disscussion The Penalty of Leadership

[Andrewlaros]

 

"In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man's work becomes the standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he will be left severely alone-if he achieve a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass, or to slander you, unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious continue to cry out that it can not be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued anily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the riverbanks to see his boat steam by. THe leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof to that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy- but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as the human passions-envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it avails to nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains-the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live-lives."
originally printed- Jan. 2 1915. The Saturday Evening Post.

written by Theodore Francis MacManus

[Annajast]

 

"Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature" George Bernard Shaw

I squeak loudly! As a Promethean Rationalist I steal fire (knowledge) from Zeus!

 

" The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

 

"mimetic desire" - Wikipedia

 

"Strain Theory" and "deviance" - Wikipedia

[Andrewlaros]

 

I lifted that from you! I washed up on the shore of Merton's Version of Strain Theory in my external world. I'm dancing on the fine line between criminal and innovative behavior. The difference between words are all in one's perspective. The road to hell is paved with good intentions!

[Annajast]

 

According to Wikipedia term "Robert K. Merton":

1)Conformity is the attaining of societal goals by socially accepted means.

2)Innovation is the attaining of those goals in unaccepted ways.

Innovators find and create their own way to go about obtaining what they want, and a majority of the time, these new ways are considered to be socially unaccepted and deviant.

Robert Merton's motivating force:

"I wanted and still want to advance sociological theories of social structure and cultural change that will help us understand how social institutions and the character of life in society come to be as they are."

I think Robert created a masterpiece. My systems building hardware(Spock) and software(Kirk)agree with him. That's a rare novelty 'cause Spock and Kirk normally don't agree on anything!

Merton is the winning horse. He's got it dialed in. I don't bet on horses. I bet on people. I'm always right about other people. I'm never right about me.)

[Andrewlaros]

 

I can attest to this feeling too!

"When you see others getting credit for your work, you feel violated." When you've been burned enough, you learn not to care and chalk it up to the "little world" and the "Penalty of Leadership."

For vicarious mimetic enjoyment and reconstruction of that precise emotion "violated", I highly recommend the movie, "Contact." It's sci-fi meme. Carl Sagan wrote it. Dr. Arroway gets violated by Dr. Drummund in the worst way. Talk about politics in the Ivy leagues. C'est la vie.

I really like "Contact" because I'm a trekkie and part of the plot is a psychosis in disguise. It's reassuring to know I'm not the only crazy person on the planet

[Annajast]

 

Remember Darwin and Wallace: great minds can and do think independently but in parallel.

A real-life example: the famous Tribble of Star Trek, as created by David Gerrold. Robert Heinlein, long before Star Trek in 'The Rolling Stones' came up with a creature, the Martian flat cat, similar to the Tribble in its general morphology and fecundity. As it turned out, both writers were beaten to that punch by Elizabeth Parker Butler's 'Pigs is Pigs,' a 19th Century story of guinea pig proliferation run amuck.

The 'p' word, according to Mr. Gerrold's memoir of his Star Trek experience, did come up, but Heinlein, when given a copy of the Gerrold script, did not consider that the case and himself mentioned the Butler tie-in.

So an idea-pet overbreeding-made the basis for three different tales with three very different outcomes. If you haven't seen 'The Trouble With Tribbles' read 'The Rolling Stones' or read 'Pigs is Pigs,' I won't spoil the experiences for you. It could, for a clever teacher or professor, still in a great search about the boundaries of originality and plagiarism!)

[Andrewlaros]

If we are talking about students plagiarize here is my approach of understanding this topic.  There are several sources of student's fear. One is that students may feel ashamed to fail, especially in terms of family expectations. It should be noted that it is more “honorable” to receive a low grade than to be caught cheating or plagiarizing.

Other students may feel their writing or research skills are so weak, that they can only pass the course if they buy a paper written by someone else. Clear guidelines may help students put their skills in perspective

Finally students may claim that they are unable to state the content of a source as well as the original. In that scenario, instructors may wish to explain that being able to rephrase a concept is important for the assignment as well as for learning overall.

It is recommended for all teachers to inform students in your syllabus that you may any plagiarism checker. I would recommend and personally use the one that detects all types of plagiarism and of course to cite you work. I always use the http://kingcitation.com/asa/

[Annajast]

 

"Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster.” - Unknown
Haha thank you in advance  @Andrewlaroswill definitely use it some day)

why wont you find me on FB: Anna Stien))

[Richard B the EMT]

"Pigs Is Pigs"? Wow, I read that story back when I was still a pre-teen!

 

[scubanurse]

so confused as to what this has to do with EMS or medicine?