SLASHERS UNITE!!!!

I’ve got a couple of comments on this:

1. I think that often people who AREN’T Scanners/polymaths/etc. mistake the fact that we have multiple interests for thinking we might not know very much in any one of them. Right? But this is a huge mistake. Obviously there are several different kinds of us, but one reason I’m a scanner is that I have an amazing ability to process a lot of information, fast. (Which leads to boredom, which leads to scannerdom.) When I get obsessed with a subject, I will read everything – EVERYTHING – that I can get my hands on about it. We’re talking several interlibrary loan requests, coming home from the library with a stack of 10 books that’s devoured in a week, eight hour internet reading binges.

So yeah, I’ve been interested in a lot of different things, but I have a pretty deep knowledgebase on any one of my obsessions. My husband (also a scanner) put it really well one time, when I was miffed at what I perceived as someone being patronizing towards me. He goes “You know, I’d never thought about it this way, but I think it would be really easy to be patronizing to you on accident. Because you just know SO MUCH about SO MANY different things.”

(Michael Martine kind of touched on this in his comment over at Mars’s blog – kudos, Michael!)

I think that when people see someone with multiple interests, they assume that that person must only know a tiny tiny bit about each one, and with a lot of scanners, that’s just not true.

2. Being a Scanner is a HUGE thing for me because it helps me see connections that other people miss. Baker talked about that pretty thoroughly in his post, but it’s true & worth repeating – I can draw connections between what works in style and what works in life, for example (which is my post going up tomorrow) that others might have missed. Or justifying the price of shoes and feeling like you have to justify other choices in your life (which was another post I wrote a few weeks ago 😛 ).

We see patterns and repeating problems that others might miss, which means that we can fix or change those patterns while other people are still scratching their head and wondering what the hell is going on. Do you think da Vinci would have been such a great inventor if he wasn’t a painter and scientist, too?

In fact, I’d love to see what an anti-slasher person would say about a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer.

They must suck at all of them, right?! Aaaand you just dissed one of the greatest minds in history!

I think a lot of this comes down to your perfect people, too. If someone is a specialist to the point that they scoff at anyone who wears multiple hats, they’re not my people, and I’m not their’s, and that’s ok.

I would actually hold Seth up as one variety of scanner. And I love your point about society/culture; people tend to assume that specialists always reigned supreme when it’s definitely not the case.

I actually didn’t even read all of Mars’s post to be honest – I read a few comments, but as for the post, I got to the end of the part you quoted & said “All right, not for me!”. But at least it spawned some interesting responses, right? 😉 (And, um, REALLY long comments…)

I am so glad you and others have spoken up. I was a bit frustrated, I mean a LOT, by Mars’ assessment. I cannot pick one thing. That’s been a life long battle, one I am choosing to not fight anymore.

Awesome post, and shares! Go peeps:)

Are you all the ones sitting at the coffee shops pecking away on your lap tops?

Right on!! Like the above commenter, I felt totally betrayed. Hey, I love everything under the sun, and I’m going to be a success in multiple fields. And anyway, like I said in my comment on his site, it is the polymaths that truly change the world.

Super big props to you, Emilie.

I know how hard it is to express your opinion when it clashes with that of someone you consider a friend–I recently had the same problem with an old friend. I just had to ball up.

And I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said. Mars seems like a good enough guy, but to be honest, his post sounded just like more of the “The Question” propaganda we got force-fed back in elementary school.

I really prefer being the way I am. Does that make me ignorant? Does that mean I’m not going to be successful? Pah!

Besides that, I feel like Mars’ post came off as an attack on “slashers.” I found the entire thing to be incredibly offensive.

I know he’s lost a lot of fans by publishing that post.

Maybe you have, too.

But it’s important to stand up for what you believe in. For that, no matter who is “right” here, I salute both of you.

This may be covered in the comments (no time to read them all), but I think the sting against scanners is the list of seemingly unrelated skills all jumbled together. Emilie has talked before about finding an underlying philosophy to tie together what all you’re good at, so as long as you show a relationship between your skills you might not overwhelm or confuse others as much. I hope that makes sense.

I was going through the posts and came across this one, only to realize that I am a Multipotentialite..darn! I wasn’t even aware of this term before. The fact that some years down the road my peers will have lucrative careers, kinda always gave me goosebumps. I was always scared that I am not doing anything good with myself. I have dissed many potentially good careers for myself looking for something more intresting as a career but couldn’t stick to one. Now i feel a little confident that I am not alone. And yes this is not our problem but society’s. But I am always scared as to what i will do for a living when i get old. Folks forgive me for my bad grammar as english is not my 1st language.

I think I would much rather be someone who is actively interested in learning as much about this world as I possibly can and trying as many different things as possible before I die than be someone who is perfectly okay with settling. Some people are okay with doing nothing at all with their lives (I know, there are a lot of them around me all the time, some are friends or family), just getting up every day to do the same thing. Eat, work, watch TV or play video games, complain, do it all over again. I only have one chance to actually experience life. I don’t get to choose one thing this life, then start over with a new one next life (or maybe I do, but I don’t remember any past lives). Those obviously aren’t the only two types of people in the world, but for me, I am happy with my path.

I also want to say how horrible it is to hate on an entire group of people. Just because you do things differently, don’t understand, and/or don’t agree, doesn’t mean you are the right one and we are wrong (and therefore should be beaten down and punished for being who we are). This has been happening all through history, and it’s not okay. Prejudice is prejudice, and in this day and age, it cannot be tolerated.