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Well that's sort of the idea of stereotype threat, in that it can warp your perceptions of not just other people, but also yourself, and that the self-doubt wil

Well that's sort of the idea of stereotype threat, in that it can warp your perceptions of not just other people, but also yourself, and that the self-doubt will cause you to do worse or drop out in the long run. I recall we had a comment exchange awhile ago about optimism/pessimism in the parable of The Two Travelers and the Farmer. In this case both the parent commenter and I may have had the exact same score in terms of seconds to an answer, but we both perceived the significance very differently. I also shared the idea that "it's easier to change ourselves than it is to change the world". I think this might be an example of where that could be applied. (Of course easy for me to say, I haven't lived my life with subtle social cues that told me not to be good at math or spatial reasoning, but there are other areas in life where I get to apply the same lessons).

Mz 9y ago
I have spent a lot of years working on changing myself. My default preference is to focus first on what I have the most immediate control over. A) I think it is debatable whether or not it is easier than changing the world. B) For things like sexism (racism, etc), there comes a point past which the world needs to change if your life is to have any hope of actually improving.
- chillacy 9y ago
  > I think it is debatable whether or not it is easier than changing the world. What if the inverse was true and changing the world was easy, and changing yourself was hard? If somehow you managed to change the world and not change yourself, then the world will be entirely fine, but you yourself will still suffer from the same perceptions as before (this is entirely possible, I've seen many a white male strongly believe that the world is prejudiced against them, and I recall some stats showing an increasing number who believe similarly in polling). In that case, the world is relatively good to them, but the mind creates its own interpretation of reality. Unless you believe people are un-changable, and changing the world means raising the next generation right and forgetting ours. Anyways, I'm not advocating to forget about activism, just saying I recommend looking inwards first before helping others. Like on airplane safety directions. And that's not a comment directed at you specifically, just a general observation to those looking outwards before looking in (it sound like you've done your share of introspection).

Mz 9y ago

I have spent a lot of years working on changing myself. My default preference is to focus first on what I have the most immediate control over. A) I think it is debatable whether or not it is easier than changing the world. B) For things like sexism (racism, etc), there comes a point past which the world needs to change if your life is to have any hope of actually improving.

chillacy 9y ago
> I think it is debatable whether or not it is easier than changing the world. What if the inverse was true and changing the world was easy, and changing yourself was hard? If somehow you managed to change the world and not change yourself, then the world will be entirely fine, but you yourself will still suffer from the same perceptions as before (this is entirely possible, I've seen many a white male strongly believe that the world is prejudiced against them, and I recall some stats showing an increasing number who believe similarly in polling). In that case, the world is relatively good to them, but the mind creates its own interpretation of reality. Unless you believe people are un-changable, and changing the world means raising the next generation right and forgetting ours. Anyways, I'm not advocating to forget about activism, just saying I recommend looking inwards first before helping others. Like on airplane safety directions. And that's not a comment directed at you specifically, just a general observation to those looking outwards before looking in (it sound like you've done your share of introspection).