Тонкое искусство пофигизма
Chapter 3
Extraordinaryathletesareoftenshallowandasdumbasalobotomizedrock.Manycelebritiesareprobablyjustascluelessaboutlifeasthepeoplewhogawkatthemandfollowtheireverymove.
We’reall,forthemostpart,prettyaveragepeople.Butit’stheextremesthatgetallofthepublicity.Wekindofknowthisalready,butwerarelythinkand/ortalkaboutit,andwecertainlyneverdiscusswhythiscouldbeaproblem.
HavingtheInternet,Google,Facebook,YouTube,andaccesstofivehundred–pluschannelsoftelevisionisamazing.Butourattentionislimited.There’snowaywecanprocessthetidalwavesofinformationflowingpastusconstantly.Therefore,theonlyzeroesandonesthatbreakthroughandcatchourattentionarethetrulyexceptionalpiecesofinformation—thoseinthe99.999thpercentile.
Allday,everyday,wearefloodedwiththetrulyextraordinary.Thebestofthebest.Theworstoftheworst.Thegreatestphysicalfeats.Thefunniestjokes.Themostupsettingnews.Thescariestthreats.Nonstop.
Ourlivestodayarefilledwithinformationfromtheextremesofthebellcurveofhumanexperience,becauseinthemediabusinessthat’swhatgetseyeballs,andeyeballsbringdollars.That’sthebottomline.Yetthevastmajorityofliferesidesinthehumdrummiddle.Thevastmajorityoflifeisunextraordinary,indeedquiteaverage.
Thisfloodofextremeinformationhasconditionedustobelievethatexceptionalismisthenewnormal.
