8152 - The Giant Snail is coming! Stroll for your lives!

[scottobear]

Taking a short week this time, Thursday and Friday off to celebrate the b'day.

Dan wants to go see that documentary about Indigo children, I might or might not go with. He really *wants* to believe in kids with special, possibly supernatural abilities (like laying on of hands helaing, etc)... I'd be fascinated to see some empirical evidence. Surprisingly, he was a little taken aback at my skepticism, and mentioned (I paraphrase, because I don't remember his quote exactly) - "Well, it's a commonly held belief in Christian circles that there is a kid in Vietnam that can cure folks by touch". I got a bit snarky with him, and replied that it was also a commonly held belief with those folks that after about six weeks of rain, the entire planet was underwater except for one guy's family and a boatload of animals. Just because a lot of people believe something isn't enough for me to go along with it "just because". At least give me a little math and something to work with.

I'm perfectly willing to believe that cool weirdness is out there, but I'd like to test it before just saying some magic kid can cure disease and see the future.

[later, after doing a bit of google-sniffing]

Upon doing a little cursory research, it sounds like a likely explanation is a "New Age" apologist way of excusing a child's bad behavior. Just because a kid is hyperactive or gifted doesn't mean that they're a Dalai Lama.

Dan must've overheard a little snippet from somewhere. He can't possibly buy into this stuff, being a teacher and having some observational skills. Despite their claims to the contrary, no proponent of "indigo children" has ever provided a single piece of verifiable evidence to support their claims. The stuff I've come across so far is up there with nonsense like other psychic healer stuff. The biggest proponent of this hubbub is a "channeller" who claims to be in contact with an alien named Kryon who speaks and shares knowledge through a human host.

I wonder if this'll be the next self-diagnosed "asperger's syndrome" / "otherkin" in that a bunch of socially retarded people will flock to the description and use it as an excuse to define why they behave badly, and view themselves as better/more intelligent/etc than other folks.

My preliminary opinion : The "Indigo Child phenomenon" is a crock. I'm actually a little annoyed that I spent 15 minutes doing research on something so ridiculous... and I have no issues searching the web for pictures of monkeys with guns or David Hasselhoff singing "Hooked on a Feeling". I almost wonder if Danny planted that seed on purpose to yank my chain a little bit.

Ah well, at least I can speak intelligently on the subject if it decides to pop up in conversation with some of my more mystically-oriented associates . I was really hoping for some good information on common themes of child prodigies.

---

Moment of Lyric : (youtube movie here, thanks to instantloser)


Well Daft Punk is playing at my house, my house
I'll show you the ropes kid, show you the ropes
I got a bus and a trailer at my house, my house
I'll show you the ropes kid, show you the ropes
I bought 15 cases for my house, my house
All the furniture is in the garage

Well, Daft Punk is playing at my house, my house
You've got to set them up kid, set them up
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set them up, set them up

Well Daft Punk is playing at my house, my house
I've waited 7 years and 15 days
There's every kid for miles at my house, my house
And the neighbors can't...call the police
There's a fist fight brewin' at my house, my house
Because the jocks can't...get in the door

When Daft Punk is playing at my house, my house
You've got to set them up kid, set them up
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set them up, set them up
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set them up, set them up

(cowbell)

Well everybody's lined up at my house, my house
And Sara's girlfriend is working the door
Got everybody's PA at my house, my house
All the robots descend from the bus
There's a freakout brewin' at my house, my house
In the basement...

'Cause Daft Punk is playing at my house, my house
You've got to set them up kid, set them up
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set 'em up ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set them up, set them up
You've got to set 'em ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set 'em ooh ooh yeah
You've got to set them up, set them up

And never never let them go
No never never never let them go
Oh never never never let them go
Let 'em go

Never never never let them go
Oh never never never let them go
Never never never let them go
Let them go...

Downtown

---

Newt chilling out with me during call on Sunday.... I tried to phone post it yesterday, but it didn't make it for some reason.

---

Best quote heard yesterday via ilenebook -"Don't think of yourself as an ugly person, just a beautiful monkey."

---

1 year ago - Mel out of hospital, AVG good, Mona booboo, gene kelly vw ad, oddball personal names list, beach place cam

2 years ago - Key west, Antarctica dollars, new matter, noting some filter styles for the heck of it.

3 years ago - cool dream, birthday poll, Phrases I use/have passed on, got a jornada (it retired early)

4 years ago - gold star, lego horror, haiku, tattoo poll, Random phone message memory, happy things

5 years ago - fat albert, SOP, Friends list fluke, mocha, QotD

testing a new map

Comments

[weezeroni.livejournal.com]

"Upon doing a little cursory research, it sounds like a likely explanation is a "New Age" apologist way of excusing a child's bad behavior. Just because a kid is hyperactive or gifted doesn't mean that they're a Dalai Lama."
I just recently heard about Indigo children, and did research as you did. My interest in children and teaching and a desire to be openminded did nothing to keep me from arriving at the same conclusion that you did. All kids are special, but not necessarily as part of a new generation of super-beings.

