Okay, so I’m torqued, ticked, teed, and my O is P’d. I’m going ballistic, nuclear and postal all at the same time which is causing my knickers to get all twisty and the area directly under my collar to get uncomfortably warm. I’m fed up, fired up, riled up, worked up and so up in arms that I belong in a deodorant commercial. I’m in a huff inside a snit enclosed in a tizzy. I’m steamed and amped and at the end of both my rope and my wits resulting in my being bent out of shape. When I cross the border into nearby Wisconsin, I am cheesed.
The reason that I’m throwing things like fits, conniptions, and tantrums is that I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired of being oppressed. That’s right, I’m being oppressed!
For those of you who are unaware, I fall into a segment of the population at large that is discriminated against almost as much as ugly people: I am an introvert.
This societal bane of anti-introvertarionism was again brought to the fore for me this past week as I attended the dreaded and often peculiar student-teacher conference. I have two children who represent opposite ends of the personality spectrum: one is Meyers and the other is Briggs. And even though both possess similar academic abilities, I find it fascinating that Thing 1, the exhilarating one-person dance party, is always “a pleasure to teach” while Thing 2, the even-keeled conversational minimalist, “needs to speak up more in class.” It’s this type of blatant favoritism that leads to oral exams, group projects, and grades for class participation. Just once I’d like to hear a teacher say, “Your child’s gregariousness serves as a distraction and robs valuable class time from those preferring learning to loudmouthed self-aggrandizement” or “Unfortunately, verbosity equates to being neither interesting nor intelligent.” Pardon my Cockney accent, but not bloody likely!
The idea of introversion and extroversion dates to the 1920s and comes from psychologist Carl Jung, who retreated into introversion himself after repeated teasing about the way he pronounced his Js. Introverts are considered the opposite of extroverts though interestingly their words have entirely different origins. ‘Extrovert’ comes from the roots ‘extra’ and ‘overt’ which combine to mean ‘especially obvious,’ while ‘introvert’ comes from the roots ‘intro,’ i.e., ‘to make acquaintance,’ and ‘vert,‘ meaning ‘when 7-11 closes.’
Introverts are obviously under-represented in our society. For example, in our extrovert-centered culture it is considered a complement to be ‘outgoing’ or a ‘people person,’ while staying quiet and reserved often leads to labels like ‘aloof’ or ‘loner’ or ‘billionaire inventor.’ Ever wonder why you don’t see any introverted game-show hosts or cruise directors? And it’s pretty unlikely that we will ever have another introverted president after Nixon’s so-called “cover-up” and “scandal.” Whatever, media. Such discriminatory practices are why I have finally started a new movement that doesn’t involve exercise or my bowels. I have had enough! I’m not going to take it anymore and with your permission, if it’s not too much trouble, I would like to humbly request equal rights for introverts! (Unless anyone else has something to say.)
Why do the blowhards have to get all the good grades? Why do the ball hogs have to get the all starting positions? Why do the people who go out in public have to get all the fame? Why do the guys who actually talk to women have to get all the hot chicks? I mean, whatever happened to the strong, silent type? I may not be very strong, but I’m more than silent enough to make up for it.
Admittedly, our movement is having a little trouble getting off the ground. Meeting attendance has been low, but we have a plan to beef up the agenda which thus far has consisted of an ice breaker followed by adjournment and some alone time to recharge. The door-to-door and telephone campaigns have also been less than successful, due to the propensity of targeted individuals to engage in small talk and the canvassers’ preference for observance over participation. We had the idea to advertise but didn’t really want to draw attention to ourselves. And while we have had some really creative ideas, for some reason word-of-mouth just doesn’t seem to be spreading.
Like other movements, we will be having a march on Washington this summer, the date of which is not set as we decided that it would be more comfortable for our members if everyone just did it individually or with either of their friends. Texting would be okay too, I guess. Either way, we are going to take back our culture! As long as we get enough notice. And maybe some practice first, so…you know…we don’t get embarrassed.
conTIMplating 
Reblogged this on Brett Wade, PhD and commented:
I really like this post.
