Extroverts
are just conformists
STILLWATER, Okla.(U-Wire) ––
It's not cool to be an introvert anymore.
Anyone who sits around and actually thinks
now and then is some sort of nerdy weirdo
no one with any sense of style would ever
hang out with. There have been studies showing
that lawyers, business people, and everyone
else who's successful are almost all extroverted,
whereas boring, balding old professors are
the introverted ones. So who in their right
mind is going to be an introvert when the
big money is all in corporations?
No
one. Everybody wants to be a "Type
A" in modern American society; so much
so that people pretend to be extroverted
so that other people won't see how introverted
they actually are. At parties, meeting,
receptions and other social functions, an
extrovert is expected to go around telling
everyone how glad they are to see them,
even though they have no clue who they are
and don't want to know.
People
just don't feel comfortable outside of big
groups anymore. That's why there are so
many campus organizations. Would anyone
actually go to some of the clubs if they
weren't social organizations where people
get together and talk about who knows what
-- anything besides what the club is actually
about -- and have long conversations with
people whom they barely know?
Maybe
it's just me, but I'm not jumping out of
my seat at the thought of the Botanical
Club meetings on Wednesday nights.
Extroverts
constantly talk to people they couldn't
care less about, while treating them like
their best friend, and make a point to gush
out at random intervals "Oh, I am such
an extrovert!" And when someone says
anything remotely funny, they laugh a boisterous
laugh that sounds like a sick hyena hooked
up to microphone, and after they are finished,
they talk about, like, how funny you are.
One
major example of extroverted conformity
is TV news. The field reporters who "give
us the facts" about every terrible
situation possible have to act strong, confident,
yet caring at every moment, even when they
don't care what happened or what might happen.
Yes, it's easy to see that these "extroverts"
are fake, but that doesn't stop people from
wanting to be just like them. They see being
a newscaster as a glamorous position, and
money is more important than minor qualms
about being true to oneself.
Then
there are people who call themselves "leaders."
In high school a leader was someone who
played football or was a cheerleader, but
in corporate America a leader is someone
who knows how to speak well enough to calm
the fears of investors or disgruntled employees.
How are these "leaders" selected
from the masses of faceless businesspeople?
Sometimes it's because of intelligence or
creativity, but mostly promotions are received
because of connections. And connections
stem from social status, which is determined
by how extroverted and conformist the person
is.
The
most obvious form of extrovert conformity
is a cell phone. Yes, some people actually
use cell phones to make or receive important
calls, but mostly they just walk around
with them pressed against their ear, talking
loudly enough for everyone within 200 feet
to hear them. Then there are the people
who check for text messages every ten minutes
because someone might just be texting them
at that very moment! And when a person is
alone in a public place, they'll call someone
so it won't look like they might be an introvert
with no friends.
The
whole idea of self-reliance is lost among
most modern Americans. Everyone's heard
the cliche that "it's a dog eat dog
world out there", and no one wants
to be the loser, even if it means that they'll
be even more of a loser in the future.
This
column,by David Lawson, originally appeared
in the Oklahoma State University Daily O'
Collegian
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