!
Perhaps "relegated" but this story line gives hope is that her daughter will not accept this relegation. I identify. As my third grade teacher said, "Zeus tries too hard." Excellence in all things is my motto, and I am learning in my 50s that this is personally seen as a threat not only to "Head Girls" but almost any organizational culture. I've had to refashion my resume to tamp down accomplishments and skills so as to not make others think, as said by a superintendent of a local school "that I am coming for their jobs." The lunacy where excellence is seen as a threat, and mindless, morality-free uncritical cordiality is seen as an asset shows the dystopian challenge in sharp relief.
I agree with you 100%. The future Karen’s/ Emily Osters and my daughter are already in a battle. They don’t get along at all. I’m 40 and I’ve also seen first hand the desire to hold back the best in the professional world. What happened to merit?
But I also lost $1,000 this summer betting against my daughter. I was actually trying to get her to relax and see her goal was crazy and to just have fun. We were going back and forth and I told her “sure, you do that and I’ll give you $1,000. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself with crazy goals. Do your best and have FUN!” She responded “winning is fun, and you better actually give me the $1,000 if I do it.” 🤦♀️
I didn’t think she could drop 6 seconds to podium at the city championship meet in 100 freestyle since her ankle was still broken and in pain. She dropped 7 seconds from her place time and finished comfortably in second and on the podium (she made it in the podium in all her events despite the ankle and having attended zero meets and 6 practices combined the entirety of the previous winter/ school year). I learned my lesson. Fears aside, I’m not betting against her again. She learned mommy still had tricks. The $1,000 is in an account in her name she can’t touch until she’s 21. 😂
I am very grateful. I can’t handle the groveling and gullible Emily Osters of the world. I think I take issue with the description of “head girls.” I think the women who often drive terrible social ideologies and contagions have delusions of grandeur and unhealthy needs for affirmation from peers as opposed to genuine hard earned accomplishments.
I would suggest reading Julia Ross' books on amino acids (Cravings Cure is most up to date but mood cure has excellent info). Your daughter is incredible, and you don't want that personal pressure to destroy her as she ages.
I’ll look at that - thank you for the recommendation. I’m always interested in food/ mood/ immune interaction knowledge. She’s allergic to, well, food generally, but she eats very healthy (and a lot since she’s so active). She has both IgG and IgA to all major allergens, but only peanuts and tee nuts are totally banned because of potential anaphylactic reactions. When she eliminates gluten a lot of itching/ random hives go away. She eats the rest basically everyday because we can’t eliminate all the food her body might react to and gut healing is an ongoing excruciatingly slow process. I have learned I have a lot more to learn about eating/ nutrients than I ever realized.
Your daughter sounds like she has great prospects to be the head of anything she chooses. This original text by Charlton I find very far off-base from reality in its descriptions, terminology and claims -- don't let it cast doubt on the bright future of your daughter.
Encourage her to stay in high quality places with good achievement records and her character traits and talents will be understood and appreciated. People with spark and brilliance recognize each other. Likewise, other people flock to them because of their bright intrinsic force: something that does not happen for the crowd-following midwits (who are thus not destined "leaders").
I'd suggest Charlton's description of the Head Girl is another take on the Peter Principle, where people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
There is some debate whether the 1969 book, based on Laurence Peter's research, was intended as satire--the debatable aspect being the pervasiveness of its practice in organizations. Today, it includes the secondary and post-secondary schools where the Head Girl-type emerges at the top of the social hierarchy.
What has changed since 1969 is the performative aspect of success in today's media and PR saturated world--dominated by social media. No one would've taken notice of Emily Oster in 1969. Her type is a modern invention, a modern creation, a modern reaction to the social order.
Nonetheless, today's organizational success--whether in govt, business, education, or NGOs--require high levels of conscientiousness, agreeability, and conformity. These are the same characteristics found in today's woke mindset.
E.g., the championing of The Current Thing (global warming, BLM, Vaccines, Ukraine) in concert with the demand for conformity--while canceling anyone who raises questions about the cul de sac at the end of the one-way street.
And of course, the Head Girl-type fits as a cog in the process of group/mob behavior described by Mattias Desmet, among others.
Eugyppius has found the perfect names for these difficult people and the problems that they cause: "Head Girls" and "Midwit Tyranny". They are running wild where I work, causing problems and unable to comprehend the consequences of their policies.
That is a very real problem. Whether it's by design or design flaw or just hostile takeover, our institutions are not nearly sociopath-resistant enough.
The "Head Girl" thing I find pretty unconvincing though. I don't want "creative genius" types in public service positions, except maybe very rarely. Most creative geniuses aren't going to be inclined to work their way through bureaucratic career paths anyway.
I think we absolutely do want conscientious and agreeable people holding these positions. But we also want them to hold moral values. The problem is rampant de-moralization.
I agree. This is the problem. People good at working with others and helping them to carry out a mission are NOT a problem -- it's what you want WHEN THE MISSION IS GOOD and correct. Their not being able to tell when the mission is a good one or not IS the problem. They need a good moral grounding (which so many don't have) -- otherwise they go by "what most people think and do" even if it's wrong. And today, when there is no general moral consensus, "what most people think and do" is based mostly on popularity, ease, and power. Of course, that's always true. But when a society has a moral compass, that will in turn help dictate what views are popular and easy to hold, and who is in power.
"They need a good moral grounding (which so many don't have) -- otherwise they go by "what most people think and do" even if it's wrong."
This is why you need disagreeable people. In the Milgram experiments (the ones with electric shocks), it was the disagreeable people who refused to cooperate. The "nice" ones wanted to please the experimenter, their own moral principles be damned. If your whole system is set up to promote only agreeable people, plus psychopaths who are good at faking agreeableness, then you're pretty screwed.
That's not to say you want to eliminate agreeable people. Sure, you should have agreeable people. It would be pretty difficult to work in a place in which everyone was disagreeable, and you probably couldn't get sufficient group cohesion to be productive. But you need a critical mass of disagreeables as well.
I know that so-called "industrial / organizational psychology" has developed extensive theory and practices (deployed in real HR departments!) around screening for personality traits, so that's probably made this worse over the decades.
Human diversity should always be an asset, not something to be eliminated. The system should welcome "disagreeables" and be resilient against liars and cheats. There's probably some game theory that applies... I'm recalling this book for example:
But as long as this kind of work is inherently social and cooperative, these positions will be filled by people who want to work in these organizations, and so there will be some degree of self-selection for agreeableness.
While I'm making broad suggestions for how to improve society from my comfy armchair here, I think we'd do well to reduce the bulk of these bureaucracies considerably, as well as the arbitrary power they can exert. But, yeah.
Haha! Yeah, that type of personality screening is what Jordan Peterson keeps raving about. I've always had my doubts. The problem is that the type of person you need when everything is going well is not the same as the type of person you need in a time of crisis. If things are going well, and so you only hire people who do well when all is well because that will make things go even better (for a while), then you're screwed next time you find yourself in a crisis.
I agree with you, just wanted to clarify something.
People with high morale values are not disagreeable per se ; they are often good people who care about others well-being, which makes them rather agreeable. BUT people with low morale values have poor judgement and do not understand that others can have high morale values, so they only understand that high morale values people disagree with them, disapprove their endless quest for riches, sex and comfort, and so they find them disagreeable.
disagreeableness is only in the eye of those who do not understand morale virtue, IMHO.
"disagreeableness is only in the eye of those who do not understand morale virtue, IMHO."
No, (dis)agreeableness is a Big Five personality trait. People who score high in agreeableness will simply not stand up to people. On the other hand, people who are very high in disagreeableness are your psychopaths. To be able to stand up for your principles, you need to be relatively disagreeable, but not *too* disagreeable (if you're too disagreeable, you won't have moral grounding).
Actually we should want to generally eliminate the positions altogether and let them be taken up by civil society without state subsidy and monopoly.
Consumers generally don't look to be bullied by their doctors and teachers and the like. A truly free healthcare system would rout all such people out.
What I find astonishing is how these Head Girls who aren't the necessarily the sharpest knives in the drawer can easily manipulate men to do what they want. I've heard about several men who were against the poison death jab, but their wife/girlfriend nagged them about it, so they just got it to shut her up.
My late Father was a Marine. That sort of stuff didn't fly in my house growing up, so the ability of women to convince men to do something they are morally against just astonishes me.
Head girls are prominent in the teaching and medical professions. A man hits the jackpot in society when he marries a teacher or nurse. Of course in return he will do whatever that head girl says. Just may observation of male-female relationships in the USA over the last 50 years.
Personally, one characteristic I looked for in a man before I found Dragonslayer (yes, that’s what ppl call my husband) was leadership. I am not interested in any man who can’t lead his family with honor and confidence. I’ve no quarter for men who waffle around on decision-making.
Interesting. A good friend teaches nursing and was a nurse in the Navy. Her husband is very (IMHO) beta male. I guess he hit the jackpot.
For the last few years, I've been working as a freelance writer. I think that means my husband chose the curtain with the life sized ceramic dalmation behind it.
Right. I don’t think he’s saying teachers and nurses don’t make great wives and mothers. I believe he’s saying that certain types of makes (ahem...beta males) benefit greatly by marrying women like this because those men can’t lead and often have trouble making sound decisions; hence, they follow these strong women.
I saw through the Covid con job early on and persuaded my wife from getting the magic juice at the last minute. A strong marriage/relationship is about 'us' not myself and herself or vice versa. Neither of us have had Covid either.
Sean Connery once famously said that you give women the last word but sometimes they won't stop and they just have to nag and nag and nag and get up in your face about it and then... out comes the slap.
Surprised this clip can remain on Youtube in the Current Year:
Haha haha I love Dr. Sowell. Fun fact, he and I have written email notes as well as snail mail notes to one another, occasionally, since 2005. He’s a wonderful person and very talented nature photographer as well as an incredibly astute and intelligent thinker.