[weezeroni.livejournal.com]

Cats kill me with the positions that they get into. It looks like Newtie is doing near-human morning stretches.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

heh... I thought it was more of a "Hey, Scotto... get me a beer, willya? I'm not on call!"

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

This weekend was the first I'd heard of them, too.

I agree that all kids are special, and certainly hope that there are a good crop of prodigy-types this generation. I'd love to see a blossoming of art, technology, philosophy and science on a planet that's mostly 1st world TV and 3rd world hunger.

[constance1010.livejournal.com]

There was an article in the Palm Beach Post about the indigo children thing last week maybe? They were talking about it with ADHD which is why it caught my attention...

I kind of came to the same general conclusions... its just another excuse for people not to control their kids. Now this coming from a parent of a child with severe ADHD who also happens to be extremely bright. I never thought my child has "super powers" or anything of the sort.

I just wish people would let kids be kids and not place so many labels on them. All kids are special.. they dont need to have some sort of label to show that they are.... just parents who make them feel that way.

And honestly... from the website I was looking at.. with THIS desc of them... it looks like the indigo child is just an uncontrolled little brat.



What is an indigo Child?
As a summary, here are the ten attributes that best describe this new kind of child, the Indigo Child (named by those who predicted it).

They come into the world with a feeling of royalty (and often act like it)

They have a feeling of "deserving to be here," and are surprised when others don't share that.

Self-worth is not a big issue. They often tell the parents "who they are."

They have difficulty with absolute authority (authority without explanation or choice).

They simply will not do certain things; for example, waiting in line is difficult for them.

They get frustrated with systems that are ritually oriented and don't require creative thought.

They often see better ways of doing things, both at home and in school, which makes them seem like "system busters" (nonconforming to any system).

They seem antisocial unless they are with their own kind. If there are no others of like consciousness around them, they often turn inward, feeling like no other human understands them. School is often extremely difficult for them socially.

They will not respond to "guilt" discipline ("Wait till your father gets home and finds out what you did").

They are not shy in letting you know what they need.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

That had a similar effect on me, too. People with a false sense of entitlement.

[peradouro.livejournal.com]

A lot of these things just look like results of mishandled parenting or being too isolated from other kids. Wait til your father comes home? That kind of stuff pisses me off royally.

[graypumpkin.livejournal.com]

I think that intelligence and education sometimes has no correlating baring when it comes to faith/superstition. It’s like the want, need and or habit of belief often trumps rationality.
Taking my dad as an example, he’s one of the smartest people I’ve know, much smarter than my dumb ass, he’s extremely well read has encyclopedic knowledge on many subjects and tends to approach most things rationally and analytically. Yet I can remember getting having him get upset at me for opening an umbrella indoors and walking under open ladder (each on a separate occasion), he truly believed such actions just might bring bad luck and one shouldn’t take chances.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

My mom did the "wait till your father gets home" but it wasn't about guilt, it was about corporal punishment.

[constance1010.livejournal.com]

Oh I know.

My daughter is difficult to handle... I will be the FIRST to admit that. Even on her meds she still needs redirection and extra attention and gets distracted quicker than most kids...

I guess for some its easier to place the "blame" for their children on supernatural or other things than medical problems or taking responsibility for their own parenting (or lackthereof) with their children.

Shoot.. its taken me months to even accept that I am not a bad parent for having a child with ADHD.. its a medical condition and nothing I did to her...

Its a whole new level of avoidance.

[constance1010.livejournal.com]

I wonder if the Snowbirds are all "Indigo" and that is why they act the way they do down here.:)

The majority of Palm Beach county seems to have that kind of issues of entitlement...

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I can agree with that... the most intelligent person in the world is still subject to conditioning and other aspects of how you're raised. I've seen *brilliant* men who actively believe that everything in the bible is literally true... That Dicthotomy confuses the heck out of me, but everyone is entitled to their own belief system, at least in theory.

I don't have a lot of superstitious upbringing except for church stuff, which got rejected out of hand when I was about 13 or so, but there is enough there for me to still wonder about a creative force building the universe, rather than a bunch of gears in a box, shaken until a pocketwatch came together.

Danny's a very smart guy, but I think a lot of his intellect comes from procedure rather than innate ability. He's a millstone that grinds slowly, but exeedingly fine.

[spimby.livejournal.com]

"My preliminary opinion : The "Indigo Child phenomenon" is a crock."

I haven't even thought about that nonsense in years. I was horrified, when I saw it in your LJ, to realize that it was still in vogue with hoodooers.

The first thing I thought of, actually, when I first read about this, back in the previous century, was that craze in the 80's and 90's, where parents of severely autistic kids called themselves "facilitators" and went to school with them and did all their work for them, saying the child was acting through them.

Some parents are just plain fucking nuts, when it comes to their kids. Sad, but eternally true.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I'll even go so far as to blame an upper percentage of the entire human race. :D

[acoolsecretary.livejournal.com]

Not to be snarky but I think my "Ex" was an "indigo child." He seemed to think the world revolved around HIM! lol

I LOVE that NEWT! He looks like he got caught doing bad stuff. "What?"

