Not sure who the fuck David McCullough Jr. is but the commencement speech he gave at Wellesley high school last week perfectly sums up the problems with the kids today.
They are so used to being coddled and told everything is great that their egos are the size of Godzilla while their talents are the size of a salamander. It’s nice to feel good, but when you’re told everything you do is wonderful, you have a nervous breakdown when reality says otherwise. Watching the liberals try to handle Scott Walker winning the recall in Wisconsin is a good example of this, especially this chick.
Here are the best 10 quotes from McCullough’s speech…
1- “Whether male or female, tall or short, scholar or slacker, spray-tanned prom queen or intergalactic X-Box assassin, each of you is dressed, you’ll notice, exactly the same. And your diploma… but for your name, exactly the same. All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special.”
2- “Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every Tweet. …But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.”
3- “Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That’s 37,000 valedictorians… that’s 37,000 class presidents… 92,000 harmonizing altos… 340,000 swaggering jocks… 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs.”
4- “You see, if everyone is special, then no one is.”
5- “By definition – by definition there can be only one best. You’re it or you’re not.”
6- “The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life, is an achievement, not something that will fall into your lap because you’re a nice person or mommy ordered it from the caterer.”
7- “Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, ah let me point out the illogic of that trendy little expression–because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of your life.”
8- ”Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly.”
9- ”The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special.”
10- “Congratulations. Good luck. Make for yourselves, please, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.”
-GAVIN McINNES
said the high school english teacher.
Is radical.
Someone buy that man a beer.
Uh oh. Time to outsource this to the grownups on the Internet:
“Predictably, the teacher has been fired after a storm of backlash and criticism.
Oh, no, wait. “The reaction to the teacher’s blunt advice was overwhelmingly positive, both from students at the receiving end of the reality check and people who saw it [on the internet.]”
How can there be nearly universal approval for the message that we are not special?
Because the message isn’t that “we” are not special. The message is that “you” are not special. And everyone thinks that you are not as special as you think you are. That’s right. Every single person reacting to this is reacting to the fact that other people are being told that they’re not special. No one is thinking, “I wonder if he means me.”
If this high school teacher had said “we” are not special, instead of “you”, this would be a different story.
But then again, if the high school teacher believed that he himself wasn’t special, would he be giving a commencement speech?”
http://partialobjects.com/2012/06/you-are-not-a-beautiful-or-unique-snowflake/
That Wisconsin video is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while
Gee, if he had ran that by us 10 years ago we may never have suffered the horrors of “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance”?
Too little, too late…
was that sarah silverman?
Too bad you can’t undo a lifetime of coddling in 12 minutes.
I thought sure this was gonna be about the guy who wrote the Brooklyn Bridge book. Imagine my disappointment. Now THAT guy is special.
I like to say, “the kids are alright”, but I am beginning to worry a bit. Granted, in Gavin’s article, who is able to move to NY, and look for a certain job, but I’m worried that kids (who purportedly know what they want to do with their lives) in combination with how dire the economy is are inadvertantly setting their lives back at least 7 years from where they should be with all this nonsense. Hopefully I’m not popping into Five Guys 20 years down the road and there are seven 42 yr. old anthropology majors flipping me burgers. I literally had a new hire of mine say when discussing her future and the job market, “I don’t want to sound this way, but I went to an expensive private school and did really well, I deserve a better opportunity!” She’s now a friend, but takes 4 hours to do anything, struggles with the simplest task, and is visibly shaken when frustrated. In order to move to NYC I took a really, really, really, shitty corporate job that I knew would pay the rent to stay there. 4 years later I could afford to go after what I really wanted. Took another 4 years to get past entry level BS in what I chose to do and am still struggling. But I love it and keep working at it. Now, I’m 34, and I’m in pretty good shape. I don’t hear many stories like this from people in their 20′s these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLhqjOzoyE&feature=player_embedded#! this is another great commencement speech. it’s by the guy from “The Big Short”, not the author, the actual guy who pulled it off.
“The ignorance is willful”