Julia, Week 10 - You Can't Just Ask For It
“People hate helping others, but love to correct them.”
A profound piece of advice I randomly encountered on the internet, possibly providing the best life-hack I’ve ever learned.
If you are stuck on a certain task and want genuine advice, you simply cannot ask the question and expect an answer. You will have to answer your own question, but in an entirely incorrect way. So remotely wrong to the point where these people will have no choice but to show off how much more control and knowledge they have over you, all out of genuine shock for your cluelessness.
There, you’ll have your answer, crystal clear.
Unfortunately, that is the reality we are forced to endure. There will be times where we end up being the know-it-all, as there will be times where we become the questioning.
And in more times than we think, we have no choice but to appear powerless to others in order for things to go the way we want them to. Because well, we can’t just ask for advice or power and hope for a generous person to lend it all to us. That’s too obvious.
Think about the Barbie movie, for instance.
One of the main purposes of the Barbie movie was to reflect on the many flaws of today’s patriarchy. For a hot minute, the female-dominated Barbieland utopia was completely under the control of the Ken’s. This caused such disparity among the Barbies that they had to go through desperate lengths to retrieve their power.
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And how did they go about this?
Well, the Barbies had to start off by acting as the “dumb female” stereotype in order to inflate all the Kens’ egos, (the Barbies would ask obvious questions and do tasks incorrectly, to which the Kens would say “Let us show you!”). They had no choice but to do this in order for all of the Barbie’s to leave their “patriarchy victim” mindset that the Kens enforced. This retrieved power would then be used against the Kens, manipulating them into a rivalry against themselves.
While the Barbie movie mostly takes place in a fictional setting, this—believe it or not—happens in the real world multiple times, too. And you don’t even have to be a girl to relate to this movie, either.
Anyone can participate in the “act clueless” strategy. Whether we use this as a way to get an answer for a math problem, or to manipulate an entire group’s egos, we have to simply face the fact that we can’t just ask for the answer
We can’t just ask for more knowledge.
We can’t just ask for power.
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteYour post this week was incredibly enlightening and entertaining. It was interesting to read and evaluate your opinion on the way we can truly acquire knowledge. You referenced the movie "Barbie" and mentioned how the actors in this film acted "dumb" in order to get what they desired. With this reversed psychological method you explained how this is and is found to be the easiest way to receive help from others when you need it, I do agree with you on the fact that behaving this way may reach an individual's goal for assistance quicker than others, especially when the question is addressed to people who delight in boastful actions. I loved your take on power and how we simply "can't ask for it" and that there are actually far more heightened and methodical strategies to acquiring what you want. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Julia! I enjoyed reading your blog about the nature of receiving feedback and help in society today. I specifically found it interesting how you used the Barbie movie as an example for your argument in the blog. Although I have not watched the Barbie movie, I do agree with your point on how many insecure individuals/self proclaimed experts are always happy to dish “advice”--or mean comments in the name of help. While reading your blog I connected to whenever I am scrolling through social media and notice an merging hobbyist, academic, or student attempting a new field, and of course very green, many people will go out of their way to pick every incorrect or wrong action the person made. Like you stated, it comes from insecurity and the person’s ego as I’ll always notice secure, but experienced, individuals are the most encouraging compared to the fearful and egotistical mean commenters. Another connection I made while reading your blog was a Chinese proverb which states, “Beware the quiet man. For while others speak, he watches. And while others act, he plans. And when they finally rest … he strikes.” I find there is a special gift to having humility and being able to learn from others as it can never hurt to have more knowledge! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really intriguing topic that I haven't put much thought towards before, but makes a lot of sense and is somewhat enlightening. I liked your usage of bold and italics to influence how certain lines are read, making them more impactful, and the piece more interesting overall.
ReplyDeleteNow that you have brought it to my attention, I can definitely agree with the sentiment that many people have quite the superiority complex when it comes to helping people. As in the example given, you can take advantage of that superiority complex, feeding it so that the person ends up helping you—albeit in what will likely be a condescending and patronizing way. I think that it's quite unfortunate that people have to resort to this kind of behavior; obviously, in an ideal world, more people would be willing to help each other out of the goodness of their hearts. I can't say that I've personally used this strategy before, although I can think of several situations where I could have. Perhaps I'll keep it in the back of my mind for future use.
Hello Julia,
ReplyDeleteAt first I was a little confused about the claim you were proposing, however as I read your blog I understood the complexities of your "life-hack." I like how you used the example of the recent Barbie movie to convey your ideas about gaining power using the "'act clueless'" strategy, as it allows for a better understanding of this strategy. I also admire your rhetorical choice in font alteration to signify texts in your intended manner. One thing I would do to enhance the quality of your blog would be to expand more on what a person should do when they need advice, like you did before introducing the parallelism in Barbie and your ideas; this would allow your audience to have a more enriching experience from interpreting your blog as it would give them implementable knowledge. My favorite part about your entire blog was the introduction of it--with the quote-- because it summed up your entire blog, while sparking curiosity and intrigue in the audience about it and how your writing relates to it. Overall, I thought your blog was well-written because of the skillful parallelism used to convey your opinions and stylistic rhetorical choices, but also for its unraveling of a social concept that often goes unnoticed or is not acknowledged enough.