Can Intelligence quotients go below zero ? That possibility keeps me awake at night ,given the circumstances we are in .[[[ and the ''leaders '''we have ]]]
Think of it like a linear programming problem. What constrains one's performance in attaining an objective? Well, let's see ... intelligence, personality, physical attractiveness, social connections, and - oh yeah - morality. When you remove a constraint you increase the set of actions available to attaining a goal. I do think this dynamic explains the presence of so many socio- (and psycho-) paths at top levels of institutions (public and private).
There's also the dynamic that psychopaths identify their competition at each step and then systematically mob, lie, and sabotage that person until they leave the organization, while charming and manipulating their bosses and the crowd. They've done business management studies on this and shown that it is a net loss for an organization to tolerate psychopaths because of this drain in ethical workers, true talent, and innovation.
Interesting. Any links to those studies? I would like to have them in my bookmarks for ready reference. I used to work in finance and it seemed like that industry attracted them to a disproportionate degree. Very little redeemable about that profession other than the money one can make, which probably explains that phenomenon.
In finance, they actually apply the official psychopath screening checklists to positively select job applicants. Representatives from London's large investment banks were laughing about this with the finance specialists at London School of Economics. They specifically want candidates motivated by cut-throat gain with little moral inhibition. Job applicants are rejected at the interview if they have great credentials but seem to be a decent person --- and here's where we come full circle to your original comment about constraints.
Links to the studies - I would also have to search for them, it's 10 years ago. Gardner et al.'s book 'Good Work: when excellence and ethics meet' might also be enjoyable.
Well, if true that was well after my time in the industry. Still, even then a pretty cold bunch and I worked for one of the more gentlemanly firms on the Street (long since gone).
That can be true but often these people are very bright, competent, useful people and great neighbors, friends, and family members -- not "nonentities" or "mindless," and I don't see how their having average ability is a negative. Almost everyone has average ability. The problem is that they are in the wrong positions, or are assumed to have knowledge or genius they do not have.
You comment captures the essence of the spiritual and intellectual malaise we find ourselves in.
I do however agree with the other comments. In a healthy society these people do not end up in positions of authority. Their function is not leadership, morals or righteousness. Their funcion is temperance an being great neighbors.
This is way over-harsh. There's absolutely nothing wrong with head girls per se. Having a mid range IQ, high conscientiousness, and moderately conformist temperament doesn't make you "an empty vessel".
It's just that such a person lacks the qualities we want in leadership-- independence of mind, drive to put facts over socially popular narratives, and a willingness to risk social disapproval from one's peers.
Head girls are good worker bees that probably require a bit less supervision. But they shouldn't be promoted to positions where competence, creativity and individuality are critical.
Pretty much this. People of average intellect, high conscientiousness, and moderate conformism are the sort of people who are indispensable to an orderly, well-run society. Modern institutions tend to put such people in places they shouldn't be, but that doesn't mean the personality type itself is bad, any more than your arm is bad because it can't do the same job as your brain.
And from my background, this description of 'Head' wouldn't have gotten people very far: we were required to be interesting, funny, creative individuals in addition to doing well at all the other things. Someone dull like this would never be considered a role model, let alone a 'head' specimen.
So I totally reject the premise of this article. There's nothing 'Head' about a dull potato with stereotypical credentials.
I've now also read Bruce Charlton's original description, and I'm not convinced of that either:
"The Head Girl is great to have around, everybody thinks she is wonderful.
Meanwhile the creative genius is at best a person who divides opinion, strongly, in both directions - at worst often a signed-up member of the awkward squad."
This doesn't match the places I'm familiar with: I've had the pleasure of observing many creative genius people, and they are among the most successful and well-loved characters out there. Their creativity extends to wit and charisma, passion and spontaneity that draws others in for the adventure and gets them promoted to leading positions. All the better for fire and quirks.
This paragraph is also suspicious:
"The genius is pretty much everything the Head Girl is not. He is lop-sided in his abilities - truly excellent at some things or maybe just one thing, he is either hopeless or bored by many others. He won't work hard for long periods at things he does not want to do. He will not gravitate to the prestige areas of life, or cannot or will not do the networking necessary to get-on."
Again there, this doesn't match reality. Because of their merit and the brilliance of their mind, creative geniuses are often the life of the party.
Likewise, unlike Charlton's 'lop-sided' description, life does seem to be rather unfair in how positive features are doled out: creative brilliance (cells) is more often than not accompanied by a healthy brain (cells), attractive body (cells), and diverse skills (cells, exploratory passion). And recent studies show that the strongest predictor of these things is genes (cells). This feels unfair so it is contrary to popular belief, but biologically, all of these cells have to run on certain programs. When cellular metabolism starts to fail, those same signals are going to cause slow puffy brain and slow puffy hands.
Think of all the stories where someone is not only the most innovative [e.g., surgeon], but also has art exhibitions, 2 other degrees, plays in an orchestra, and has 300 species of orchid as a hobby.... or a tremendous political philosopher, also a renowned linguist and well loved by all....
The work done by head girls is just fine, and we know they care about people because of their very fine displays of virtue, such as helping those they view as "disadvantaged" to become their own (head girls') successors. It's a slow race to the bottom.
depends what product you consider genius . Piccaso would fit Charlton's description. In the fine arts locally [ vancouver ] i can think of many who fit ''most successful and well-loved characters out there. '' , their work is very good but genius ? Things are relative . Social skills are rewarded . Arts are difficult in some ways very easy in others and people have trouble seeing what is good art vs bad , good may appear bad but it will create new possibilities that history can build on.
:) Before everyone was a 'data-driven' hiker, a lot of them also flocked to art because it's a socially smiled upon thing to do, depending on your cultural context. Nice pond, lots of little hopeful fish, and occasionally the giant shadows of the real creative geniuses swim by. In art specifically I would modify the phrase 'well-loved' to rather have a touch of deference or fear when talent and intensity really enter the scene. When encountering someone with this force, you'll know it.
(Careful about flipping the direction of words though -- Cows are black and white / Oreos are not cows: I said the geniuses I know are successful and well-loved. That doesn't mean all successful and well-loved people can be considered geniuses (except probably in modern America's logic).
Yes, but one absolutely terrified of the non-conforming creative genius and their ideas, questions and innovations.....until they gain traction of course then they co-opt them as theirs....
I disagree with Prof. Oster and want Covid criminals punished for poisoning millions of people and taking away our civil liberties.
That said, Emily is not the thought leader here -- she was selected to launch this amnesty "trial balloon" as a pleasantly appearing individual who was not implicated in the nastiest of behaviors.
There was a reason why "they" selected Emily and not Dr Leana Wen or Monica Gandhi.
Emily here is not the mastermind of the amnesty idea -- she is a figurehead. She is not exactly dumb, but being "data driven" without realizing that data is supplied by crooks shows lack of thinking, possibly intentional.
Interesting thought Kara Alicia, yes, if she has kids, or if she had elderly parents jabbed, or placed in a hospital on the demanded protocol of the country they were in. Mendazolin in the UK, Remdesivir in the US, etc. She would want to be absolved of any one thinking she was negligent or had been hoodwinked.
They can't accept within themselves to reveal to others (who feel the same way) that positions can change with additional knowledge. They're all afraid of being found out that they were wrong. And nobody has the courage to stand up and say it either, because they fear the opinions of others more.
I mean, don't get me wrong. Arm twisting can work, but if you can get them to sing on their own with a bit o' buttery goodness, then that's even better!
I don't think they are chosen. They're just narcissists and fence sitters who think they are important and go where the wind blows. They should be ignored, always.
This is 100% the case. This was all part of the psyop, they needed to see how much trouble they are in after the elections. Also the goal was to move the overton window as far as possible from revenge.
Correct Igor.....oddly, in a back & forth email discussion with a close friend of mine who is a bona fide scientist (PhD O-Chem & brilliant in that sphere) yet has views very different from mine we were recently lobbing countering information on the origins of COVID19 ....he was offering the reasons for the plausibility for a zoonotic jump to Humans, citing papers etc....this got me doing my homework, looking for updated information finding a cascade of articles, papers and government documents which point to a Lab Leak. This includes the hard facts of the obfuscation of governments, organizations like the WHO, Eco-Health Alliance, etc. in their Gain of Function Research and lack of protocol at WIV. Also includes in depth discussions of the facts and impossibility of a zoonotic leap . . . Even though I had already formed the opinion this was a lab leak from previous reading starting from the start of this mess up revisiting the topic and updating the base of information to base my thoughts on was refreshing.....we all need to do this and constantly test our own biases.....OK, needless to say I have not heard back with any countering information from my friend.......My Point of your comment is I have not even gotten to the Mafia styled thugs that make up the Pharma Mafia extorting this situation with the facts of the so-called vaccines, the tactics used to make them, position these companies to take advantage of this, and force them on the population for monetary gain via the government.....let alone their effects on health of both individuals and the populace.....this is on the level of any other crime against Humanity including the various documented genocides and, rather than over ethnic or religous differences this is over $..... the origins have as many criminals as the vaccinator thugs with, I suspect, some tied to both...
I am 100% with you except for one small thing. Expression "lab leak" implies that it kind of was an "accidental leak". It very possibly was not accidental. I prefer to generically mention "lab origin".
I don't know if sloppiness and an unconscious desire to create a reason for taking power away from others is a "leak", and, yes, we cannot say for SURE this is a leak, but it strains credibility why the virus would get out right next to a lab, among the general population of the country conducting the research, with cover-ups galore. The only alternative explanation I can find is that this was an opportunity to get the population in line (credible and evidenced by actions afterward) and to get the world to adopt China-style social control (also evidenced beyond China's ostensible wildest dreams). However, this would be backcasting. The simplest explanation is bio-weapon research that got out, just like several other mini-epidemics in Beijing with Sars-1. Sloppiness appears to be the cause, but it cannot completely be verified, so one can be a stickler and say the more boring but accurate "lab origin."
Given the information coming out more now, that it may have been in circulation as early as the previous summer, it seems like maybe it was a lab leak, but would actually have never even risen to level of being a seriously noticeable problem if governments hadn't decided to MAKE it a problem. I find myself looking back at things like Event 201 and thinking, 'So were they already aware that there was a new coronavirus in circulation that COULD be made to look like a bigger danger than it actually is, so they had a little practice run at how this could be spun (Event 201), and then used it to slide in some mass psychological experiments and greater control measures?'
