Culture & Religion — June 11, 2010

The Tyranny of Beauty

Meghan Daum opines on beauty amid a new book on workplace discrimination against the "unattractive" and a lawsuit by a woman claiming she was fired for being too attractive.

bigthinkeditor

Meghan Daum opines on beauty amid a new book on workplace discrimination against the “unattractive” and a lawsuit by a woman claiming she was fired for being too attractive. For Daum, more distracting and potentially bothersome than one with extraordinary looks is one obsessed with those looks. She laments the tyranny of “a beauty that’s only as good as the latest spray-on tan and the last teeth-whitening session…the same brand of beauty that gets shoved down our throats every time we read about celebrities or watch a makeover show on TV, the kind that tells us that being hot is not only crucial but also a full-time job.”

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Neuropsych

25 years since Columbine: We’re closer to decoding mass-shooter psychology

Public mass shooters almost always have worldviews shaped by the "3 Rs": rage, resentment, and revenge.

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Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: “Is there anything wrong with trauma dumping?”

When does "oversharing" become an issue?

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Leadership

Adam Grant on how to identify and develop high-potential leaders

The ability to toggle between abstract and concrete thinking is a key differentiator of high-potential leaders.

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Business

Want true success? Be more philosophical about “good” and “bad” failure.

Bob Dylan gave us the paradoxical gem "there's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all." He had a point.

Starts With A Bang

The idea that matter is mostly empty space is mostly wrong

Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?

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