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Lobby Pass The Popcorn topic #180608

Subject: "The individual cases are all interesting, but cumulatively" This topic is locked.
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stylez dainty
Member since Nov 22nd 2004
6732 posts
Fri May-12-06 01:40 PM

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2. "The individual cases are all interesting, but cumulatively"
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they don't amount to much of a point. For all the talk about our potential to change our lives through thin-slicing, his examples are almost exclusively about people who have a lifetime of experience and study in a certain discipline, and are able to parlay that into remarkable thin-slicing abilities. It makes sense that those people would be able to develop that ability. But I didn't feel like he ever presented a case where the ability wasn't the result of serious study and experience. So, it was kind of a no-duh message to me. He never made the transition to how normal people can apply thin-slicing WITHOUT needing an intense level of knowledge and experience on whatever they are thin-slicing. We already know that people who are experts are better equipped to make quick decisions in their chosen fields.

Also, I found his theory of temporary autism to be pretty ridiculous and thinly supported. It's like he came up with the idea, liked it, and did whatever he could to back his way into a rationale for it. For example, in the case of the police shooting, he talks about how officers saw the victim pulling something out of his pocket and pointing it at them, and then acts as if their focus on this movement over everything else that was going on was somehow INEXPLICABLE, comparing it to an autistic child watching a movie's most dramatic moment, and focusing intently on a clock in the background. Of course that would be your main focus if you were a police officer chasing someone you thought may be a criminal. An autistic response would be to focus on anything BUT the unidentified object being pointed at you. (Note: I think the officers were in the wrong and made a really shitty decision, I just think Gladwell tried, and failed, to use the incident to illustrate a spurious point.)

Anyway, I haven't read The Tipping Point, but I have read a lot of Gladwell's New Yorker work, and he always really makes you think with fascinating theories, but rarely arrives at any useful real-world application of his theories.

For example, and I'll shut-up soon, he wrote about the homeless problem, and in theory his solution was very interesting. Long story short: only a small fraction of a city's homeless are perpetually homeless. These are the ones that are the most expensive burden, in terms of medical and psychological care. So instead of focusing money to feed and house the thousands who will most likely only be homeless for 48 hours at most, we should just pay for apartments and round-the-clock nurse care for the most hopeless cases, because from an economic stand point, this makes the most sense. And it's fascinating to think about. But if you actually try to think about applying this theory to reality, it becomes obvious that it cannot work, for different ethical and logistical reasons. So you have some great food for thought, but that's about it.

Anyway, I honestly look forward to reading more of Gladwell's work, but find its best to use his intriguing case studies on perplexing problems and issues as a springboard for my own thoughts and conclusions, because unfortunately, I don't usually get much out of his.

----
I check for: Serengeti, Zeroh, Open Mike Eagle, Jeremiah Jae, Moka Only.

  

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Okaybooks - Discuss Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. [View all] , B, Fri May-12-06 09:18 AM
 
Subject Author Message Date ID
I'm going to have to read it, I read The Tipping Point
May 12th 2006
1
that's more or less what I expected from Blink
May 12th 2006
4
Great post
May 12th 2006
6
      Before I saw him speak, I was less inclined to give him a pass
May 12th 2006
7
RE: The individual cases are all interesting, but cumulatively
May 17th 2006
9
while I know it's politically very unpalatable
May 17th 2006
11
RE: while I know it's politically very unpalatable
May 18th 2006
12
      well he does recognize that in the article
May 18th 2006
13
           political will and cost/benefit analysis
May 18th 2006
15
                Right, But
May 18th 2006
16
                     yes, of course
May 18th 2006
21
                          But if it was politically easy
May 18th 2006
22
                               the better article
May 18th 2006
24
                                    agreed
May 19th 2006
29
                                         I know, sigh, I hate those.
May 19th 2006
30
                                              hahahahaha
May 19th 2006
31
                                                   You ARE me.
May 19th 2006
32
                                                        I didn't have the subscription yet at that point
May 20th 2006
34
thanks for focusing my unease with this book
May 19th 2006
33
Great Book
May 12th 2006
3
RE: Okaybooks - Discuss Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.
May 12th 2006
5
RE: Okaybooks - Discuss Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.
May 12th 2006
8
i couldn't decide what his conclusion was....
May 17th 2006
10
agreed
May 18th 2006
14
his conclusion is that, since we all make these kind of decisions
May 20th 2006
35
That nigga ugly.
May 18th 2006
17
very interesting reading
May 18th 2006
18
Wordman says...
May 18th 2006
19
Best promotion for Kenna's album I've ever seen
May 18th 2006
20
yeah, that really made me happy
May 18th 2006
23
come on.
May 18th 2006
25
I got it from the library
May 18th 2006
26
      good thinking.
May 18th 2006
27
**** Somewhere I was expecting // Book Club Paperback****
May 19th 2006
28
can we get a collection of all his New Yorker essays?
May 22nd 2006
36
yes
May 22nd 2006
37
      This is why you're awesome
May 22nd 2006
38
           oh honey
May 22nd 2006
39
better late than neva
Jun 01st 2006
40
how are books chosen?
Jun 01st 2006
41
      At this point...
Jun 01st 2006
42
           welllllll
Jun 01st 2006
43

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