sunnuntai 17. kesäkuuta 2012

We want to lock you in our house / feed you with our spoon / we want to make you sing along

I've been bumping more and more into "how to care for your introvert" articles, pictures and comics, and they annoy the hell out of me. Let's take just one example.

In the next episode: How to Care for Hamsters

I am very introverted, and on the top of that, I'm the type of introvert who has no problem with isolating themselves from all and any social interaction. But I wouldn't, ever, expect someone to tiptoe around me just our of some misplaced respect for my "needs" as a introverted person. I don't need any of that stuff in the poster. I mean, what does some of them even mean? I know for a fact that if I start talking and no one interrupts me, I will talk till someones ears start bleeding. And then some more, just to get the point across. If I'm doing something wrong, I want to know about it now and not when you have the opportunity to speak to me in private. I don't get hurt very easily. Or embarrassed. But I do get confused if people act differently around me than they would around someone else.
Above everything else, I appreciate honesty in person. I don't see it as honesty if you change the way you behave around me just that you don't (and these are all quotes from care-for-your-introvert-guides) "scare me away" or "exhaust me with your company" We are all people here. I would hate it if people would treat me differently because I'm a girl, or an Atheist, or a person who likes colour grey. This also goes for me being introverted.
Also the thought that as a introvert I need someone to take care of me is total bullshit. If I need some time alone, I take some time alone. I am able to leave your presence if it exhausts me so much, you don't need to do this stuff for me. Chances are that you do it wrong anyway. By trying to respect introverts privacy and need to be alone from time to time you easily isolate them further and prevent them from forming a meaningful bond with you. Actually, the only thing I would put in these "care for your introvert" posters would be: Don't get offended. Yes, there are days when I rather stay at home reading a book than spend time with you. Get over it. I cancel and forget meetings all the time, not because I hate you, but because I can't be bothered. It's nothing personal (and it also makes me kind of an douche. Maybe you should get offended anyway.)

I can see where these guides come from, though. The dichotomy introvert/extrovert has been around from 70's, but the rising of the internet kind of gave introverts a channel to make contacts. At the same time, individualism made us all start to analyze ourselves, finding new ways to define the weird things we do and think. I think that these guides are just misplaced attempts to understand and cherish something that majority of population see different from themselves. And yet, we don't see any "how to care for homosexual" or "how to care for black person", because we can see outright that suggesting that those minorities need someone to take care for them is kind of racist. So, I appreciate the thought but just, don't. Please.

2 kommenttia:

  1. Toisaalta, on näissä kuvissa jotain hyvääkin. Tapa jotenkin ohjeistaa ja antaa joillekin ihmisille vihje siitä, että kaikkia ei huvita olla niin sosiaalisia. En ottaisi noita ohjeita kirjaimellisesti, vaan enemmänkin suuntaviivoina introversion ymmärtämiseen. Muista myös, että kaikki introvertit eivät ole ihan sinun kaltaisiasi Dr. Houseja :D

    Ehkä joku tapaus X, jossa ekstrovertti Matti ja ekstrovertti Maija saavat introvertin lapsen Mauno, tällainen voisi olla ihan näppärä. Lapsien ympäristö, koulut ja tarhat, nyt yleensäkin suosivat vahvasti ekstroverttiyttä ja ulospäinkääntyneisyyttä, ahkerasti viittaavat ja osallistuvat lapset saavat parempia arvosanoja ja niin edespäin. Muakin kannustettiin loputtomiin viittaamaan tunneilla vaikken uskaltanut tai halunnut...

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Toi on kyllä ihan totta. Pointti minkä halusin tehdä olikin lähinnä linjaa että kohtele ihmistä ihmisenä, tapauskohtaisesti, äläkä yritä niputtaa niitä kaikkia vaikka introverteiksi. Monet noista asioista oppii itsekin jos olis vaikka se Mauno jonka kanssa viettäisi paljon aikaa. Noita introvertistahuolehtimissääntöjä noudattamalla kukaan ei edes tulisi tutustuneeksi Maunoparkaan siinä pelossa että se kyllästyy niitten seuraan tai ne tekee jotain väärin.

      Poista