That makes the worldwide bump in mortality in March/April 2020 look like a combination of iatrogenic murder and of course lots of deliberate mis-ascribing of reasons for death (both of which we know happened).
Related - I just watched The Good Nurse on Netflix, based on a true story. A small illustration of just how willing to be a part of murder and coverup the Head Girl administrators in the U.S. health system can be.
Yes, best example of intervention creating the hysteria and self fulfilling and self serving prophecy. That is the real lesson along with not allowing fear to betray you to monstrosity.
Rachel, I think reality bears out your theory. There was a predictive priming that allowed the bottom feeders to enact their sick fantasies of control using pandemic fear as their fuel. PCR tests were notoriously oversensitive. Flus were clearly reclassified as Covid. And anyone with the virus was consider sick FROM the virus, rather than sick WITH the virus even in cases as ridiculous as car accidents and drug overdoses. Why? Because there was extrraordinary money involved in diagnosing people AS Covid-- billions upon billions. A perfect storm of hysteria, greed, predictive programming, and rank opportunism for control. This explains why natural immunity was ignored along with effective therapeutics like ivermectin and even Vitamin D EVEN THOUGH these had long-standing use in even CONVENTIONAL medicine. What happened was barbarically radical even by conventional medicine standards. I hope we all learn something from this if we are still mentally intact!
Actually the opposite.....we have a lively back & forth and this is what is needed.....discussion and an ability to voice and debate various perspectives....I actually appreciate it because it forces me to sharpen and hone my skills and thinking....we both know each other well enough to know we have the mutual good at heart so we can have these discussions.....He is actually brilliant as a scientist in Organic Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology as it relates to O-Chem but as the "Head Girl" blog makes clear about creative genius he is clueless on areas of human motivations and behaviors.....if we are going to find a way we need more discussion.....in this particular instance that discussion led to it's eventual conclusion because we went back and forth with my email revisiting the origins, then he presented information which I evaluated and, I was able to present information refuting his on zoonotic leap to Humans and what was happening with investigating the WIV Lab Leak hypothesis which he could analyze, evaluate and rebutt at his discretion.....nothing has come back thus far and I doubt much will....this is how Humanity prospers and moves ahead.....this is how we can hold those accountable, accountable. Until others who do not hold our opinions realize what has happened they can be used by those to cover their tracks or, as Emily Oster posits provide them 'Amnesty' . . . I wonder how Ms. Oster feels about the convicted at the Nuremberg Trials.....doubt she feels they should have gotten amnesty and while I am not suggesting this level of punishment, point is there is a lack of consistency in her thought process suggesting an ulterior motive by her and/or those behind the veil....
Thanks, eugyppius and Igor : "There was a reason why "they" selected Emily"...
It says she studied Economics @ Harvard; as did Kissinger and Schwab et.al :
were they not well-known Malthusian Economists advocating Eugenics and Depopulation?
She does not base her "Atlantic" article on any scientific data, nor info from CDC, SEC filings, Patents, etc...and advocates for mandates even though, from the very beginning, anyone who looked at the details of information in the Public Domain at the sites we were supposed to visit could read that it decreased chances of hospitalization, not transmission nor infection. She is advocating a narrative, under the guise of parenting and health...
Emily Oster's statement:
"Many people have neglected their health care over the past several years. Notably, routine vaccination rates for children (for measles, pertussis, etc.) are way down. Rather than debating the role that messaging about COVID vaccines had in this decline, we need to put all our energy into bringing these rates back up. Pediatricians and public-health officials will need to work together on community outreach, and politicians will need to consider school mandates."
Authority? Where do values lie for economists? Definitive reasoning? On what is her stance based? Anyone who enables tyranny to occur-like this advocacy of experimental Gene Therapy injections-not vaccines-filed under Gene Therapy Medical Devices (vaccines are not filed there) in the SEC Filings, and Also Mandates: where is her legal background to establish this for a non-transmissable ( "replication defective" in patent) group of symptoms that she is calling for mandates for...Is this not like the Good Soldier, a tool of implementation? Is this not as culpable as the talking heads in unison saying "Safe & effective" without accurate scientific data? Is it just a PsyOp, or pocketing funds to write what is demanded by overlords?
Without Emily Osters, the tyrranists' could not get their plans implemented.
i predict they won't be able to bring those rates up. the handling of mRNA shots have made people, even those who thought vaccines were the greatest, suspicious of the whole deal. she's calling for school mandates when many governors have come out and said there will be no school mandates in their states? people who want their kids shot up against everything can move to california.
people will vote with their moving trucks. CA and NYC will see mass exoduses which will erode their tax bases and send their crime rates even higher. you can only rest on your reputational laurels for so long. your crappy over priced studio apartment in NYC is only tolerable because you're never in it except to sleep. when there's no theater to go to because everyone's afraid and no restaurants because they all shut down, when the chic stores are all barricaded against looters, and museums are all in trouble because, you know, cultural appropriation, people will realize they hate their apartments and move which already happened a lot during the shut down.
i predict home schooling and other alternative systems of education will flourish and public schools will see their student population and with it, their funding, plummet. in a few years, it should be pretty easy to tell if the home schooled kids are smarter and healthier than the constantly boosted publicly educated kids
I also call BS on her misinformation of not having the facts, as she states :
"We can leave out the willful purveyors of actual misinformation while forgiving the hard calls that people had no choice but to make with imperfect knowledge. "
There is no denying that they knew exactly what they were doing, as there is so much proof: Patents, SEC Filing, research data (RR vs. ARR,etc).
"In the face of so much uncertainty, getting something right had a hefty element of luck. And, similarly, getting something wrong wasn’t a moral failing. "
BS: Anyone with access to the internet could have done the basic research that I did. Focus on health, truth, and the maxim: "First, Do No Harm" is foremost, not Corporate Trade Secrets veiling ingredients so informed consent is not possible; nor Economics and WEF 4th Industrial Revolution.
These people are responsible for doing harm; so it Is Absolutely a moral failing; especially shooting up the children with experimental Gene Therapy...I want her to look up what's now in the bivalent flu shots, etc., which she calls part of the health regime. How a society treats its children is an indication of its morality. Stop Advocating to Harm Children, Emily Oster!
Exactly. They realise full well that their robotic and binary nastily shrill operatives from afar are really not the types to sell sympathy, rather, tyranny. That was their purpose and I noticed it throughout the OECD and Commonwealth.
I read the piece and I thought, she is only writing to her fellow meritocrats. We were right about just about everything, but we sometimes got a little overzeaous about it, the unvaccinated are still dirty and backwards, so we need to cement our status as know it alls, so let's forgive each other for not being totally perfect and move on lording over the depolorables.
I heard an interview with her on NPR, or maybe somebody exactly like her on an NPR wannabe. They were talking about how closing schools was ultimately the wrong decision and how the decision was made. She was asked specifically if DeSantis had it right in Florida. Her reply was that no, anecdotally she had heard that teachers really struggled with getting sick in Florida. The entire discussion was about how her Side had made a mistake, but she couldn’t allow that the other side might have been right.
Yes that's an interesting angle: I'd maybe add that the proles got the odd thing or two right and of course not being able to see their loved ones die as they were banned from the corona wards was awful, but of course their politics are terrible and isn't Trump, like, such an asshole? It reminds me of a failing aristocracy before the peasants move in with the pitchforks.
In Britain we have had the benefit for some centuries now of aristocrats who understood that they were not just entitled but *responsible*. They had to manage those under them as well as the land and possession worked both ways. It led to stability for many centuries.
Stability, until covid? It doesn't seem to me your aristocrats are any less rapacious than ours, while both sides of the Atlantic seem under the thrall of globalist totalitarianism.
Trump for all his faults is just the first to tap into a growing populism that seeks to end deep state collusion against our sovereignty, of the nation and the individual.
No, you confuse the ancient, landed aristocrats with large estates with the modern hedge-fund or foreign thief aristocrats. They see no obligation to anyone.
My first sentence was an imitation of this awful Oster woman's train of thought, such as she has one at all.
They will "move on" from Covid and use the same tactics on climate. The first hint of questioning the climate narrative and the "climate denier" label will instantly appear. The old, "you will kill grandpa this thanksgiving if not vaxxed" will simply become "your questioning of our climate policies will kill the next generation."
If they could do anything so valuable as to help save sweet animals and beautiful trees and clean up some beaches, that would be a worthwhile redirection of their energies.
As is, they tend rather to accumulate in school systems being the loathsome teachers who are clucky hens with colleagues and dull enough that the clever kids are smarter and therefore suffer under the teachers' passive aggressive vengeance. This type is a large reason why excellent teachers leave teaching. Again here: useful mediocre place-holders for the status quo. Currently being promoted to government positions, since it works so well in schools.....
naw, it's been a long time since I was in school, but my memory of swots is that the term refers to unpopular people (from the in group's perspective) who were smart, plain/ugly, and not at all athletic. very different to head girls.
""midwits who have very few original thoughts, and who make up for that by caring a lot about what other conformist midwits of similar status think about them."
Not just the moms where we live, just about everyone else. No-one expresses dissident views. Nothing contentious is discussed in any detail. Concerns expressed have to fall within acceptable parameters and no judgement must be too severe. Wearing a caring expressionhalps at all times.
I worked in a big CRO that did the COVID vaccine trials. It’s head girls from top to bottom. I discovered this very painfully. I was unprepared for how bad it was. I am in a better place now but these complete pussies are everywhere and still send out sonar waves, spreading their nonsense all day long. It’s so offensive how they continue to confidently assume everyone shares their madness
These people’s main jobs for their twenty year careers was to focus on patient safety. Then, overnight, it wasn’t. Somehow they had gotten the memo and I hadn’t. My head will never stop spinning.
