2021-03-12 One argument is that “labeling young people as “geniuses” is harmful.”
I have certainly seen a number of cases where the label is part of the cause of the mental problems. But on the other hand, it is also an observed fact that it is a minority that does so.
If so, instead of lumping them all together as “harmful,” we should consider when they become harmful and what we can do to reduce the probability of them becoming harmful.
When a person is labeled a genius, the media treats him or her as if he or she were a “strong man. A false image of being a superman, disconnected from reality, is created and happily consumed.
But flesh and blood people have “weakness”. The person with the weakness is the real person, but if the media or the adults around you play with you and you think you are the false image of a “strong person,” you will be torn apart by the gap between reality and the false image.
Added 2022-09-08: Media that consume young geniuses as content don’t care if their target audience is torn apart and heartbroken. Because by then the new “young geniuses” will have arrived and they don’t see the value in keeping the old product healthy.
Some people say that it is necessary to “beat them up so they don’t grow up” in order to prevent such misunderstandings from occurring, but I think it is a little different. This should not be done by an adult, an older person, or a senior person using age-related gradient of authority.
I think “Thrust from below” is a good way to say that your peers, your younger peers, your juniors, are awesome.
It would be better to form a group of people who are good at what they do and are not good at what they do, and who think “who is stronger than me” with each other. A group of weak geniuses.”
relevance - Media that uses up the youngest
This page is auto-translated from /nishio/弱い天才 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.