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. Winston Churchill

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

that's a great quote! And they do treat us like equals, too... they'll eat us when given a chance.

Newt does have a bit of the guilty-face on, but he was just slackin'. :)

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Education by proxy. Interesting concept. Doesn't sound too useful for the poor kid in question, however.

[acoolsecretary.livejournal.com]

The little "Slacker!" That is my favorite position to see a cat in. I have two, Annie and Honey. Annie is an old bat of a cat, and Honey is mentally unstable, (she is a honey color but so loves being under cars that she has a permanent oil spill on her backside)but who knows, I'm not a feline fizakeeatrist. :)

[constance1010.livejournal.com]

Very true...

[spimby.livejournal.com]

"Doesn't sound too useful for the poor kid in question, however."

You missed all that?

No, it wasn't useful at all for the autistic kids, and it severely pissed other students and their parents off, for good reason, as it turned out.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I guess I was fortunate enough to forget it. It sounds so goofy, I may've dismissed it out of hand when I did hear it.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

http://www.google.com/search?hs=Zex&hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22indigo+monkeys%22&btnG=Search

looks like there might be a few already!!

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I like when Newt curls up like a big orange shrimp.

Much love to your Annie and Honey!:D

Longest comment ever.

[gilbertbee.livejournal.com]

I used to work for a company that distributed blue green algae as a food. There were a crazy ton of people who swore the algae helped with ADHD and Indigo Children. My mom and I had a running joke that I was an Indigo Child for a long time, partly because one of the people we came into contact with said that Indogo Children had higher than normal electrical currents in their bodies and things tended to short out around them, and I had fried about 4 work computers by that time. She said it was like that movie "Powder." SO now she calls me Powder Blue when I break stuff.

Re: Longest comment ever.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Ha! That's Great! I suppose if one of the Crystal-indigo evolves convinced you that you are an indigo after all, perhaps that'd be crystal blue persuasion!

I love the nickname powder blue.

[weezeroni.livejournal.com]

Many of these are hallmarks of the gifted as well. Before I started teaching, I associated "giftedness" with good grades. This is not necessarily true. Often it has more to do with the way kids question, or attack a problem, or view various things. Gifted kids also seem to have that sense of entitlement. Some of my gifted students would refuse to hurry a paper or test even if it meant getting a low grade. They insisted on completing one or two things to perfection. They also often seem a little left of center socially, at least in part, I think, because their parents keep telling them that they're gifted :)

[phillykat.livejournal.com]

tha heck! i thought i missed your birthday. sooooooo hmm i should have been in time.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

eh? oh? ay-o-ay-o-ayy-oh?

Walk like an egyptian.

[phillykat.livejournal.com]

lol, u so silly. and dangit now i'm singing that!

[legal-beagle555.livejournal.com]

Happy belated B-day! I made a mental note last week to send wishes, but my mental notes get buried under all the otehr mental clutter these days...

the indigo children idea is interesting- the sort of thing you almost want to believe in, but seems a bit cookey. at the same time. Like you, I'd be interested in the emperical evidence

I wonder if the catholic church frowns on them, too.

we need more cowbell!!!!!!!

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Actually, you're early! My B-day is this thurdsay!

the catholic church is just so frowny!

I've got the fever for more cowbell!

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Hmm I always thought indigo kids were a by-product of in-breeding---I guess when you grow up in the Appalachian Mtns. things have different connotations. :D http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjh9u/fugate.html

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Ha! I mentioned those guys to Danny when he first mentioned them, too! Great minds!

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

What's bothering me is--I can't remember where I first saw the blue people mentioned--I have a sneaking suspicion it was your journal---or did you post the Victorian Albino postcards? ACK my mind is going either that or the world is closing in in a synchronistic fashion--either way I'm scared!

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

hmm. I thought *you* pointed me to the albino victorian p-cards!

at least we live in a world where the synchronicity jibes with serendipity!

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Oh no! Now your mind is going! What next? We forget where we put our bifocals and dentures (with reference to your impending birthday ;))?

Serendipity--one of my favorite words (next to Salmagundi)---nothing make sme smile more than "happy fate".

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I prefer a happy fate to a salad plate, but Salmagundi is up there with Kumquat for plain fun of saying!

eh, what's that, youngster? By cracky, in my day, we showed our elders respect before walking 10 miles in the snow uphill!

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Oh you've got my respect :D

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Plus, I get to say "By Cracky" now.

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

Yep that was me flirting wasn't it? *kiss*

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Hey! I think I'll marry that girl one day! *kisses*

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

But she's a cover stealer.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

That's ok... I steal the bed!

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

a frigate bird!!

[blackhellkat.livejournal.com]

DEFAMATION! LIBEL! I protest! The covers slid to my sid eof the bed on their own volition! :D




I love you. If I was covers I'd sooo slide to YOUR side of the bed!

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I love you... and you can have all my covers anytime!