Presumptions and Assumptions
Hi and Welcome to the A & J PEI Treasures E Jean Simpson Author Blog Post and Podcast. I’m your host, Jean coming to you from the beautiful Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada!! The blog post and podcast is an opinion piece and only reflects this author’s opinion and not that of any other entity. I hold no designations in politics, economics or medicine. I am retired from the mental health field. I am a humanitarian and speak from that viewpoint only. Whether you agree with me or not, at least I hope it makes you think. This week I explore the idea of jealousy and anger and how it is holding back civilization. If you want to find out more, then stay tuned…!
This week, I saw a young musician put out a demo with his band. Nothing is really all that new or interesting about that. I mean people do it all the time. People either like it or they don’t like it. That’s not a problem either. Some people make it and some people don’t. What was a problem is that some people were putting it down because his father was a famous rocker. This makes little to no sense to me. People seem to make the assumption that they will be riding on the coat tails of their parents. The thing is that not every child of someone famous stays in the limelight. Many leave. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharri... and https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainme... talk about some of these situations. So, whether or not your parent is in the limelight, does not determine success or even staying in the celebrity world. Of course in the celebrity world, there are people who are simply discovered and become celebrities… https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharri.... Not all celebrities are born into celebrity families and a great many of the greats also started out from obscurity.
This brings me to the topic of jealousy and anger. There seems a lot of either one or the other going around. I highly recommend learning to deal with it so you can grow as a person. There is nothing to be gained by trying to crush someone trying to break into any area. Whether it is music, acting, or any profession for that matter, it does no good to put down others. It doesn’t make one any better a person nor does it make the situation any better for anyone. It just shows that you have very little class and a lot of growing up to do. Anger getting the best of people seems to be a thing nowadays. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/ontario-... talks about a grown man failing a driver’s test in Ontario, Canada and then nearly killing people. What was gained? Well, he’s suspended from driving and it made the news. This does not seem a good way to make the news. It does make a good reason to learn to deal with your anger. He is quite lucky that no one was badly injured. It garnered him suspension of license and impounding of his vehicle. Now, when it comes to failing driver’s tests, I did. I have perceptual problems so driving did not come easy to me. I can attest to the fact that you are a bit disappointed. Even more especially disappointed if it was a rookie mistake. However, going out and nearly killing people did not occur to me to be a practical solution. Go back to the drawing board and start over again did until I could pass it.
When did we become a society so full of jealousy that one would try to crush another person based on their family? Why would we treat them in a way that was negative trying to start their own career? They are not their family. Do they have money? Probably. Will that money make it easier for them to be able to do better videos and better demos? Again, probably. It still doesn’t ensure that they will make it in an industry where it appears that even the public will try to eat their fledglings. People with money will always have an advantage. It does not mean that their work is any less deserving of acknowledgement. If someone with talent and drive comes along, they will become the next big thing. That is one of the problems with jealousy and talent. If you do not acknowledge people for their talents, if you do not understand the nature of the business, if you drive young people away from it, you will potentially keep people from earning their own place in the business. Is that the type of people that we want to be in the world? Is this how we want to move forward?
If every time we are disappointed, we do damage, we harm or kill someone because we’re angry and disappointed, there will be a lot of full jails. There will be a lot of funerals. It is never right to harm another. Nor is it right to show such extremes in jealousy or anger. I like the definition of jealousy. “Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jealousy This is different from prejudice, but seems to somewhat overlap. Let’s also explore one of the definitions of prejudice “an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti.... So, sometimes jealousy can result in prejudice. This can translate into bias. A lot of problems in the world seem based on fear and lack of knowledge. We assume things that might or might not be accurate for a given group. One of those faulty assumptions is that some make is that someone whose parents were celebrities results in their making it on the coat tails of the parents. Money might help, but it can’t buy talent. Those who try tend not to make it very far. Many children of celebrities do not stay in the celebrity life. Some do. It is no easier than any other profession.
