Tuesday, October 19, 2010

"The Cool Lunchtable Phenomenon" and its significance into adulthood

One of my readers suggested that I might want to consider blogging about the movie "Social Network."
I thought about this, mulled it over  for a bit-and thought that it might make for an interesting read....at least i hope so...
So lets consider this film for a moment. A savant-genius, and let me preface, savant because i truly believe many of us possess a certain genius that is specific to our own talents. We dismiss our personal "geni"(plural) as i like to call them, because in relation to someone like Zuckerberg they pale in comparison. Let me begin by saying that the only difference between Zuckerberg's savant genius and yours is that he changed  how we relate to one another, how we network; its application. 500 million users is a huge impact, a measurable impact, and most commendable. Zuckerberg made a huge contribution to the world of communication that has indeed changed the world.
But what about the impact that many of us make on one another perhaps on a smaller more intimate scale?
Are these any less significant?
 Is any one person more or less of a genius because of the size of their impact?
Certainly Zuckerberg thought so. And to what end? He struggled interpersonally, was socially off, few friends and obsessively preoccupied, braiding conversations like tributaries into a single purpose; "The" Facebook.
He clearly  fits the criteria of Aspergers syndrome in the DSM IVTR. Shipping his best friends down the river in pursuit of his monomaniacle dream; repetitive patterns of behavior pursued with great intensity to the exclusion of any other activity.  He even went so far as to post insulting material about his girlfriends breast size for others to read. His impairment in  reciprocal social interactions makes it almost ironic that he became the King of social networking.
And yet, he is the icon of success among America's youth. A Billionaire at age 20 something....??
At the end of the film he is left sitting alone in a board room logging onto Facebook to check the status of his ex-girlfriend- still pining for the one connection that felt meaningful to him.
Thing is, he never got over not  being invited into the "Pheonix" club among the Harvard elite-
and more significantly... he never got the girl.
Today he is left as an adult having suffered from not being seated at the "cool lunch table."

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