I’ve used the phrase “the courage to be ordinary” a few times to get at the essence of the mediocrity ethos. A good example is the Shawshank Redemption. Takes a lot of courage to take on the obvious escape plan of just digging out a tunnel a little bit at a time over years.
Conversation
A lot of admirable ordinary people actually live lives that are uncannily like the Shawshank redemption. They’re hated because they reveal the non-necessity of exceptionalism. They just slowly grind away and get through life, not asking for/feeling entitled to Chosen One status
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