I posted about this earlier but while I have some strong disagreements with the prescriptive conclusion the diagnosis is really 100% correct aeon.co/essays/we-sh... - ThreadSky

aelkus.bsky.social • 2 days ago

I posted about this earlier but while I have some strong disagreements with the prescriptive conclusion the diagnosis is really 100% correct

https://aeon.co/essays/we-should-take-awkwardness-less-personally-and-more-seriously

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aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

"For example, suppose I describe my colleague Rob as ‘awkward at parties’. This is ambiguous: am I saying that he feels awkward at parties, or that he makes me feel awkward at parties? Or both? "

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

Alexandra Plakias is saying that there really is little a priori reason to believe that awkwardness is a property of individuals, and that the most we can say about it really is that it is situational

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

"For example, suppose Rob is in a wheelchair, and I have little experience interacting with wheelchair users. I might feel some uncertainty about how to approach the situation.... Using the term ‘awkward’ risks placing responsibility for my discomfort on to Rob. "

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

I have seen this exact kind of situation play out many times in my life with physically disabled people. They might have a wheelchair, they may -- like one of my cousins -- struggle to walk normally, or they may be (like a few people I've known in DC) military veterans who lost (and replaced)

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

limbs in combat overseas. They tend to trigger the exact same reaction, which is discomfort from other people who lack a social script for interacting with them

robot-bastard.bsky.social•2 days ago

and more so these days when inadvertently insulting someone could have significant personal and professional repercussions

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

and because the other person is behaving abnormally, the disabled person then gets uncomfortable because he or she doesn't know how to resolve the situation. its a chain reaction of awkwardness

alexhsullivan.bsky.social•2 days ago

pabloredux.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yes, I do feel I understand JD Vance better now - it's us, not him. Awkward situation!

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