Lived experience: Difference between revisions

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{{Quote|HAMLET:  Madam, how like you this play? <br>
{{a|devil|{{image|Lucky Bastard|jpg|The lived experience when you are not “a proper little jailer’s pet”, yesterday.}}}}{{Quote|
QUEEN:  The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
{{script|Hamlet}}[[Hamlet’s mum|Madam]], how like you this play? <br>
:— ''Hamlet'', III, ii}}{{a|devil|{{image|Lucky Bastard|jpg|The lived experience when you are not “a proper little jailer’s pet”, yesterday.}}}}{{dpn|/lɪvd ɪksˈpɪərɪəns/|n}}Knowledge about the world one gains, first-hand, by living through it.  
{{script|Queen}}:  The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
:— ''Hamlet'', III, ii}}{{dpn|/lɪvd ɪksˈpɪərɪəns/|n}}Knowledge about the world one gains, first-hand, by living through it.  


Knowledge that is joyously ''subjective'', and not the quasi-objective, pseudo-knowledge by which we are all systematically indoctrinated through insidious social institutions like our education, socialisation, government and the calculating fingers of the media.  
Knowledge that is joyously ''subjective'', and not the quasi-objective, pseudo-knowledge by which we are all systematically indoctrinated through insidious social institutions like our education, socialisation, government, the corporate chumocracy and, to the extent it is any different, the calculating fingers of the media.  


Each person’s “lived experience” is necessarily unique and, taken ''ad absurdum'', unavailable — literally “[[ineffable]]” — to any other person.  
Each person’s “lived experience” is necessarily unique and, taken ''ad absurdum'', unavailable — literally “[[ineffable]]” — to another. Which is true, of all of us, but makes you wonder what its value really is, except by way of unconditional surrender to the human condition.


This calls to mind a stanza in one of the JC’s favourite Ogden Nash poems:
This calls to mind a stanza in one of the JC’s favourite [[Ogden Nash]] poem:


{{quote|
{{quote|
We’d free the incarcerate race of man <br>
{{Ogden nash listen}}}}
That such a doom endures <br>
Could only you unlock my skull, <br>
Or I creep into yours.<ref>Ogden Nash, ''Listen...'', reprinted in ''Candy is Dandy: The Best of Ogden Nash''</ref> <br>}}


Of course, knowing what one’s “lived experience” is can get confusing when you consider it ''includes'' being indoctrinated into those lesser forms of pseudo-knowledge, through social institutions like school, university, work, the internet and, well, people on it who witter on about “lived experiences” all the time.  Yes: like the JC.
Of course, knowing what one’s “lived experience” is can get confusing when you consider it ''includes'' being indoctrinated into those lesser forms of pseudo-knowledge, through social institutions like school, university, work, the internet and, well, people on it who witter on about “lived experiences” all the time.  Yes: like the JC.
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In any rate, your lived experience is personal, subjective and your own business, to be ''minded'' as such: though you may be politely indulged, no-one much cares to hear about it.<ref>The proprietors of ''The Times'' appear to believe, wrongly, that this rule does not to apply to Robert Crampton, for some reason.</ref> So, life advice, kids, from the Dale Carnegie school of winning friends and influencing people: frame your interactions with the world in terms of ''others''’ lived experiences, not your own, lest you come across as a ''bore''.  
In any rate, your lived experience is personal, subjective and your own business, to be ''minded'' as such: though you may be politely indulged, no-one much cares to hear about it.<ref>The proprietors of ''The Times'' appear to believe, wrongly, that this rule does not to apply to Robert Crampton, for some reason.</ref> So, life advice, kids, from the Dale Carnegie school of winning friends and influencing people: frame your interactions with the world in terms of ''others''’ lived experiences, not your own, lest you come across as a ''bore''.  


''Suppress'' the instinct to yawp about your own problems (and, for that matter, successes). For, if you have the time, energy and platform — that is, the ''luxury'' — to do that, they will hardly seem existential in nature. The converse is just as true: if you are so damn good, why are you wasting time crowing about it, rather than just getting on with winning? In either case, the bard had it right:
''Suppress'' the instinct to yawp about your own problems. For, if you have the time, energy and platform — that is, the ''luxury'' — to do that, they will hardly seem existential in nature to anyone minded to listen. The converse is just as true for those [[Inclined to|inclined]] to [[Humblebraggadocio|humblebrag]] about [[industry awards]] and [[Guide to the legal profession|Chambers]]’ rankings: if things are so good, why waste your time ''crowing'' about it, rather than just getting on with the ''winning''?  


But odious though he is, one will not often hear the humblebragger droning on about his lived experience. Disingenuously complaining about your lot is a dark inversion of [[Humblebraggadocio|humblebragging]]. No more edifying, and so much more of a downer. Let’s call it “[[humblegriping]]”.
Disingenuously complaining about your lot — let’s call it “[[humblegriping]]” — is a dark inversion of [[Humblebraggadocio|humblebragging]]. No more edifying, and so much more of a downer. Tiresome though he is, you rarely hear the humblebragger droning on about his lived experience.
 
There is one exception to the “no humblegriping” rule. This is where you owe your unlikely success in the world to doing so.  thanks to one or more intersecting marginalisations, your own lived experience has not been a happy one — it is seen by some as a justification for prioritising ''your'' ghastly experience over those of others you adjudge to have been more fortunate than you when, as a tenured academic, you find yourself with the platform to lecture more fortunate people than yourself about how badly you have been treated.
 
It’s a bit circular like that.
===Relevance to the conversation===
An unusual [[standpoint]], is always a valuable perspective to bear in mind when the community discusses, or designs common utilities. The Dutch — being the tallest nation on earth, should consider the lot of those possessed of shorter statures when designing bookshelves.
 
The standpoint of short people is unlikely, past adolescence, to change. It is a permanent fact of biology. This seems equally so of standpoints informed not by physiognomy but history. Especially historical ''[[grievance]]''. As we remark below, one can re-narrate, but not ''change'', history. If your great grandfather was a slave, or kept them, there is nothing you can really do about that now. Apologies will sound — and be — disingenuous.
 
The question arises ''who'' is responsible for ''redressing'' that grievance, and ''what'' they can do to redress it.  
===Lived experience as a finite game===
===Lived experience as a finite game===
{{standpoint capsule}}
{{standpoint capsule}}
{{Sa}}
{{Sa}}
*[[Path-dependent]]
*[[Path-dependent|Path-dependency]]
*[[Standpoint|Standpoint philosophy]]


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{{ref}}
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