It's all about the paradigm

Daniel_Runyon

Daniel_Runyon

Well-known member
Recently in our culture, the word paradigm has somehow really managed to eek it's way up into group concious awareness. That must mean something. Oddly, www.paradigam.com is an audio company. I think thats the universes way of saying that word is well worth listening to. Lets take a closer look and see if we can tell a little bit about what we are trying to tell ourselves.

I've recently quit my job. I worked at a cingular wireless technical support call center, here in this small rural southern town. They have it here to take advantage of being able to make lower educated, somewhat job desperate low wage earners do things most people would want a little more money for, but it pays slightly more than any other company in the area would pay who are essentially doing the same thing. Carpet Baggers!
Actually...there is one other company in this town that pays a little more...but you have to physicaly bust your ass, and f-that. I mean, if you had a shingle and a suit, and wanted to have to majorly kiss some serious ass for 30 years, you could work in the office. My Dad retired from there after 30 years.

I am 31, wife and son, not college educated outside of a semester of creative writing that I asked the prof to let me audit out of love, and hitched a ride the 20 miles to class every day with one of his students who was skipping all other classes but this one, so I didnt have to hang out the rest of the day to get a ride back! So when I quit my job, with no intention of getting another one...I had to start making my own independent living. I had to do business directly. I was going to have to start getting my own private hustle on.
I began thinking about prefessionalism, as I was going to have to refine myself somewhat in my relations with business types...which I would most certainly be coming into more frequent than usual contact with...got to hustle with the hustlers sometimes to get certain types of wheels to turn. Man, I cant stand pretension. It is one of the most prevalent qualities on human beings...period. And I aint no hippocrit...I'm pretensious too! We all are to some degree, we have to be in this type of world. But we really do need to bring some of the fakeness down several notches, and get our exhalted views of ourselves in check.

I was at my insurance company, adding my wife to my policy, and while there, got a gig building them a website. I started meeting with the guy, and he and I developed a suprisingly deep business relationship. Though were not hang out buddies in the classical sense, when he and I are meeting, which is always at his office (extremely nice historical downtown building he bought and renovated....realllly nice!) we have the most relaxed and open business relation. Very unpretensious! It's just a natural chemistry, and it is quite a pleasure to be able to do business in such an open and unguarded manner, especially whe dealing with such generally awkward times as negotiating price. I think true professionalism should bring to mind being able to really interact without either party having to fear offending the other, or be overly concerned with sublte mannerism details...allow each other to be yourselves and not with-hold your services based on each others appearances and class and so on. To often these days, professionalism is constricted to mean behaving oneself in a semi-rigid way of being, for fear of scaring off business opportunities, or getting fired! Man, did I have to reign myself in at Cingular! But I thrived there by somehow magically hitting the spot that had to be hit to blow up the deathstar.

Oh, man. I forgot to talk about the word paradigm! No I didnt.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

What a killer psot and an interesting read. I'm going to think on this before I post but wanted to let you know I'm digging it. :)
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

Well, I'm not realy sure how the word "paradigm" fits into your post (a model or example of a commonly held belief), but I relate to your post.

Edit: Dense as I am, perhaps you mean the paradigm that "professional" people look and act a certain way.

One of the things that gets me through a meeting with someone with a lot of status and pretension is remembering that it all stems from insecurity.  They try to impress and I just giggle.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

From American Heritage Dictionary:

1. One that serves as a pattern or model.

2. A set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories: the paradigm of an irregular verb.

3. A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.


[Middle English, example, from Late Latin paradgma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknunai, to compare : para-, alongside ; see para-1 + deiknunai, to show; see deik- in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: Paradigm first appeared in English in the 15th century, meaning "an example or pattern," and it still bears this meaning today: Their company is a paradigm of the small high-tech firms that have recently sprung up in this area. For nearly 400 years paradigm has also been applied to the patterns of inflections that are used to sort the verbs, nouns, and other parts of speech of a language into groups that are more easily studied. Since the 1960s, paradigm has been used in science to refer to a theoretical framework, as when Nobel Laureate David Baltimore cited the work of two colleagues that "really established a new paradigm for our understanding of the causation of cancer." Thereafter, researchers in many different fields, including sociology and literary criticism, often saw themselves as working in or trying to break out of paradigms. Applications of the term in other contexts show that it can sometimes be used more loosely to mean "the prevailing view of things." The Usage Panel splits down the middle on these nonscientific uses of paradigm. Fifty-two percent disapprove of the sentence The paradigm governing international competition and competitiveness has shifted dramatically in the last three decades.



