3 Interesting Ideas to Spark Smart Conversations
A dangerous ice-cream cake, elegant lists, and big regrets
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I come across fascinating facts while researching for my stories, or just wandering around Medium and the wider internet.
Here’s 3 of them:
The Austin Li Paradox
Information censoring and policing is an important subject for writers and creators.
Imagine trying to negotiate the minefield of banned topics in China, especially when — like many young Chinese — you don’t even know about the history you’re supposed to be avoiding.
Clive Thompson, a fantastic writer to follow here on Medium, recently wrote about a Chinese influencer who disappeared from public life when he referenced Tiananmen Square (or more likely, just thought a tank ice-cream cake looked cool).
“Some of Li’s younger fans, including Little Tiger, were puzzled by his disappearance. Many of them were unaware of the Tiananmen history — a taboo topic banned from books, TV, and the internet in China. For them, it was not obvious why the ice cream cake could cause offense.
As curious fans searched for an answer, some wrote on social media that they had learned about the history for the first time.”
Austin has now returned and is creating again.
But the paradox Thompson discusses — “a generation of young people who can sort of blunder into accidentally and unknowingly referring to [forbidden topics]” is an interesting idea to think about.
Historical Listicles
James Vincent published a fascinating essay on Lithub about one of the most criticized writing styles — the love-it-or-hate-it listicle.
I used to hate listicles too, but now I think of them quite fondly, like the cute, quirky cousin who is sometimes annoying but often has a useful fact or two to share.
Vincent’s article fills us in on the history of number, which I remember from the BBC documentary Story of One (if you haven’t seen it — why not?!) and then moves on to early documents.
Which were — you guessed it — lists.
Lists can be elegant, intelligent, creative.
As (French philosopher) Foucault says: “there is nothing more tentative, nothing more empirical (superficially, at least) than the process of establishing an order among things; nothing that demands a sharper eye or a surer, better-articulated language.”
Educational Regrets
I do and don’t regret my choice of University degree.
I have a degree in education and a postgrad degree in Health Sciences. Sometimes I wish I’d gone down a different career path sooner (I started as a teacher and hated it), but most of what I learned at University has been incredibly helpful in real life — especially in parenting my kids.
Apparently, though, a lot of people with arts degrees aren’t happy about their choice at all.
44% of all job seekers with college degrees regret their field of study.
Journalism, sociology, communications and education all topped the list of most-regretted college majors. — CNBC
To me, all learning is valuable. But is the huge debt worth it? That’s a hard one. I’m still paying mine off decades later.
My kids are almost university age, so this discussion is very relevant for our family right now.
Do you regret your degree or lack of one?
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