Interesting perspective. Since all of this "latest thing" stuff began with COVID especially, I've been telling everybody that it reminds me of the cheerleader clique in high school with all the cliches and just doing what everyone else is doing and what everyone expects you to do, without giving it any rational thought.
From day one, I said this "covid me-too freakout" was ruled by 14 year old girls with bell bottoms on their faces (aka masks). My opinion has not changed one whit.
Round our way it was middle class people who consider themselves educated and up to date and enjoy a bit of drama! It seemed to be the parents of the teenagers who were mad keen on the masks and social distancing. My opinion hasn't changed either!
Yes. This. This is my Sister-in-Law. She is so worried about being in the "club of conformity", that the possibility of getting expelled from the club, she will just accept whatever the new thing is and run with it. She made the mistake of bringing up a topic to my daughter and I regarding a recent criminal-police interaction in our state. She clearly forgot that she wasn't in her protective bubble of conformity and thought we would agree with her assessment of that interaction. Wow. The backpedaling and trying to change the topic was astounding. As it is pointed out in this great article - they actively AVOID debate and arguments. They are completely unaware that there COULD be a different opinion out there. So glad, I really don't give a rip about what people think of me . . Lol
My sister in law as well. She's pretty good at hiding and blending in when with the rest of our renegade family in real life, but she lets the head girl status fly on social media and really alienated the rest of the family throughout the COVID years.
The ironic thing, is this midwit thinks she is sooooo much smarter than the rest of us Cro-magnons. Watching the right TV shows, getting all of the boosters (gave that poison to at least 1 of her young kids). This is the one who spent 6 years at college and got a degree in The Classics with a minor in Latin. WinTactualF. Don't worry, I spent 6 years at college and got 2 engineering degrees. She clearly got me beat . . .
I don't know if you have noticed, but the quintessential gold star student is the only student that will gain acceptance into any of the major professional schools, which by the way, is why the profile of highly agreeable woman is far more successful in gaining admission to medical school, law school, dentistry and veterinary medicine. Admission personnel consistently reject anyone "interesting" (ie anyone from non conventional, upper middle class families, of a certain age, with minimal real life experience), in spite of the fact that this profile type rarely commits long term to their specialty, frequently preferring part time and early retirement, having utilized their ability to earn grades to get a few letters after their names to prove what they could have done, had they had any actual interest in doing it. Universities are aiming to produce mid-level, moderately intelligent, highly malleable, bland people who have never read anything outside their course reading lists (and probably only the abstracts at that) to elevate into the ranks of the professional and/or academic classes. It is no wonder scientific research is becoming a joke with most unable to recognize and critical thinking is no longer a valued ability.
Your comment on "interesting" seems to explain why I'm having a hard time transitioning into a much more boring field of work.... I'm too "interesting" and not bland enough.
I have been (for professional reasons) in an out of Unis since the mid-thousands. The raw material wasn't great to start with but few courses select for or reward those who are inquisitive and have what I call 'grip'. This can be demonstrated by those who, when falling foul of a problem, respond by acting and coming up with an answer. This is hard to explain but they are the sort of person who can answer questions about their decisions without stumbling:
"Why is this project late?"
"The essential machinery broke down"
"Why did you not prevent this?"
"We tried to but there was extreme weather/the repairman was ill so we had to find an alternative"
And so on and so on. They can show a desire to impose their will on a situation rather than simply stop and wait for a deus ex machina.
Some are opining that the sudden appeal for forgiveness might have something to do with the US Mid-terms and the increasing likelihood the Republicans will take control of the House and the Senate - then the hearings will begin and the ‘we who should be forgiven’ brought to account and will lose the protection of the ‘fact checkers’.
Oh, Team R might hold hearings. Maybe even a committee. And definitely some Strongly Worded Letters.
Perhaps they will even enlist Robert Mueller and Bill Barr. They are both highly accomplished in wasting taxpayer money and accomplishing absolutely nothing.
"Our governing elite are increasingly selected not for intelligence or ability, but for conscientious, agreeability and conformity. The consequence is a new kind of midwit tyranny." Exactly. Perfectly expressed.
I agree with that, but I must admit I take issue with the generalization of "head girls." My 11 yo daughter is in many ways a "head girl." She gets straight A's at her top ranked private, conservative, Christain school. She is one of the top swimmers and soccer players her age in our urban area. She's read about 800 actual books (I don't count them as real books unless its Harry Potter or harder). The only book that took her more than a couple days to read in the last couple of years was Lonesome Dove (which blissfully occupied her reading for nearly 2 weeks because it is really hard to find good books for her at this point). She has never met a challenge she wasn't willing to conquer (to a fault). She wins awards in academics, character, and sports all the time. She is adored by her peers, teachers, and 99.9% of people who have met her of all ages. She is well spoken and kind.
She also has an understated charisma and confidence most adults NEVER develop. She does not cower to peer pressure or any mob (again, to a fault). During Covid she adored going out as a family mask free during the mandates (it's the only time she wanted to go grocery shopping). Even around her woke friends, she calmly and plainly expresses her disgust for race and gender ideology. She is proudly unvaccinated and will look adults in the eye and kindly point out the definition of aerosol when they advocate masks and that if the experimental vaccines worked, they would have actually worked, when they promote vaccinating the young or healthy.
She delights in being taken to the naughty room at doctor's offices waiting for her appointment because she refuses to wear a mask. She has clapped back at more than a few peers and adults that as a healthy kid she isn't a threat to those at risk of dying from Covid, but their fridge often is. This from a CHILD that has overcome health adversities most adults couldn't imagine. She pushes through pain with the determination of an MMA fighter. She does this all with a stronger faith in God than I have ever had at any point in my life.
She is human and I have many fears for her future. She's not perfect. The pressure she puts on herself terrifies me at times. The standard she holds herself to is insanely high. While she will readily own mistakes, she beats herself up when she makes them, and finding a healthier way to do that is a goal we are working on. She is grumpy n the morning. She is beautiful and is not very good at noticing sketchy things in her physical surroundings and at times that makes me physically sick to my stomach.
After leaving the hospital from an emergency appendectomy in late fall 2021, having stood up to a barrage of medical student/ resident condemnation that she was open that she wasn't scared of Covid because she was 10 (at the time) and had no intentions of getting any vaccine that's experimental especially because doesn't appear to work, she looked at me, eyes darting from ketamine, and said "Mom, I can't be a vet. I need to be a doctor because if that's the future of medicine we are all going to die." (We don't allow our kids narcotics with surgery, and they aren't necessary).
One of the few things I don't spend much time worrying about is that she will turn into one of today's mean girl 'elites.' She despises the Emily Osters of the world who sacrificed her generation because, at least in her mind, they are too lazy and mean spirited to bother to care if they are factually correct. The Osters of the world are the girls she loves to beat in every aspect, and often the motivation to try even harder in order to do it.
What you describe as your daughter is NOT a head girl. As a non-head girl myself I can attest that the characteristics of agreeability towards, and conformity with, the group are key to success in today's (corporate) world. Independent thinkers/actors such as your daughter are relegated to the sidelines.
Yep. Not a Head Girl. She's a rebellious non-conformist.
Good for her.
I think I see what you are saying. I agree completely my daughter (and my son too) would be sidelined in today’s corporate world. That’s ok. My husband and I aren’t cut out for office politics and neither are they. We’ve always steered both our kids away from the big corporate world. We have impressed upon them from toddlerhood they need to learn a skill set and be very very good at it to with a goal to spend most of their professional lives working for themselves and answering to clients and maybe business partners not corporate overlords. We also do this by example.
I walked away from a very cushy job at a large public multinational about 5 years ago because I couldn’t take the insanity, lies, stupidity, arrogance of the c-suite, and McKenzie (which might be the most corrupt, mean spirited, hateful, inept, arrogant, deceitful consulting firm in the world). It would break my heart for either of my kids to get trapped in the big corporate machines so many of my friends are stuck with.
Here! Here! Also an NC mom.
Random aside, and not sure where you are, but spread this video about Kathy Manning before Tuesday if you can. The first link is the video. The second link is the source citations for the video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=luEDE0f1Ans
https://whoiskathymanning.com/GreensboroGlobalAcademyScandal.pdf
Originally from GSO, now Wilmington. My AWFUL stepmother idolized KM! There is no telling how much money she sucked out of my stepmother who never realized money was all Kathy wanted out of her. Glad that chuck wagon hit a dead end, so to speak. I have received and shared this!
Perhaps "relegated" but this story line gives hope is that her daughter will not accept this relegation. I identify. As my third grade teacher said, "Zeus tries too hard." Excellence in all things is my motto, and I am learning in my 50s that this is personally seen as a threat not only to "Head Girls" but almost any organizational culture. I've had to refashion my resume to tamp down accomplishments and skills so as to not make others think, as said by a superintendent of a local school "that I am coming for their jobs." The lunacy where excellence is seen as a threat, and mindless, morality-free uncritical cordiality is seen as an asset shows the dystopian challenge in sharp relief.
I agree with you 100%. The future Karen’s/ Emily Osters and my daughter are already in a battle. They don’t get along at all. I’m 40 and I’ve also seen first hand the desire to hold back the best in the professional world. What happened to merit?
But I also lost $1,000 this summer betting against my daughter. I was actually trying to get her to relax and see her goal was crazy and to just have fun. We were going back and forth and I told her “sure, you do that and I’ll give you $1,000. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself with crazy goals. Do your best and have FUN!” She responded “winning is fun, and you better actually give me the $1,000 if I do it.” 🤦♀️
I didn’t think she could drop 6 seconds to podium at the city championship meet in 100 freestyle since her ankle was still broken and in pain. She dropped 7 seconds from her place time and finished comfortably in second and on the podium (she made it in the podium in all her events despite the ankle and having attended zero meets and 6 practices combined the entirety of the previous winter/ school year). I learned my lesson. Fears aside, I’m not betting against her again. She learned mommy still had tricks. The $1,000 is in an account in her name she can’t touch until she’s 21. 😂
just the fact that she won't wear a mask to the doctor's office makes her NOT a Head Girl. be grateful
I am very grateful. I can’t handle the groveling and gullible Emily Osters of the world. I think I take issue with the description of “head girls.” I think the women who often drive terrible social ideologies and contagions have delusions of grandeur and unhealthy needs for affirmation from peers as opposed to genuine hard earned accomplishments.