There is a faulty assumption that someone whose parents were celebrities or had one parent who is a celebrity will make it simply because they are related to the celebrity. It does give them a leg up, but it does not ensure success. What generally makes for success is having talent and drive to succeed. Even then, it is not a guarantee. I have often said that it doesn’t matter how you get the job. What matters is how you keep the job. Many jobs are gotten by knowing someone in the company. Why would this be any different for entertainment? One of my jobs, I got because I had worked with the woman who was running the accounting. I didn’t take advantage of that fact and worked every bit as hard as though I was an unknown. I have always done my best at the job. I worked just as hard at that job as I did at any other job. Sadly, due to environmental allergies, I was unable to stay, but while there, I was not given any complaints about my performance on my work.
There is good news, there are things you can do to help deal with jealousy. https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifest... suggests some ideas. There are also lots of anger management ideas out there too https://www.apa.org/topics/anger/control and this article gives some ideas. The beauty of this is that most of these can work for you and also help deal with other issues in your daily life. It may help you sort out whether it is a bias or whether there are true concerns. If someone has done harm, then there is a tendency to be concerned. This would be normal. If you are concerned about someone doing better than yourself, then you need to examine why this matters. It won’t change the status of where you are in life. It may just turn some people away from you.
Remember when someone takes on a job, whether or not you like their family or that they have family in the profession or did, makes no difference. One of my ancestors was a seamstress, should I therefore be put down for doing some sewing for myself. I will never be Coco Chanel. I won’t try to be. Just as this young man is not trying to be his father, he is trying to develop his own style. If the person has talent they will rise, if they don’t, they will not. It really is as simple as that. As Stephen Fry is quoted with saying, “I will defend the absolute value of Mozart over Miley Cyrus, of course I will, but we should be wary of false dichotomies. You do not have to choose between one or the other. You can have both. The human cultural jungle should be as varied and plural as the Amazonian rainforest. We are all richer for biodiversity. We may decide that a puma is worth more to us than a caterpillar, but surely we can agree that the habitat is all the better for being able to sustain each.” Whether you agree with me or not, I hope I made you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
This week, I saw a young musician put out a demo with his band. Nothing is really all that new or interesting about that. I mean people do it all the time. People either like it or they don’t like it. That’s not a problem either. Some people make it and some people don’t. What was a problem is that some people were putting it down because his father was a famous rocker. This makes little to no sense to me. People seem to make the assumption that they will be riding on the coat tails of their parents. The thing is that not every child of someone famous stays in the limelight. Many leave. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharri... and https://www.beliefnet.com/entertainme... talk about some of these situations. So, whether or not your parent is in the limelight, does not determine success or even staying in the celebrity world. Of course in the celebrity world, there are people who are simply discovered and become celebrities… https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenharri.... Not all celebrities are born into celebrity families and a great many of the greats also started out from obscurity.
This brings me to the topic of jealousy and anger. There seems a lot of either one or the other going around. I highly recommend learning to deal with it so you can grow as a person. There is nothing to be gained by trying to crush someone trying to break into any area. Whether it is music, acting, or any profession for that matter, it does no good to put down others. It doesn’t make one any better a person nor does it make the situation any better for anyone. It just shows that you have very little class and a lot of growing up to do. Anger getting the best of people seems to be a thing nowadays. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/ontario-... talks about a grown man failing a driver’s test in Ontario, Canada and then nearly killing people. What was gained? Well, he’s suspended from driving and it made the news. This does not seem a good way to make the news. It does make a good reason to learn to deal with your anger. He is quite lucky that no one was badly injured. It garnered him suspension of license and impounding of his vehicle. Now, when it comes to failing driver’s tests, I did. I have perceptual problems so driving did not come easy to me. I can attest to the fact that you are a bit disappointed. Even more especially disappointed if it was a rookie mistake. However, going out and nearly killing people did not occur to me to be a practical solution. Go back to the drawing board and start over again did until I could pass it.
When did we become a society so full of jealousy that one would try to crush another person based on their family? Why would we treat them in a way that was negative trying to start their own career? They are not their family. Do they have money? Probably. Will that money make it easier for them to be able to do better videos and better demos? Again, probably. It still doesn’t ensure that they will make it in an industry where it appears that even the public will try to eat their fledglings. People with money will always have an advantage. It does not mean that their work is any less deserving of acknowledgement. If someone with talent and drive comes along, they will become the next big thing. That is one of the problems with jealousy and talent. If you do not acknowledge people for their talents, if you do not understand the nature of the business, if you drive young people away from it, you will potentially keep people from earning their own place in the business. Is that the type of people that we want to be in the world? Is this how we want to move forward?
