Further to that last post (one of my occasional Gosh, this country freaks me out sometimes ones), I feel I should mention this recent article (another recommendation from my indefatigable truffle-hound of the Internet, JES) about a study by social psychology researchers from the University of British Columbia which highlights the fact that most experimental data in their discipline is potentially rather flawed by the fact that it focuses solely on Western Europe and North America (the great majority of such data, indeed, being derived from studies carried out on students in US college towns). Statistically, they say, it's us 'Westerners' who are "unusual" - compared to the majority of the world's population living in less 'developed' societies.
This ought not to be a particularly revelatory observation (I was - surprise, surprise! - rather sceptical as to the value of the study), but this team have garnered themselves some publicity by coming up with an amusing and catchy acronym to denote the narrow parameters of this typical constituency of experimental subjects - WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic).
Do they mean us??
Well, what the hell - I'm WEIRD and I'm PROUD.
I'd much rather be WEIRD than CHINESE (Corrupt, Hierarchical, Illogical, Nepotistic, Esoteric, Superstitious, Evasive).
4 comments:
I love these acronyms. Do you mind if I repeat them in OMF—with acknowledgements of course?
I agree with Tony. The CHINESE one must've been fun to come up with!
(And I myself will take "truffle-hound of the Internet" over "Web pimp" any day, thank you. Ha.)
Please feel free to do whatever you will with my little fripperies, Tony. I am always delighted to have tickled your funnybone. However, I am slightly troubled that it should be one of the most curmudgeonly and un-PC of my recent posts that so takes your fancy.
And I had rather been hoping that you might take up the challenge I issued in this post on Philip Larkin on Sunday (perhaps you missed this one?).
JES, the 'Chinese' acronym was the work of a moment. I could probably have come up with three or four different ones. I rather feel now that 'indifferent' and 'neurotic' should have made the cut. And it was only with some difficulty that I restrained myself from deploying the classic Confusin'/Confucian pun.
I didn't do PROUD.
Provocative, Rebarbative, Overconfident, Unashamed, Defiant?
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