I predict your daughter will always be the burr under someone's saddle. Congratulations, I am in awe. God bless her and you.
I would suggest reading Julia Ross' books on amino acids (Cravings Cure is most up to date but mood cure has excellent info). Your daughter is incredible, and you don't want that personal pressure to destroy her as she ages.
I’ll look at that - thank you for the recommendation. I’m always interested in food/ mood/ immune interaction knowledge. She’s allergic to, well, food generally, but she eats very healthy (and a lot since she’s so active). She has both IgG and IgA to all major allergens, but only peanuts and tee nuts are totally banned because of potential anaphylactic reactions. When she eliminates gluten a lot of itching/ random hives go away. She eats the rest basically everyday because we can’t eliminate all the food her body might react to and gut healing is an ongoing excruciatingly slow process. I have learned I have a lot more to learn about eating/ nutrients than I ever realized.
She also has you for a mom, NC Mom!
That can go both ways 😂🤣😂
She is an old soul.
She is. 💓. It comes with its pluses and minuses.
Your daughter sounds like she has great prospects to be the head of anything she chooses. This original text by Charlton I find very far off-base from reality in its descriptions, terminology and claims -- don't let it cast doubt on the bright future of your daughter.
Encourage her to stay in high quality places with good achievement records and her character traits and talents will be understood and appreciated. People with spark and brilliance recognize each other. Likewise, other people flock to them because of their bright intrinsic force: something that does not happen for the crowd-following midwits (who are thus not destined "leaders").
Wow, amazing young lady. We need more of her!
I'd suggest Charlton's description of the Head Girl is another take on the Peter Principle, where people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
There is some debate whether the 1969 book, based on Laurence Peter's research, was intended as satire--the debatable aspect being the pervasiveness of its practice in organizations. Today, it includes the secondary and post-secondary schools where the Head Girl-type emerges at the top of the social hierarchy.
What has changed since 1969 is the performative aspect of success in today's media and PR saturated world--dominated by social media. No one would've taken notice of Emily Oster in 1969. Her type is a modern invention, a modern creation, a modern reaction to the social order.
Nonetheless, today's organizational success--whether in govt, business, education, or NGOs--require high levels of conscientiousness, agreeability, and conformity. These are the same characteristics found in today's woke mindset.
E.g., the championing of The Current Thing (global warming, BLM, Vaccines, Ukraine) in concert with the demand for conformity--while canceling anyone who raises questions about the cul de sac at the end of the one-way street.
And of course, the Head Girl-type fits as a cog in the process of group/mob behavior described by Mattias Desmet, among others.
Look at Hayek too. The worst rise to the top, as he cogently theorized.
Eugyppius has found the perfect names for these difficult people and the problems that they cause: "Head Girls" and "Midwit Tyranny". They are running wild where I work, causing problems and unable to comprehend the consequences of their policies.
Welcome to the corporate world, Soteria; it is the same at ALL management levels.
conscientiousness? instead of conscientious....
That is a very real problem. Whether it's by design or design flaw or just hostile takeover, our institutions are not nearly sociopath-resistant enough.
The "Head Girl" thing I find pretty unconvincing though. I don't want "creative genius" types in public service positions, except maybe very rarely. Most creative geniuses aren't going to be inclined to work their way through bureaucratic career paths anyway.
I think we absolutely do want conscientious and agreeable people holding these positions. But we also want them to hold moral values. The problem is rampant de-moralization.
I agree. This is the problem. People good at working with others and helping them to carry out a mission are NOT a problem -- it's what you want WHEN THE MISSION IS GOOD and correct. Their not being able to tell when the mission is a good one or not IS the problem. They need a good moral grounding (which so many don't have) -- otherwise they go by "what most people think and do" even if it's wrong. And today, when there is no general moral consensus, "what most people think and do" is based mostly on popularity, ease, and power. Of course, that's always true. But when a society has a moral compass, that will in turn help dictate what views are popular and easy to hold, and who is in power.
"They need a good moral grounding (which so many don't have) -- otherwise they go by "what most people think and do" even if it's wrong."
This is why you need disagreeable people. In the Milgram experiments (the ones with electric shocks), it was the disagreeable people who refused to cooperate. The "nice" ones wanted to please the experimenter, their own moral principles be damned. If your whole system is set up to promote only agreeable people, plus psychopaths who are good at faking agreeableness, then you're pretty screwed.
That's not to say you want to eliminate agreeable people. Sure, you should have agreeable people. It would be pretty difficult to work in a place in which everyone was disagreeable, and you probably couldn't get sufficient group cohesion to be productive. But you need a critical mass of disagreeables as well.
I know that so-called "industrial / organizational psychology" has developed extensive theory and practices (deployed in real HR departments!) around screening for personality traits, so that's probably made this worse over the decades.
Human diversity should always be an asset, not something to be eliminated. The system should welcome "disagreeables" and be resilient against liars and cheats. There's probably some game theory that applies... I'm recalling this book for example:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12046245-liars-and-outliers
But as long as this kind of work is inherently social and cooperative, these positions will be filled by people who want to work in these organizations, and so there will be some degree of self-selection for agreeableness.
While I'm making broad suggestions for how to improve society from my comfy armchair here, I think we'd do well to reduce the bulk of these bureaucracies considerably, as well as the arbitrary power they can exert. But, yeah.
Haha! Yeah, that type of personality screening is what Jordan Peterson keeps raving about. I've always had my doubts. The problem is that the type of person you need when everything is going well is not the same as the type of person you need in a time of crisis. If things are going well, and so you only hire people who do well when all is well because that will make things go even better (for a while), then you're screwed next time you find yourself in a crisis.
I agree with you, just wanted to clarify something.
People with high morale values are not disagreeable per se ; they are often good people who care about others well-being, which makes them rather agreeable. BUT people with low morale values have poor judgement and do not understand that others can have high morale values, so they only understand that high morale values people disagree with them, disapprove their endless quest for riches, sex and comfort, and so they find them disagreeable.
disagreeableness is only in the eye of those who do not understand morale virtue, IMHO.
"disagreeableness is only in the eye of those who do not understand morale virtue, IMHO."
No, (dis)agreeableness is a Big Five personality trait. People who score high in agreeableness will simply not stand up to people. On the other hand, people who are very high in disagreeableness are your psychopaths. To be able to stand up for your principles, you need to be relatively disagreeable, but not *too* disagreeable (if you're too disagreeable, you won't have moral grounding).
Actually we should want to generally eliminate the positions altogether and let them be taken up by civil society without state subsidy and monopoly.
Consumers generally don't look to be bullied by their doctors and teachers and the like. A truly free healthcare system would rout all such people out.
Perhaps, but the people this article is about are not sociopaths. They probably work for the sociopaths.
A vacuous, pretty face. 🤮
What I find astonishing is how these Head Girls who aren't the necessarily the sharpest knives in the drawer can easily manipulate men to do what they want. I've heard about several men who were against the poison death jab, but their wife/girlfriend nagged them about it, so they just got it to shut her up.
My late Father was a Marine. That sort of stuff didn't fly in my house growing up, so the ability of women to convince men to do something they are morally against just astonishes me.
So many weak men out there.
I beg to differ. Look at the "Try guys" interview fauci. /s
https://youtu.be/NDuaiYf8WDQ
Are those four guys actually adult males?! Egad. I couldn’t make it past halfway through the video, for lots of reasons.
I lasted 12 seconds 🤮
The effects of lowering testosterone levels in men are becoming apparent.
Head girls are prominent in the teaching and medical professions. A man hits the jackpot in society when he marries a teacher or nurse. Of course in return he will do whatever that head girl says. Just may observation of male-female relationships in the USA over the last 50 years.
Personally, one characteristic I looked for in a man before I found Dragonslayer (yes, that’s what ppl call my husband) was leadership. I am not interested in any man who can’t lead his family with honor and confidence. I’ve no quarter for men who waffle around on decision-making.
Your reasons are the exact reason I didn't get married for the first time until I hit my early 50s.
Plus... I worked in a field with a lot of weak and less than moral men.
"A man hits the jackpot in society when he marries a teacher or nurse."
That's a darn weird comment.
Interesting. A good friend teaches nursing and was a nurse in the Navy. Her husband is very (IMHO) beta male. I guess he hit the jackpot.
For the last few years, I've been working as a freelance writer. I think that means my husband chose the curtain with the life sized ceramic dalmation behind it.
Kinda a weird comment the best wives and mothers I know were nurses and teachers now SAHM
Right. I don’t think he’s saying teachers and nurses don’t make great wives and mothers. I believe he’s saying that certain types of makes (ahem...beta males) benefit greatly by marrying women like this because those men can’t lead and often have trouble making sound decisions; hence, they follow these strong women.
I saw through the Covid con job early on and persuaded my wife from getting the magic juice at the last minute. A strong marriage/relationship is about 'us' not myself and herself or vice versa. Neither of us have had Covid either.
Beautiful, popular, snooty, vacuous manipulators .
I don't know how a girl wearing a mask ever gets to date ! Could it cause them to dye out ?
Sean Connery once famously said that you give women the last word but sometimes they won't stop and they just have to nag and nag and nag and get up in your face about it and then... out comes the slap.
Surprised this clip can remain on Youtube in the Current Year:
https://youtu.be/_YDqm7LXt2g
She looks like a moderately handsome truck driver.
Haha say what you mean, why don’t you?
Ha ha! I aim to please.
And not even “that” pretty. It takes a LOT of prettiness to blind the thinking man or woman to a vacuous brain.
Samanhta if I was you ,I would give her some stiff competition ,too bad I'm only a man .
Haha haha I love Dr. Sowell. Fun fact, he and I have written email notes as well as snail mail notes to one another, occasionally, since 2005. He’s a wonderful person and very talented nature photographer as well as an incredibly astute and intelligent thinker.
