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The Song of the Introvert

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You are a threat.

It’s a strong word. I don’t mean that you intend pain, injury, or damage. But I’m an introvert and you – as a new unknown human – are a threat to me. I don’t know what you want and you most definitely want something and until I figure that out, you’re a threat. See…

I have control issues.

I am mostly calm when I am alone in my Cave. My stuff is where I expect it to be, the furniture is how I like it and the walls are blood red – they surround me completely. There are rarely surprises in my Cave and that is how I like it, thank you very much. My Cave is where I avoid the chaos and…

You are chaos.

You are disorder and confusion. I haven’t figured out an eye contact protocol with you yet, and I don’t know what you want so I don’t understand what motivates you so you are unpredictable. You are an unknown, which means you are full of surprises and surprises aren’t the spice of life, they are new data that don’t yet fit in my system and…

I am addled with systems.

My love of calm predictability has come at a cost. I write everything down in a black notebook – no lines. There are boxes next to items that must be tracked, there are stars for ideas that must be remembered. A yellow highlighter and a .5mm Zebra Sarasa gel pen accompany me everywhere because the presence of this notebook is part of my well-defined system of never missing anything. See, paradoxically, while I would likely prefer to be hiding in my Cave, I also love signal and…

You are high signal.

I am fascinated by how you punctuate your sentences with your hands. You pause for as long as it takes to makes sure you are going to say something of value. Sometimes these pauses are maddeningly long. You are fiercely optimistic and state outlandish impossible things. You are fearless in giving feedback to strangers. You are less fearless, but you can deliver the same feedback with a momentary glance. It’s fascinating how all of you have built all of your systems to get through your day. I am fascinated because…

I am insatiably (quietly) curious.

My curiosity is a defense mechanism. I am desperately trying to get back to my Cave where the surprises are scheduled. I have learned the faster I can learn about you, the faster I will figure out what you want, and that will tell me what motivates you, and when I know what motivates you, I will better understand how to communicate with you. I am not trying to manipulate you, I am not trying to pander to you, I am trying to understand you because…

I am an introvert.

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veekaybee
3717 days ago
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The Pace of Modern Life

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'Unfortunately, the notion of marriage which prevails ... at the present time ... regards the institution as simply a convenient arrangement or formal contract ... This disregard of the sanctity of marriage and contempt for its restrictions is one of the most alarming tendencies of the present age.' --John Harvey Kellogg, Ladies' guide in health and disease (1883)
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veekaybee
4172 days ago
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20 public comments
chrisamico
4159 days ago
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All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.
Boston, MA
oliverzip
4162 days ago
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Has twitter wrecked modern communcation?
Sydney, Balmain, Hornsby.
izogi
4171 days ago
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Fortunately, as I'm informed, it had all calmed down again by the time of my parents' generation.
antgiant
4171 days ago
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"Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things." -- Douglas Adams
Oviedo, Florida
bloodvayne
4170 days ago
Society will be society, what's interesting is how inherently the "nostalgia fallacy" is simply society's self-preservation against seemingly "hostile" undercurrent. Reminds me of this article from Art of Manliness, also a very thorugh read http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/07/12/the-generations-of-men-how-the-cycles-of-history-have-shaped-your-values-your-place-in-the-world-and-your-idea-of-manhood/
stsquad
4171 days ago
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Nice commentary on modern commentary.
Cambridge, UK
bscherrer
4172 days ago
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@mahea50 Word.
San Diego, California
iridesce
4172 days ago
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now let's make one for "damn kids are spoiled and have no respect for their elders these days"
DC
iridesce
4172 days ago
whoops, nevermind, i see you 1906.
rgsunico
4172 days ago
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Brilliant.
marcrichter
4171 days ago
tl;dnr :P
redson
4172 days ago
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The Golden Age Fallacy in action.
claysmith
4172 days ago
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“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 1:9
Escondido, CA
dcwarwick
4172 days ago
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And on it goes.
Edmonton, AB, Canada
taddevries
4172 days ago
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Get off my internet lawn you free loaders.
mscholes
4172 days ago
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The summary is beautiful ;-)
benmurray
4172 days ago
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Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things. -- Douglas Adams
adamgurri
4172 days ago
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the public comments on this comic seem to imply everyone swallows the premise of the letters...I had though Munroe's point was more that we keep hearing the same arguments over and over again in each age.
New York, NY
btomhave
4172 days ago
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Those who fail to learn from history... yada yada yada...
Michdevilish
4172 days ago
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Definitive proof that human faculties have been dwindling since at least 1871, and show no signs of abating in their sad dwindleMent...
Canada
the7roy
4172 days ago
1871? Try ~360 BCE when Plato wrote, "they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality."
PaulPritchard
4172 days ago
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Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be.
Belgium
internetionals
4172 days ago
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Nice to see it spelled out to people that "nostalgia" is of all times. And the that troubles of today were often already there earlier, but people just remember them differently.
Netherlands
Ludwig
4172 days ago
Consider the possibility that the authors of these quotes were correct (well, except the divorce and nudity one,) like that Aristotle quote where he bitches about “kids these days,” instead of resigning it to “ah, it was ever thus.”