Aura 🔥

I mean, there are some that I'd argue aren't really gatekeeping. Law's the big one I'd point out. I know people have to do it, but I'd NEVER be able to do that.

Law is the most gate-keepy of them all. The only reason the average person "can't" do law is because law as a profession has structured itself to be so obtuse that you effectively need to start learning when you're a kid or you're a solid decade behind the curve.

I always found this line of thinking weird. I can code, a skill predicated on logical thinking, mathematics, and problem-solving; but I can also draw, a skill predicated on intuitive thinking, aesthetics, and creativity. Learning both of them wasn't that different: its practice.

natural talent or inclinations literally do not exist whatsoever. I couldn't draw a straight line to save my life, even as a teenager. I had zero natural talent for drawing, BECAUSE SKILLS TAKE TIME TO LEARN LOL ppl just wanna believe they have a special brain, its weird

Aye. I like to describe talent as “having a knack for not giving up while sucking at a thing”. Practice nearly always makes up for any difference in innate ability. Source: a clumsy person who hates heat and fears injuries like few but is actually giting gud at glassblowing.

People might respond to this with "but I was naturally better than others at [a thing they perceive themselves talented in]!" That simply isn't true. The base skills for things we have talent for are developed in childhood as a byproduct of being interested in that early on.

Strong agree. I think the mere concept of talent is toxic. Its just skillz yo. Anybody can learn skills.

The idea of aptitudes is neutral, praising talent as required is toxic. People learn different things at different speeds. Anyone can learn anything and it's ok to point people toward things they have a talent/aptitude for, it's not ok to require it in order to gatekeep a craft.