Personality charts.
Not one, not two, but there are hundreds of these charts that tell us what kind of persons we are and what our traits are, based on the date we were born, based on our favorite color and some of them even based on how much sugar we add to our coffee. No matter what kind of person you really are, these lists have some good ones for you!!
One such chart divides the dates in the year into groups named after trees. Say, if you are born in the first ten days of June, you have fallen from the Cedar tree, and there is a list of traits associated with persons falling from Cedar trees - honest, outgoing, enjoys animals (??)
One more similar list groups people into fruits based on the birth date and with a completely different set of features.
Imagine the same guy “falling from an Olive tree” based on one list and “is an apple” based on another similar chart based on fruits. What would that mean? Is he a mismatch :( having fallen from an Olive tree but is an “apple” instead of being an olive? Which of the characteristics apply to him? What if one of the lists actually mentions that he “hates contradictions and arguments”?
Wouldn’t it be even worse that his actual classification among different charts is itself a contradiction, leave alone the rest of the traits. He is already one confused person while “confused” is not on the list of traits in any of the charts!!
If you fell from a Cypress tree you tend to fight for social causes, eat less, are keen on keeping fit and so on. And what would a believer do? Yes, he would start raising his voice over how rats are fed high calorie food in a particular household leading to high cancer in rats, assuming it is a social cause and he has to fight for it, just because it is mentioned in his “list”!! He might as well really eat less and start working out which would make matters worse :(
Not impossible!!
But preparing these lists is way too easy. I have figured two ways of how such charts are prepared.
One - Make a list of adjectives like sensitive, truthful, passionate, empathetic, independent, humorous, courageous, tolerant and all possible synonyms of these, group them and lo, you have a chart for yourself. Attach some date ranges to each of the groups. If you want a chart based on favorite colors, you just have to attach a color to a group of synonyms, instead of the date range. Wasn’t that easy?
Two - This approach is a better one, because you can actually show it is true. For a particular date range, pick the list of famous people born in the date range, get the list of their traits - hard working, athletic, born leader etc and lo, for each date range you have a list of characteristics which are actually true.
So the next time someone says you are a great speaker, intellectual and an innovator just because you are born on February 12th, don’t fall for it. It is quite possible that the list was made from one of the approaches mentioned above. Abraham Lincoln was a great speaker born on the same day, after all. Not you.
Not that I fell for that list :)
What kind of a chart do you want to make?
Charts maketh us or we maketh charts? :)
4 comments:
for one thing, it would be nice if those retarded charts contained at least half as many negative traits as positive ones.
each group lists about a thousand good traits followed by maaaaaaaaybe one bad trait, and that too, it is made to look like a good one. something on the lines of "you tend not to socialize very easily with people at gatherings" which sounds like "you're a calm and not-so-gregarious reticent introvert" when the truth happens to be "you're a haughty bloody snob who thinks that you're too good to befriend 'common' people"
well, on second thoughts, i guess these charts do exactly what people expect of them - give them yet another reason to feel good about their pathetic pointless lives.
-cynic
yep..u provided the missing part of my post about the negative traits. Not only do these charts mention just one negative trait, they also make it sound as if the trait is not bad and instead, is "unique", just to u :)
One more kind of chart that takes me by surprise is the "compatibility chart". These charts, which can be called the second level charts build on the personality charts, and go ahead to say - "since u have so and so traits, ur partner shud have equal and opposite characteristics. So a Virgo woman is the best partner for an Aries guy"..ha ha !!
Charts!!!!! I wonder!!
PS : The Aries and Virgo relation is a made-up one. No offence meant to both groups and no offence meant to any believers :)
Charts... Indeed are very interesting. Though I don't see any point in going through them ..!
If the chart says India is not going to win the World Cup this time, does any one stop watching the LIVE matches ???
By saying all positive things it does brings the optimism in everyone that future is going to be bright & beautiful no matter how they sob at present. It sparks the HOPE to wait for one last day & take that one last effort which might bring in the success....
The charts you are talking about are the prediction charts which talk about the future. I hadn't touched them in my post as they are too complex :)
Its an interesting point that you mentioned about hope. Hope drives the world. If not for hope, the world would not have moved an inch!!
But on the contrary, the more we hope, the more painful it would be if we fail. So, as much as hope gets us to success, it also increases the pain associated with defeat.
And yeah, even I wouldn't stop seeing the matches if God [him/her]self came and told me that India would lose. I would instead hope God was lying. :)
Post a Comment