From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: par·a·digm
Pronunciation: 'per-&-"dIm, 'pa-r&- also -"dim

1 : EXAMPLE, PATTERN; especially : an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype
2 : an example of a conjugation or declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms
3 : a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated; broadly : a philosophical or theoretical framework of any kind
- par·a·dig·mat·ic /"par-&-dig-'ma-tik/ adjective
- par·a·dig·mat·i·cal·ly /-ti-k(&-)lE/ adverb
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

D.W., it's really all about breaking the paradigm, is it not? And creating a new one that works for you. Anyone who has done this knows the great feeling of relief and excitement. Trick is to not let it go; don't rebuild the Death Star!
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

History shows that paradigms shift all the time. The trick is to know which one, and when.

That being said, f*ck the paradigm and do what you love. You really can't go wrong there.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

[quote author=Jim Brennan link=board=Offtopic;num=1104992106;start=0#6 date=01/06/05 at 21:26:03]History shows that paradigms shift all the time. The trick is to know which one, and when.

That being said, f*ck the paradigm and do what you love. You really can't go wrong there.[/quote]


Well, that'd be awesome advice if...
That's awesome advice.

I'm mainly grateful about the whole thing because it's given us that wonderful commercial where the guy is telling them "You've got to break the para dig um. That was funny and also deeply veiled mass psyche information seeding.

This is a wee bit more complicated than just f the paradigm and do what you love though. Microcosmic paradigms build macrocosmic ones. And the opposite is true too! Yin Yang and all that good jazz, I suppose.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

One person's actions can have a significant impact on the world. If D.W.'s successful transition from rigid-world conformity to ideal-world autonomy inspires one person who reads it to change, then it's very true that the micro affects the macro.

Even if a person cannot/does not break out of the norm, the possibility of a new reality is seeded. The collective subconscious begins to aspire to greater things, hopefully leading to a world where we all pursue our dreams and live more fulfilled lives.

Thanks D.W., for sparking great philosophical conversation and introspection. And congratulations--best wishes for continued success.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

Mostly we live in fear. It is a primary factor in most of the decisions we make. Some of those decisions are barely made on the conscious level. How many times have you heard someone refer to trying an ethnic food as "daring"? It's not daring, it's sustenance. If you don't like it, spit it out and go to Burger King. But as a species we are always wary of what might happen, or what might not happen. We wrap our selves in an illusion of security through routine and conformity. And we all conform to some degree, even the mosr radical of us. Some of thesee elements are good. They make for a barely civilized, and almost safe lifestyle. It's good that we all give in to the societal norm of stopping at a red light for example. We live longer that way.

Of course many of these "norms" should be challenged. If for no other reason than to question both their source and their use. In business, men wear ties. Why? who knows. I am sure there is some historical fashion trend which saddled us with this annoying and uncomfortable accoutrement. It has no real use or logic in current society. Yet we give in because of the expectations of a narrow minded society. The fact is, if you walk into a meeting looking like you just rolled out of bed, you won't really be respected. Unless of course you have a working relationship already. But first impressions are hard to undo.

Is this really a big deal? Yes, and no. Putting on a tie (just as a continuing example) isn't really that big of a deal. What is a big deal is that we are forced to do it, and that as a whole we react the same way towards other people when they aren't appropriate (in our minds) in the way they present themselves to us. The circumstances and uniforms might change, but we continually judge each other based on societal norms. The examples range from the pedestrian to the extreme. But all of us do it. It is a seemingly necessary thing.

Fight it though. Fight your initial reactions. Question yourself about why you feel the way you do about someone or something. Knee-jerk reactions are less about instinct than they are about fear. Fear can be your friend at times, but you should never, ever stop questioning it.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

I propose we change the site name to "DVX Philosophers' Club".

Jim, that's deep. I agree, especially with the 'never stop question it' part.
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

[quote author=Jerry XCheck link=board=Offtopic;num=1104992106;start=0#10 date=01/07/05 at 09:39:04]I propose we change the site name to "DVX Philosophers' Club".

[/quote]

;D

There are some thinkers here that's for sure!
 
Re: It's all about the paradigm

Well said Jim. As Einstien said: the important thing is not to stop questioning.
 
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