@Meaningness I read your piece on specialness (and saw you intend to write an expanded version. Hopefully maybe soon?
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Seems important + counter-intuitive :o
Why is it 'specialness is a broken concept' instead of 'everyone is special'?
Can you make your own 'cosmic plan'?
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However, it’s inherently contrastive. There are those who are special, and those who are ordinary. Everyone cannot be Chosen, because then there’s no choosing going on. As the way the stance works in practice, it seems only a small minority can be special.
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In practice, it seems that the claim “everyone is special” is rarely used sincerely. Typically it is patronizing. It is used by people in the “helping professions” who, in fact, see the people they are “helping” as defective.
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Case in point: my first-grade class hatched some chicks, an egg earmarked for each student. When mine was first to hatch, I was like "See, I knew it, I *am* special! Just goes to show you." At some level I knew this was unreasonable, but that felt like quibbling.
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That is a GREAT example!
End of conversation
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Apropos to all this: Emperors, despots, messiahs, and parents all find great utility in their appointment as “chosen ones”.. The concept is flexible enough to bounce off equals/adults and stick to underlings/children in a Pied Piper kind of way. [def not implying it’s perfect]
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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