If every time we are disappointed, we do damage, we harm or kill someone because we’re angry and disappointed, there will be a lot of full jails. There will be a lot of funerals. It is never right to harm another. Nor is it right to show such extremes in jealousy or anger. I like the definition of jealousy. “Jealousy generally refers to the thoughts or feelings of insecurity, fear, and concern over a relative lack of possessions or safety.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jealousy This is different from prejudice, but seems to somewhat overlap. Let’s also explore one of the definitions of prejudice “an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti.... So, sometimes jealousy can result in prejudice. This can translate into bias. A lot of problems in the world seem based on fear and lack of knowledge. We assume things that might or might not be accurate for a given group. One of those faulty assumptions is that some make is that someone whose parents were celebrities results in their making it on the coat tails of the parents. Money might help, but it can’t buy talent. Those who try tend not to make it very far. Many children of celebrities do not stay in the celebrity life. Some do. It is no easier than any other profession.
There is a faulty assumption that someone whose parents were celebrities or had one parent who is a celebrity will make it simply because they are related to the celebrity. It does give them a leg up, but it does not ensure success. What generally makes for success is having talent and drive to succeed. Even then, it is not a guarantee. I have often said that it doesn’t matter how you get the job. What matters is how you keep the job. Many jobs are gotten by knowing someone in the company. Why would this be any different for entertainment? One of my jobs, I got because I had worked with the woman who was running the accounting. I didn’t take advantage of that fact and worked every bit as hard as though I was an unknown. I have always done my best at the job. I worked just as hard at that job as I did at any other job. Sadly, due to environmental allergies, I was unable to stay, but while there, I was not given any complaints about my performance on my work.
There is good news, there are things you can do to help deal with jealousy. https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifest... suggests some ideas. There are also lots of anger management ideas out there too https://www.apa.org/topics/anger/control and this article gives some ideas. The beauty of this is that most of these can work for you and also help deal with other issues in your daily life. It may help you sort out whether it is a bias or whether there are true concerns. If someone has done harm, then there is a tendency to be concerned. This would be normal. If you are concerned about someone doing better than yourself, then you need to examine why this matters. It won’t change the status of where you are in life. It may just turn some people away from you.
Remember when someone takes on a job, whether or not you like their family or that they have family in the profession or did, makes no difference. One of my ancestors was a seamstress, should I therefore be put down for doing some sewing for myself. I will never be Coco Chanel. I won’t try to be. Just as this young man is not trying to be his father, he is trying to develop his own style. If the person has talent they will rise, if they don’t, they will not. It really is as simple as that. As Stephen Fry is quoted with saying, “I will defend the absolute value of Mozart over Miley Cyrus, of course I will, but we should be wary of false dichotomies. You do not have to choose between one or the other. You can have both. The human cultural jungle should be as varied and plural as the Amazonian rainforest. We are all richer for biodiversity. We may decide that a puma is worth more to us than a caterpillar, but surely we can agree that the habitat is all the better for being able to sustain each.” Whether you agree with me or not, I hope I made you think. Thanks for listening to my podcast and/or reading my blog post and thanks for your interest in A & J PEI Treasures! Keep watching because we’re always working on something. Thank you!
The podcast that matches this blog post can be found on Anchor FM: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh...
Blog Posts are available on
WordPress: https://aandjpeitreasures.wordpress.com/ and
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Podcast are available on:
Anchor FM in a variety of formats: https://anchor.fm/a--j-pei-treasures
iHeart Radio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-e-...
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/e-... name a few
All my e-books can be found on:
Smashwords (my Affiliate link): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
You can also find us on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EJS08026749
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5zp...
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/ej2466
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/e-j-s-151a...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewAandJP...
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A & J PEI Treasures/E Jean Simpson, BEd, BA, MA
A & J PEI Treasures is located on Prince Edward Island, Canada. We are a husband and wife team and our companion animals. There are a number of things that drew us to the Island…one of which was the n
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