Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
…clarks hide it, scotts ignore it and rogers embrace it… the glue of conformity, the velvet underwear of the conformer, easily the second most popular form of personal self-indulgence
Guilt…Guilt…..Guilt…….Guilt, yeah Guilt
not the easiest of concepts to relate to our little personality theories, but what the hell:
- guilty pleasures: rogers!
- guilty as charged: scotts!
- guilt and shame: …. (you knew this one, didn’t you! lol) clarks!
lets get all Daniel on this here concept here.
guilt noun \ˈgilt\
: responsibility for a crime or for doing something bad or wrong
: a bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that you have done something bad or wrong (courtesy: merriamwebstercambridgeoxford.com)
my, that certainly covers the personal reality waterfront, doesn’t it? But, this here blog relates things on a personal level (no! wait! don’t laugh… I mean, sure, clarks do not strike most people as being excessively personal and/or personable people, at least on first meeting. funny story: when I was 5 years old I decided that I really should sign any birthday or holiday cars with my full name…even those to immediate family. and the thing is, though I can’t remember the rationale, I still have a sense of the appropriateness of it…at least to my 5 year old self).
clarks feel guilt. ours and anyone else’s that we decide we have a ‘relationship with/to’… there’s a old term for this, one that predates the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers, called ‘getting Ed Sullivaned’. The origin being how, as a young clark, I would watch the Ed Sullivan Show* and, the culture being barely out of the vaudeville era, there would be acrobatic acts and plate juggler guys. These would be people who’s mission in life was to get these, like, flexible poles, stand them on end, put a dinner plate on the top end, and make them spin. The goal was to get as many spinning as possible…. wait, what the hell am I doing, let me go youtube it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhoos1oY404?list=PL4F4AEC6CDC823498… hey, come on! it was the 60s in our parents living room watching on a black and white tv.
In any event, the phrase ‘Ed Sullivaned’ comes from the feeling I would get when the juggler messed up and dropped something. I would feel totally, honestly, look-around-and-hope-no-one-was-looking-at-me-for-an-explanation guilty/embarrassed. Sort of projectile empathy. Anyway, eventually the phrase came to be associate with the experience of guilt on behalf of another person.
….time to go, work is calling like: ‘a something-something-hooker-something from the other room, while I try to explain to friends how this is not really the real me‘… everyone feels like that at one time or another? right?
* early 60’s television show, actually a variety show hosted by a guy who looked like Richard Nixon and he was ‘the venue’ for the first major appearances of performers in the nascent pop music era… Elvis, the Beatles, George Carlin…any entertainer you might enjoy who is more than 50 years old? probably appeared on Ed Sullivan.
About clarkscottroger
Its often I find myself embarrassed for another person. My therapist is often in awe of how guilty I can feel….Ridiculous really…. Frist…..
Frist… and I am falling behind on this commentioning… here it is, 6:45 and I’m typing from my office computer… and, naturally I’m feeling a little guilty
lol…can’t believe I had the title wrong all day… fixed it a short time ago.
ummmmmmmmmm….. the title was wrong? huh? go figure.
well semi I did the ‘bold’ G but left the rest of the word out of the title
oh. I didnt realize that was a mistake… see … the needlessly guilty clark strikes again.
(truest words spoken: we create our destiny)
Fristo.
My three favorite expressions from your post – the velvet underwear of the conformer, projectile empathy, and work is calling like a something, something hooker. You’re such a Clark.
why thank you! what a nice thing to say! I’ve used the term projectile empathy somewhere before… but the velvet underwear is new…and a little disturbing lol (the life of a blogger, no?)
CLARK!!! I was going to write about guilt, but I couldn’t find a way to do it without being a jerk. My basic idea was guilt is there for a reason. If I truly have something to feel guilty about, do something to fix it. If I don’t, then get over my darn self and give up the guilt. Except I wasn’t really directing it at me, cause I rarely feel guilty. All makes a bit of sense after reading this, and a good reason for me to not ever write about it. I feel sorry for you clarks and your projectile guilt.
scotts are not immune to guilt, but like much that you do (in your relationship with the world around you), your experience is simple and direct and not given to the internalization and subjective thing that we clarks (and rogers to a certain degree) do.
Projectile empathy! That is a phrase worthy of much repetition!
I swear you have a sixth sense of being able to look in my head and tell me exactly who I am. But then again, you’re a fellow clark!
its what we do, no?