The Dunning-Kruger effect is an example of cognitive bias in which people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.
Hoo boy, I hate to paint people with the same brush but my first thought after reading this? Fox News. :P
Speaking of Fox News, not going to dwell upon the whole horrible event where the Canadian Forces were mocked on national television. The host apologized, but in a predictably smarmy way. "Misunderstood" my ass.
In other Canadian news (or should I say Torontonian news?) there's a kerfuffle going on over Karen Stintz taking public speaking lessons with the taxpayers' money.
Criticized for talking too fast and sounding "shrill" during city hall meetings, Councillor Karen Stintz decided she needed to do something about it.
So she spent $4,500 (U.S.) for public-speaking lessons last year. Then she got taxpayers to cover the costs.
The vocal opponent of Toronto Mayor David Miller used the services of Lynda Spillane, an author and vocal coach who has advised other female politicians.
Fnargh, I cannot stand the use of the adjective "shrill" when describing a woman's voice. It's a gender-coded insult; how many times are men described as shrill? Shrill is used to dismiss women, to shame them into silence. Using shrill to describe a woman's voice immediately detracts from the content of her message and focuses on its presentation. And isn't that a woman's lot in life, to have her content ignored in favour of her presentation?
And yet, women clearly recognize that to succeed in a man's world, you have to talk like one. Hence the lessons. Not saying that I approve of her using taxpayer money. There's a before and after video at the link above and frankly I think the voice lessons turned her into a lifeless automaton. When she was "shrill", she was speaking passionately and from the heart. Her voice was freaking fine the way it was and haters should have just sit down and shut up instead of criticizing a competent and successful woman's voice of all things.
(As an aside, I've been tweaking zee blog over the past few days. It's looking mighty shiny right about now. :D)
No comments:
Post a Comment