Dr. Brett
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Hilarious. I am like your first child, “The exhilarating one-person dance party.” I will support your cause! I am married to an introvert-we balance each other out. Love your blog. I actually laughed out loud twice reading this.
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Balance is key, no? My wife and I also strike a good balance: she has the gift of hospitality and I have the gift of sarcasm. In other words, we have people over all the time but they never come back.
Good to ‘see’ you again!
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Ha! My husband, too, has the gift of a very…..let me repeat….very dry sense of humor. When around the house, he’ll wear shirts that say, “Chuck Norris likes his meat so rare, he eats unicorn.” and ” Don’t worry, I’m right behind you….using you as a shield.” I like to call it intelligent wit, right?
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You are hilarious!
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Thanks. And you are…Hollie-arious(?)
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If you say so! I love your posts though. They make me laugh in the darkest of times. Picture it: Monday morning, subway train, cold air con at an ungodly hour. A man with the worst breath imaginable sitting next to me. Has he ever brushed his teeth before? I’m not sure, but at least I’ve got your post to read. It’ll be OK.
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Ha! Glad to be a warming, illuminating mouthwash on your Monday commute. I look forward to seeing that Hong Kong hit on my stats page 🙂
Thanks for being regular.
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Getting graded on class ‘participation’ is a joke. And it’s not even a good one.
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No, but here’s a good one: How many introverts does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but three will show up with new bulbs because nobody let the others know what their plans were.
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Seems like the success of extroverts depends on the support of introverts, so in the spirit of passive-aggressiveness I suggest we simply deny them the spotlight. While it may take more muscles to frown than to smile, it doesn’t take any to just ignore them, right? Thanks for regularly exercising my laughing muscles, Tim!
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In all modesty, my ignoring muscles are huge.
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Touché. But you got yourself a hot chick in spite of your personality bent. How lucky for you! :o)
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True dat!
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Excellent. May I suggest Three Dog Night’s “One Is the Loneliest Number” as the anthem for the movement.
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Ha! That or maybe Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself.”
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Your header should have a warning that readers may spew beverages onto their monitors from sudden laughter! Loved your post from the Introvert Side:-)
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Don’t you know you shouldn’t drink and read?! Thanks, Sherri.
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There’s a book you might like (if you haven’t already read it) called Quiet by Susan Cain. It sounds like you might have read it (she talks about the extrovert culture). I also liked your introvert- light bulb joke.
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I haven’t read it, but I did come across it in my (ahem) “research.” I may just have to put it in the queue.
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Hello Tim,
Just wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for the Liebster award. Details are available here: http://mightwar.com/2013/05/04/first-blog-award-2/
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Wow, mightwar, thank you very much! I am sincerely appreciative of your recognition and am grateful that not only do you read, but you come back for more! 🙂 As I have told other nominators however, I’m not entirely on board with the whole awards thing, either due to my lack of blogger marketing savvy or my stubborn pessimistic jadedness. It is enough for me to know that you are amused enough to return on occasion and even tell others. Thanks again, though, and keep writing.
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Funny, I was just told by my daughter’s teachers they wish she would stand up for herself more. The weird thing is they didn’t give me any reason why she needs to stand up for herself against anybody or anything. Sometimes kids are just easygoing like that.
Looking forward to that march. Well, no not really, I think I have a couch to chill on or something like that.
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I was told that a lot too, both as a child and as an adult. And still, why? Someday we’ll get that march going. Maybe via Skype.
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I am an introvert trying to be an extrovert via text, social media and other ways that have very little with one on one engagement. I’m an extrovert when I’m drunk. Problem is I don’t drink anymore. 🙂
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I haven’t figured out if social media is good for introverts or not. I for one interact better with people when I don’t have to talk to them, which doesn’t make any sense.
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