Can Intelligence quotients go below zero ? That possibility keeps me awake at night ,given the circumstances we are in .[[[ and the ''leaders '''we have ]]]
Probably not pretty, just vacuous.
Appearing vacuous can be a very handy disguise. Allowing oneself to be underestimated can lead to some very satisfying downfalls of the enemy.
Think of it like a linear programming problem. What constrains one's performance in attaining an objective? Well, let's see ... intelligence, personality, physical attractiveness, social connections, and - oh yeah - morality. When you remove a constraint you increase the set of actions available to attaining a goal. I do think this dynamic explains the presence of so many socio- (and psycho-) paths at top levels of institutions (public and private).
There's also the dynamic that psychopaths identify their competition at each step and then systematically mob, lie, and sabotage that person until they leave the organization, while charming and manipulating their bosses and the crowd. They've done business management studies on this and shown that it is a net loss for an organization to tolerate psychopaths because of this drain in ethical workers, true talent, and innovation.
Interesting. Any links to those studies? I would like to have them in my bookmarks for ready reference. I used to work in finance and it seemed like that industry attracted them to a disproportionate degree. Very little redeemable about that profession other than the money one can make, which probably explains that phenomenon.
In finance, they actually apply the official psychopath screening checklists to positively select job applicants. Representatives from London's large investment banks were laughing about this with the finance specialists at London School of Economics. They specifically want candidates motivated by cut-throat gain with little moral inhibition. Job applicants are rejected at the interview if they have great credentials but seem to be a decent person --- and here's where we come full circle to your original comment about constraints.
Links to the studies - I would also have to search for them, it's 10 years ago. Gardner et al.'s book 'Good Work: when excellence and ethics meet' might also be enjoyable.
Well, if true that was well after my time in the industry. Still, even then a pretty cold bunch and I worked for one of the more gentlemanly firms on the Street (long since gone).
What in past years we used to dismiss as "a faceless bureaucrat."
Elon Musk is not a Head Girl, and Twitter might change
A well-behaved comrade.
Classic NCP
NPC? Where the non-obedient are removed publicly . . .
https://rumble.com/v1pc31z-xis-predecessor-and-former-ccp-chairman-hu-jintao-forcibly-removed.html
That can be true but often these people are very bright, competent, useful people and great neighbors, friends, and family members -- not "nonentities" or "mindless," and I don't see how their having average ability is a negative. Almost everyone has average ability. The problem is that they are in the wrong positions, or are assumed to have knowledge or genius they do not have.
they are completely unaware of their average ability—this is what makes them dangerous
You comment captures the essence of the spiritual and intellectual malaise we find ourselves in.
I do however agree with the other comments. In a healthy society these people do not end up in positions of authority. Their function is not leadership, morals or righteousness. Their funcion is temperance an being great neighbors.
"Disagreeable types who shake things up."
Precisely.
The type, for instance, who might make... mean tweets.
Well, if you think it is bad now, consider a future wherein 'equity' is used as the metric for organizational promotion.
Good times.
It's already happened. Look at the recent appointment to the SCOTUS.
Future? I'm afraid we're already there. Although, of course, it could (and no doubt will) get worse.
This is way over-harsh. There's absolutely nothing wrong with head girls per se. Having a mid range IQ, high conscientiousness, and moderately conformist temperament doesn't make you "an empty vessel".
It's just that such a person lacks the qualities we want in leadership-- independence of mind, drive to put facts over socially popular narratives, and a willingness to risk social disapproval from one's peers.
Head girls are good worker bees that probably require a bit less supervision. But they shouldn't be promoted to positions where competence, creativity and individuality are critical.
Pretty much this. People of average intellect, high conscientiousness, and moderate conformism are the sort of people who are indispensable to an orderly, well-run society. Modern institutions tend to put such people in places they shouldn't be, but that doesn't mean the personality type itself is bad, any more than your arm is bad because it can't do the same job as your brain.
Good Germans
Insightful
Kind of ironic but wasn't this "type" the entire premise of The Stepford Wives?
Moltke the Great defined 4 traits in Officers;
Bright
Stupid
Lazy
Industrious
Bright and Industrious are the General Staff (ran German Army)
Bright but Lazy are marked for Command as they are suited to make judgments of the highest moral order.
Stupid and Lazy have their uses.
Stupid and Industrious must be eliminated, they are far too dangerous.
Head Girl is Stupid and Industrious.
And from my background, this description of 'Head' wouldn't have gotten people very far: we were required to be interesting, funny, creative individuals in addition to doing well at all the other things. Someone dull like this would never be considered a role model, let alone a 'head' specimen.
So I totally reject the premise of this article. There's nothing 'Head' about a dull potato with stereotypical credentials.
Having 18th century courtesans as role models has both advantages and disadvantages.
I've now also read Bruce Charlton's original description, and I'm not convinced of that either:
"The Head Girl is great to have around, everybody thinks she is wonderful.
Meanwhile the creative genius is at best a person who divides opinion, strongly, in both directions - at worst often a signed-up member of the awkward squad."
This doesn't match the places I'm familiar with: I've had the pleasure of observing many creative genius people, and they are among the most successful and well-loved characters out there. Their creativity extends to wit and charisma, passion and spontaneity that draws others in for the adventure and gets them promoted to leading positions. All the better for fire and quirks.
This paragraph is also suspicious:
"The genius is pretty much everything the Head Girl is not. He is lop-sided in his abilities - truly excellent at some things or maybe just one thing, he is either hopeless or bored by many others. He won't work hard for long periods at things he does not want to do. He will not gravitate to the prestige areas of life, or cannot or will not do the networking necessary to get-on."
Again there, this doesn't match reality. Because of their merit and the brilliance of their mind, creative geniuses are often the life of the party.
Likewise, unlike Charlton's 'lop-sided' description, life does seem to be rather unfair in how positive features are doled out: creative brilliance (cells) is more often than not accompanied by a healthy brain (cells), attractive body (cells), and diverse skills (cells, exploratory passion). And recent studies show that the strongest predictor of these things is genes (cells). This feels unfair so it is contrary to popular belief, but biologically, all of these cells have to run on certain programs. When cellular metabolism starts to fail, those same signals are going to cause slow puffy brain and slow puffy hands.
Think of all the stories where someone is not only the most innovative [e.g., surgeon], but also has art exhibitions, 2 other degrees, plays in an orchestra, and has 300 species of orchid as a hobby.... or a tremendous political philosopher, also a renowned linguist and well loved by all....
The work done by head girls is just fine, and we know they care about people because of their very fine displays of virtue, such as helping those they view as "disadvantaged" to become their own (head girls') successors. It's a slow race to the bottom.
depends what product you consider genius . Piccaso would fit Charlton's description. In the fine arts locally [ vancouver ] i can think of many who fit ''most successful and well-loved characters out there. '' , their work is very good but genius ? Things are relative . Social skills are rewarded . Arts are difficult in some ways very easy in others and people have trouble seeing what is good art vs bad , good may appear bad but it will create new possibilities that history can build on.
:) Before everyone was a 'data-driven' hiker, a lot of them also flocked to art because it's a socially smiled upon thing to do, depending on your cultural context. Nice pond, lots of little hopeful fish, and occasionally the giant shadows of the real creative geniuses swim by. In art specifically I would modify the phrase 'well-loved' to rather have a touch of deference or fear when talent and intensity really enter the scene. When encountering someone with this force, you'll know it.
(Careful about flipping the direction of words though -- Cows are black and white / Oreos are not cows: I said the geniuses I know are successful and well-loved. That doesn't mean all successful and well-loved people can be considered geniuses (except probably in modern America's logic).
Yes, but one absolutely terrified of the non-conforming creative genius and their ideas, questions and innovations.....until they gain traction of course then they co-opt them as theirs....
Exactly.
I disagree with Prof. Oster and want Covid criminals punished for poisoning millions of people and taking away our civil liberties.
That said, Emily is not the thought leader here -- she was selected to launch this amnesty "trial balloon" as a pleasantly appearing individual who was not implicated in the nastiest of behaviors.
There was a reason why "they" selected Emily and not Dr Leana Wen or Monica Gandhi.
Emily here is not the mastermind of the amnesty idea -- she is a figurehead. She is not exactly dumb, but being "data driven" without realizing that data is supplied by crooks shows lack of thinking, possibly intentional.
Here's the deal with these types of people:
More than anything they fear being the last to "know" something socially. She is experiencing her worse nightmare.
These people will go to all lengths to prevent that from being revealed. That's why it's going to be so hard to get to the truth.
Did she jab her kids? I think she did. So the amnesty she needs is the one with them.
She did Jab her kids.
Interesting thought Kara Alicia, yes, if she has kids, or if she had elderly parents jabbed, or placed in a hospital on the demanded protocol of the country they were in. Mendazolin in the UK, Remdesivir in the US, etc. She would want to be absolved of any one thinking she was negligent or had been hoodwinked.
Yes! You are right!
Yes, they fear being the last to 'know'. I found they also fear 'being ignored, being a 'nobody'.
ooh. good point
They can't accept within themselves to reveal to others (who feel the same way) that positions can change with additional knowledge. They're all afraid of being found out that they were wrong. And nobody has the courage to stand up and say it either, because they fear the opinions of others more.
Well I have no problem with telling them that we will seek justice and that we're not going away.
Play the "good cop" routine - Look, turn over the info about ______ and we'll lessen your sentence, because we've already got the goods on you.
I like that.
I've red pilled many friends/family by just saying:
"hey man, you "got" it a lot sooner than most"......even though most didn't.
It is a decent conversation starter.
Ooh. I like that better!
I mean, don't get me wrong. Arm twisting can work, but if you can get them to sing on their own with a bit o' buttery goodness, then that's even better!
Judging by the comments I've seen all over the web since Ms Emily floated her trial balloon... that balloon has definitely popped!
Maybe she was the was "picked" to float that trial balloon.
The Atlantic is owned by the wife of the dead Steve Jobs.
A lead balloon!
A dead balloon!
