the King's Speech

[eightiespoof]

I saw The King's Speech last night and liked it a great deal. I have thought a lot today about the deterioration of modern culture and our abilities to be conversational, face to face compassionate, direct, well-spoken, and PRESENT to one another. Perhaps it is because I hang out with 20-something hipsters living in the Midwest, but I feel that

Comments

[bobbarker]

6 years ago I was at my lowest point personally and professionally. I made a concerted effort to turn that around and reach out to other people. I got into cosplay (which in hindsight wasn’t the best of places to try to reconnect with people), but it led to other places that I do feel good about. Human interaction was a skill I had been good at but I let it fall fallow for too long. But you get back into things, keep at it and learn from your mistakes (I made many) and things got better. They didn’t work out in one year, they didn’t work out in two years, but they did work out. I am very happy with my life and the people I now have in it

[eightiespoof]

Thanks!

I do fine socially and go out a lot, I just would like to learn social elegance and fearlessness grounded in good will and confidence, rather than this gross shark-like need to network that plagues so many 20-somethings

I've seen a few off your list, but great writing and great stories abound. Thanks for the suggestions.

[singingraisin]

That "shark-like need to network" may largely have to do with your crowd. It's one that struck me with the actors/models/artists out here more than anyone else I've come across. The people I know with absolutely steady paychecks seem a little less concerned, and don't spend as much time having to make and maintain dozens and dozens of contacts. Ironically, a lot of those people would probably still flourish if they were limited to face-to-face interaction, but since so much more networking gets done online, I think they've had to rewire a great deal of charisma to work in that setting.

But I think a lot of it is just laziness, and I know I'm guilty of it. Transferring a lot of my interactions to the internet has allowed me to be much more selective about who I deal with, and I don't need to waste so much effort dealing with people I don't like or don't wish to be around. I am trying to get better about such things, and thank goodness I have a work environment and am everyday surrounded by people I didn't hand-pick myself.