Susan Cain, informational speaker on the subject of introversion, tells us that we are born into a culture where society tends to favor the man of action over the man of contemplation. Society is one large, indirect battle between these two mindsets. Both have its perks, although introversion tends to be looked down upon. It is told to us that the most normal person would be considered an extrovert; that they have the ideal persona. For the approximately 33% to 50% of society who would consider themselves to be introverts, they are left feeling like outcasts.
To clarify, introversion isn't necessarily the act of shyness or fear of humiliation. It is instead the idea that certain people think the best or feel at their best when they are alone. Extroverts, however, are the complete opposite. They tend to feed off of being around others and the contrasting opinions of others.
Having to live in a culture of personality and individuality is not welcoming to an introvert. For those who like to organize their thoughts and ruminate about the world around them, they are being forced out of their comfort zone. This causes introverts to pretend to be what they are not.
Some of the most creative people in history were once introverts. To name a few; Albert Einstein; Charles Darwin; J.K Rowling; Mahatma Ghandi; Eleanor Roosevelt; Dr. Seuss; Mother Teresa. While extroverts like to speak their minds and often say whatever they think of, introverts give themselves time to gather their thoughts before, if even, speaking out to everyone else. Susan Cain stresses that this is completely normal but sometimes it is necessary for an introvert to open up. The world needs the ideas of an introvert.
Cain makes an interesting point in the middle of her speech. It happens more often than not that groups tend to follow the opinion of the most dominant person in the room, the extrovert. But we fail to take into consideration that there is no correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas. Just because someone feels comfortable enough to share their idea with the group doesn't mean that the introvert who is just sitting there, keeping their mouth shut, doesn't have an even better idea.
There are perks to being an introvert. They tend to be entirely loyal, focused, self-disciplined, and patient. They live and breathe the concept of "harmony over controversy". Privacy and freedom are desired and the most crafty ideas are the affects of the deepest of thoughts.
Solitude is crucial for self reflection and self discovery. Susan Cain closes her speech by calling out to all introverts to have the courage to "speak softly". No matter whether you are an introvert or not, be sure to embrace it because the world needs you. It needs your voice to be heard no matter how loudly or softly you wish to speak.
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A question was asked in class today: Is everything you see/hear meant to be either argumentative or persuasive?
In response to this, I would argue the affirmative. Although not always direct, everything is always done for a purpose, whether to inform or entertain, etc. Even if just to inform, the author usually sticks his or her opinion somewhere in the content of their work. This can cause the reader to have a change of mind, therefore doing the same as an argumentative or persuasive topic would have done.
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