She was chosen for a reason. Just like how Paul Offit occasionally comes off as antivaxx. It’s just CYA
I don't think they are chosen. They're just narcissists and fence sitters who think they are important and go where the wind blows. They should be ignored, always.
That could be but I’m saying there’s a reason The Atlantic chose to publish her drivel
Potayto-potahto. The Atlantic has a steady supply of these people, and can edit their submissions to snugly fit the narrative.
This. I personally (sadly) know so many people that fit your description precisely, Napoleon. And it fits this person precisely as well.
That is a new model for Vaccine Salesman Paul Offit. BECAUSE IT IS THAT BAD!!
I’m still gobsmacked. You know when Paul Offit is against it, that is some serious bad stuff in that vial.
This is 100% the case. This was all part of the psyop, they needed to see how much trouble they are in after the elections. Also the goal was to move the overton window as far as possible from revenge.
i can't speak for others but i'd like some revenge
I'd definitely like to see some bad consequences for BAD behavior!!!
Correct Igor.....oddly, in a back & forth email discussion with a close friend of mine who is a bona fide scientist (PhD O-Chem & brilliant in that sphere) yet has views very different from mine we were recently lobbing countering information on the origins of COVID19 ....he was offering the reasons for the plausibility for a zoonotic jump to Humans, citing papers etc....this got me doing my homework, looking for updated information finding a cascade of articles, papers and government documents which point to a Lab Leak. This includes the hard facts of the obfuscation of governments, organizations like the WHO, Eco-Health Alliance, etc. in their Gain of Function Research and lack of protocol at WIV. Also includes in depth discussions of the facts and impossibility of a zoonotic leap . . . Even though I had already formed the opinion this was a lab leak from previous reading starting from the start of this mess up revisiting the topic and updating the base of information to base my thoughts on was refreshing.....we all need to do this and constantly test our own biases.....OK, needless to say I have not heard back with any countering information from my friend.......My Point of your comment is I have not even gotten to the Mafia styled thugs that make up the Pharma Mafia extorting this situation with the facts of the so-called vaccines, the tactics used to make them, position these companies to take advantage of this, and force them on the population for monetary gain via the government.....let alone their effects on health of both individuals and the populace.....this is on the level of any other crime against Humanity including the various documented genocides and, rather than over ethnic or religous differences this is over $..... the origins have as many criminals as the vaccinator thugs with, I suspect, some tied to both...
I am 100% with you except for one small thing. Expression "lab leak" implies that it kind of was an "accidental leak". It very possibly was not accidental. I prefer to generically mention "lab origin".
I don't know if sloppiness and an unconscious desire to create a reason for taking power away from others is a "leak", and, yes, we cannot say for SURE this is a leak, but it strains credibility why the virus would get out right next to a lab, among the general population of the country conducting the research, with cover-ups galore. The only alternative explanation I can find is that this was an opportunity to get the population in line (credible and evidenced by actions afterward) and to get the world to adopt China-style social control (also evidenced beyond China's ostensible wildest dreams). However, this would be backcasting. The simplest explanation is bio-weapon research that got out, just like several other mini-epidemics in Beijing with Sars-1. Sloppiness appears to be the cause, but it cannot completely be verified, so one can be a stickler and say the more boring but accurate "lab origin."
Given the information coming out more now, that it may have been in circulation as early as the previous summer, it seems like maybe it was a lab leak, but would actually have never even risen to level of being a seriously noticeable problem if governments hadn't decided to MAKE it a problem. I find myself looking back at things like Event 201 and thinking, 'So were they already aware that there was a new coronavirus in circulation that COULD be made to look like a bigger danger than it actually is, so they had a little practice run at how this could be spun (Event 201), and then used it to slide in some mass psychological experiments and greater control measures?'
That makes the worldwide bump in mortality in March/April 2020 look like a combination of iatrogenic murder and of course lots of deliberate mis-ascribing of reasons for death (both of which we know happened).
Related - I just watched The Good Nurse on Netflix, based on a true story. A small illustration of just how willing to be a part of murder and coverup the Head Girl administrators in the U.S. health system can be.
Yes, best example of intervention creating the hysteria and self fulfilling and self serving prophecy. That is the real lesson along with not allowing fear to betray you to monstrosity.
You may enjoy this:
https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-systemic-collapse-and-pandemic-simulation/
Rachel, I think reality bears out your theory. There was a predictive priming that allowed the bottom feeders to enact their sick fantasies of control using pandemic fear as their fuel. PCR tests were notoriously oversensitive. Flus were clearly reclassified as Covid. And anyone with the virus was consider sick FROM the virus, rather than sick WITH the virus even in cases as ridiculous as car accidents and drug overdoses. Why? Because there was extrraordinary money involved in diagnosing people AS Covid-- billions upon billions. A perfect storm of hysteria, greed, predictive programming, and rank opportunism for control. This explains why natural immunity was ignored along with effective therapeutics like ivermectin and even Vitamin D EVEN THOUGH these had long-standing use in even CONVENTIONAL medicine. What happened was barbarically radical even by conventional medicine standards. I hope we all learn something from this if we are still mentally intact!
hmmm, i suspect your close friend is getting less close
Actually the opposite.....we have a lively back & forth and this is what is needed.....discussion and an ability to voice and debate various perspectives....I actually appreciate it because it forces me to sharpen and hone my skills and thinking....we both know each other well enough to know we have the mutual good at heart so we can have these discussions.....He is actually brilliant as a scientist in Organic Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology as it relates to O-Chem but as the "Head Girl" blog makes clear about creative genius he is clueless on areas of human motivations and behaviors.....if we are going to find a way we need more discussion.....in this particular instance that discussion led to it's eventual conclusion because we went back and forth with my email revisiting the origins, then he presented information which I evaluated and, I was able to present information refuting his on zoonotic leap to Humans and what was happening with investigating the WIV Lab Leak hypothesis which he could analyze, evaluate and rebutt at his discretion.....nothing has come back thus far and I doubt much will....this is how Humanity prospers and moves ahead.....this is how we can hold those accountable, accountable. Until others who do not hold our opinions realize what has happened they can be used by those to cover their tracks or, as Emily Oster posits provide them 'Amnesty' . . . I wonder how Ms. Oster feels about the convicted at the Nuremberg Trials.....doubt she feels they should have gotten amnesty and while I am not suggesting this level of punishment, point is there is a lack of consistency in her thought process suggesting an ulterior motive by her and/or those behind the veil....
oh. an useful idiot. gotcha.
my only doubt is which kind:
1) ok, i'll set myself on fire, take one for the team.... btw, my check is in the mail, right?
2) i really think i'm right, and people are nice to me....
i'd bet on 1. she's a made gal ;)
Thanks, eugyppius and Igor : "There was a reason why "they" selected Emily"...
It says she studied Economics @ Harvard; as did Kissinger and Schwab et.al :
were they not well-known Malthusian Economists advocating Eugenics and Depopulation?
She does not base her "Atlantic" article on any scientific data, nor info from CDC, SEC filings, Patents, etc...and advocates for mandates even though, from the very beginning, anyone who looked at the details of information in the Public Domain at the sites we were supposed to visit could read that it decreased chances of hospitalization, not transmission nor infection. She is advocating a narrative, under the guise of parenting and health...
Emily Oster's statement:
"Many people have neglected their health care over the past several years. Notably, routine vaccination rates for children (for measles, pertussis, etc.) are way down. Rather than debating the role that messaging about COVID vaccines had in this decline, we need to put all our energy into bringing these rates back up. Pediatricians and public-health officials will need to work together on community outreach, and politicians will need to consider school mandates."
Authority? Where do values lie for economists? Definitive reasoning? On what is her stance based? Anyone who enables tyranny to occur-like this advocacy of experimental Gene Therapy injections-not vaccines-filed under Gene Therapy Medical Devices (vaccines are not filed there) in the SEC Filings, and Also Mandates: where is her legal background to establish this for a non-transmissable ( "replication defective" in patent) group of symptoms that she is calling for mandates for...Is this not like the Good Soldier, a tool of implementation? Is this not as culpable as the talking heads in unison saying "Safe & effective" without accurate scientific data? Is it just a PsyOp, or pocketing funds to write what is demanded by overlords?
Without Emily Osters, the tyrranists' could not get their plans implemented.
Forgiveness, Yes, but Amnesty, No.
i predict they won't be able to bring those rates up. the handling of mRNA shots have made people, even those who thought vaccines were the greatest, suspicious of the whole deal. she's calling for school mandates when many governors have come out and said there will be no school mandates in their states? people who want their kids shot up against everything can move to california.
people will vote with their moving trucks. CA and NYC will see mass exoduses which will erode their tax bases and send their crime rates even higher. you can only rest on your reputational laurels for so long. your crappy over priced studio apartment in NYC is only tolerable because you're never in it except to sleep. when there's no theater to go to because everyone's afraid and no restaurants because they all shut down, when the chic stores are all barricaded against looters, and museums are all in trouble because, you know, cultural appropriation, people will realize they hate their apartments and move which already happened a lot during the shut down.
i predict home schooling and other alternative systems of education will flourish and public schools will see their student population and with it, their funding, plummet. in a few years, it should be pretty easy to tell if the home schooled kids are smarter and healthier than the constantly boosted publicly educated kids
Yes, Carolyn!
I also call BS on her misinformation of not having the facts, as she states :
"We can leave out the willful purveyors of actual misinformation while forgiving the hard calls that people had no choice but to make with imperfect knowledge. "
There is no denying that they knew exactly what they were doing, as there is so much proof: Patents, SEC Filing, research data (RR vs. ARR,etc).
"In the face of so much uncertainty, getting something right had a hefty element of luck. And, similarly, getting something wrong wasn’t a moral failing. "
BS: Anyone with access to the internet could have done the basic research that I did. Focus on health, truth, and the maxim: "First, Do No Harm" is foremost, not Corporate Trade Secrets veiling ingredients so informed consent is not possible; nor Economics and WEF 4th Industrial Revolution.
