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What an alarmingly raw exposure of the narcissism that pervades the Valley. The author's conflicted, borderline self-loathing struggle for counter-cultural self
by eldude 11y ago
What an alarmingly raw exposure of the narcissism that pervades the Valley. The author's conflicted, borderline self-loathing struggle for counter-cultural self-awareness amidst the myopic career obsessed pursuit of "achievement" and relevance is quite revealing.
Should she further the "achievement" of her child through cultural conformance and obsession with "achievement" and corresponding status, or is it her who needs to find her own voice, not defined by external validation. She laments how comfortable she is with her status accredited largely to Stanford, and is ambivalent to whether she wants her child to drink from the same source.
This is a "humblebrag" mix of a genuine and slightly insincere search for yet more validation. Children are a symptom and reflection of their parents' values. To acknowledge the limitations or shallowness of a life defined by a pursuit of "achievement" and validation for her child, she must become self-aware and acknowledge the same throughout her own life.
- javajosh 11y ago>Should she further the "achievement" of her child through cultural conformance and obsession with "achievement" and corresponding status, or is it her who needs to find her own voice, not defined by external validation. 'Voice' and 'validation' are inextricably intertwined in a social being. She is finding her own voice within this piece. Indeed, I rather admired her self-awareness and questioning of her own assumption and influence (culpability?) in the problem she was addressing.
- eldude 11y agoWhile typically intertwined, voice and validation are only equivalent if you lack character or integrity, which by definition are voice in the face of opposition. I'm suggesting that the author is struggling with precisely this: whether to hold to alternate values that will make her son happy, or encourage her child to seek the limited happiness founded in dependency on validation through achievement. In other words, she is conflicted about teaching her child anti-individualism or independence.