These people are responsible for doing harm; so it Is Absolutely a moral failing; especially shooting up the children with experimental Gene Therapy...I want her to look up what's now in the bivalent flu shots, etc., which she calls part of the health regime. How a society treats its children is an indication of its morality. Stop Advocating to Harm Children, Emily Oster!
oh my god! leana wen! the only person more horrible is her canadian counterpart
Leana is more horrible than her canadian counterpart
i don't know, it could be a toss up
But every OECD Commonwealth country seems to have one. It couldn’t be cohencidence.
‘Being "data driven" without realizing that data is supplied by crooks shows lack of thinking, possibly intentional.’
Perfect summation.
I think they are using her as a test to gauge the hostility of the masses. They know the day is coming...
Correct. it's because Emily is fits "Head Girl" archetype that she was selected.
You’ve figured out a most important point (as usual.) Answers my thought, wait, wait, where did this come from, is this the next plan?
Exactly. They realise full well that their robotic and binary nastily shrill operatives from afar are really not the types to sell sympathy, rather, tyranny. That was their purpose and I noticed it throughout the OECD and Commonwealth.
Those "shrill operatives" raised my hackles more than Oster. She is a pathetic loser sort, unless she got paid a fortune for acting the part - well.
Spot on.
Spot on, Igor.
As I wrote in one of your posts. would love to see her essay on why we did i or didn't go to the moon.
I think i can hear the fart noises coming from her ears from the other side of the planet
I read the piece and I thought, she is only writing to her fellow meritocrats. We were right about just about everything, but we sometimes got a little overzeaous about it, the unvaccinated are still dirty and backwards, so we need to cement our status as know it alls, so let's forgive each other for not being totally perfect and move on lording over the depolorables.
I heard an interview with her on NPR, or maybe somebody exactly like her on an NPR wannabe. They were talking about how closing schools was ultimately the wrong decision and how the decision was made. She was asked specifically if DeSantis had it right in Florida. Her reply was that no, anecdotally she had heard that teachers really struggled with getting sick in Florida. The entire discussion was about how her Side had made a mistake, but she couldn’t allow that the other side might have been right.
The reluctance to acknowledge one's mistaken beliefs is a True Sign of mediocrity.
Oster is a 110-IQ-er who believes too highly in her own cognition.
Yes that's an interesting angle: I'd maybe add that the proles got the odd thing or two right and of course not being able to see their loved ones die as they were banned from the corona wards was awful, but of course their politics are terrible and isn't Trump, like, such an asshole? It reminds me of a failing aristocracy before the peasants move in with the pitchforks.
In Britain we have had the benefit for some centuries now of aristocrats who understood that they were not just entitled but *responsible*. They had to manage those under them as well as the land and possession worked both ways. It led to stability for many centuries.
Stability, until covid? It doesn't seem to me your aristocrats are any less rapacious than ours, while both sides of the Atlantic seem under the thrall of globalist totalitarianism.
Trump for all his faults is just the first to tap into a growing populism that seeks to end deep state collusion against our sovereignty, of the nation and the individual.
No, you confuse the ancient, landed aristocrats with large estates with the modern hedge-fund or foreign thief aristocrats. They see no obligation to anyone.
My first sentence was an imitation of this awful Oster woman's train of thought, such as she has one at all.
“Meritocrats” -- I’m stealing this brilliant word candy!
They will "move on" from Covid and use the same tactics on climate. The first hint of questioning the climate narrative and the "climate denier" label will instantly appear. The old, "you will kill grandpa this thanksgiving if not vaxxed" will simply become "your questioning of our climate policies will kill the next generation."
It's already happening. The popular "solutions" and policies really don't move the needle on the problem, as defined.
If they could do anything so valuable as to help save sweet animals and beautiful trees and clean up some beaches, that would be a worthwhile redirection of their energies.
As is, they tend rather to accumulate in school systems being the loathsome teachers who are clucky hens with colleagues and dull enough that the clever kids are smarter and therefore suffer under the teachers' passive aggressive vengeance. This type is a large reason why excellent teachers leave teaching. Again here: useful mediocre place-holders for the status quo. Currently being promoted to government positions, since it works so well in schools.....
Kamala "Head Girl" Harris also adds a totally new dimension to getting ahead in life.
lmfao
Ooooops - we are and maybe even more if the next week doesn’t straighten the road a bit
Our entire culture chooses for this these days. It's a "be nice" before "be competent" culture and it's killing us.
Bring back the balance, toxic masculinity and tiger moms!
Love this. Well put!
*vigorous clap from the bottom of a barrel somewhere in London*
"a barrel" - you lucky, lucky bastard
in England don't you also call them "swotty" or something? I dimly remember that term :)
naw, it's been a long time since I was in school, but my memory of swots is that the term refers to unpopular people (from the in group's perspective) who were smart, plain/ugly, and not at all athletic. very different to head girls.
""midwits who have very few original thoughts, and who make up for that by caring a lot about what other conformist midwits of similar status think about them."
This is nearly every mom in my neighborhood
Not just the moms where we live, just about everyone else. No-one expresses dissident views. Nothing contentious is discussed in any detail. Concerns expressed have to fall within acceptable parameters and no judgement must be too severe. Wearing a caring expressionhalps at all times.
I worked in a big CRO that did the COVID vaccine trials. It’s head girls from top to bottom. I discovered this very painfully. I was unprepared for how bad it was. I am in a better place now but these complete pussies are everywhere and still send out sonar waves, spreading their nonsense all day long. It’s so offensive how they continue to confidently assume everyone shares their madness
Well, just remember all of the fertility-compromising peptides in the Spike, and gaze with curiosity 20 years into their family's future.
These people’s main jobs for their twenty year careers was to focus on patient safety. Then, overnight, it wasn’t. Somehow they had gotten the memo and I hadn’t. My head will never stop spinning.
Interesting perspective. Since all of this "latest thing" stuff began with COVID especially, I've been telling everybody that it reminds me of the cheerleader clique in high school with all the cliches and just doing what everyone else is doing and what everyone expects you to do, without giving it any rational thought.
Very much. Mean girls at large...
From day one, I said this "covid me-too freakout" was ruled by 14 year old girls with bell bottoms on their faces (aka masks). My opinion has not changed one whit.
Round our way it was middle class people who consider themselves educated and up to date and enjoy a bit of drama! It seemed to be the parents of the teenagers who were mad keen on the masks and social distancing. My opinion hasn't changed either!
Nuremberg 2.0 or bust
Yes. This. This is my Sister-in-Law. She is so worried about being in the "club of conformity", that the possibility of getting expelled from the club, she will just accept whatever the new thing is and run with it. She made the mistake of bringing up a topic to my daughter and I regarding a recent criminal-police interaction in our state. She clearly forgot that she wasn't in her protective bubble of conformity and thought we would agree with her assessment of that interaction. Wow. The backpedaling and trying to change the topic was astounding. As it is pointed out in this great article - they actively AVOID debate and arguments. They are completely unaware that there COULD be a different opinion out there. So glad, I really don't give a rip about what people think of me . . Lol
My sister in law as well. She's pretty good at hiding and blending in when with the rest of our renegade family in real life, but she lets the head girl status fly on social media and really alienated the rest of the family throughout the COVID years.
The ironic thing, is this midwit thinks she is sooooo much smarter than the rest of us Cro-magnons. Watching the right TV shows, getting all of the boosters (gave that poison to at least 1 of her young kids). This is the one who spent 6 years at college and got a degree in The Classics with a minor in Latin. WinTactualF. Don't worry, I spent 6 years at college and got 2 engineering degrees. She clearly got me beat . . .
The overriding value people like her crave is acceptance. Right or wrong is irrelevant. It’s all about being accepted, facts be damned.
Yep. Ask her if men can get pregnant.
But not-so-occult power drive also.
I don't know if you have noticed, but the quintessential gold star student is the only student that will gain acceptance into any of the major professional schools, which by the way, is why the profile of highly agreeable woman is far more successful in gaining admission to medical school, law school, dentistry and veterinary medicine. Admission personnel consistently reject anyone "interesting" (ie anyone from non conventional, upper middle class families, of a certain age, with minimal real life experience), in spite of the fact that this profile type rarely commits long term to their specialty, frequently preferring part time and early retirement, having utilized their ability to earn grades to get a few letters after their names to prove what they could have done, had they had any actual interest in doing it. Universities are aiming to produce mid-level, moderately intelligent, highly malleable, bland people who have never read anything outside their course reading lists (and probably only the abstracts at that) to elevate into the ranks of the professional and/or academic classes. It is no wonder scientific research is becoming a joke with most unable to recognize and critical thinking is no longer a valued ability.
Your comment on "interesting" seems to explain why I'm having a hard time transitioning into a much more boring field of work.... I'm too "interesting" and not bland enough.
As well as being too old.
I have been (for professional reasons) in an out of Unis since the mid-thousands. The raw material wasn't great to start with but few courses select for or reward those who are inquisitive and have what I call 'grip'. This can be demonstrated by those who, when falling foul of a problem, respond by acting and coming up with an answer. This is hard to explain but they are the sort of person who can answer questions about their decisions without stumbling:
"Why is this project late?"
"The essential machinery broke down"
"Why did you not prevent this?"
"We tried to but there was extreme weather/the repairman was ill so we had to find an alternative"
And so on and so on. They can show a desire to impose their will on a situation rather than simply stop and wait for a deus ex machina.
"The consequence is a new kind of midwit tyranny..."
I prefer 'Tyranny of the Minority', who also, happen to be so smart they've broken through to the other side and have become stupid.
Some are opining that the sudden appeal for forgiveness might have something to do with the US Mid-terms and the increasing likelihood the Republicans will take control of the House and the Senate - then the hearings will begin and the ‘we who should be forgiven’ brought to account and will lose the protection of the ‘fact checkers’.
who really thinks the Republicans will do anything? Talk about a bunch of Headgirls!
Oh, Team R might hold hearings. Maybe even a committee. And definitely some Strongly Worded Letters.
Perhaps they will even enlist Robert Mueller and Bill Barr. They are both highly accomplished in wasting taxpayer money and accomplishing absolutely nothing.
Fackt Cheka