we'd be spared a lot of gifted kid discourse if some of you would just admit to yourselves that you grew up thinking you were superior to everyone else and now you're deeply insecure after realizing that you're not actually all that special
everyone in the notes like "that's what we were already saying" missed the point here entirely bc what im getting at is not just being disappointed in yourself for not living up to expectations. it's the unspoken part where "not living up to expectations" = "doing as well as people i always looked down on, working jobs that i thought were beneath me, still feeling bitter about it years later bc i havent let go of my elitism and i still kinda think i inherently deserve better"
i like that all the replies are assuming that im a jealous normie taking cheap shots at oppressed nerds bc i wish i was as special as them, but i regret to inform u that the reason i know all this is bc i grew up in gt programs and am speaking for my past self and a number of people ive known lmao. you can all get mad at me for pointing it out but you're lying through your teeth if you say this never happens.
anywhomst i said this bc i find it absurd that grown adults (yall are clowns for acting like im addressing children in this post lol) will spend so much time uncritically commiserating over how hard we supposedly had it, when we all know damn well that we had it the best of everyone in the whole system because it's set up for our benefit in particular. we never give this much attention to people who got written off as worthless from day one, people who slipped through all the cracks, people who can never complain that the system gave them false expectations because it just always treated them like shit. the fact is that gifted programs get higher funding, better teachers, smaller class sizes, greater opportunities. regardless of your personal baggage with the whole thing, it is absolutely undeniable that we were materially privileged, in ways that often overlap with class and race. this privilege is rarely ever acknowledged, or when it is, it's accompanied by a torrent of sob stories that downplay the reality of it. ultimately though, you could not have been "gifted" unless you had un-"gifted" people to be compared to, whether you did so consciously or not. some of you are still comparing themselves to them years on.
mayhaps this was worded inflammatorily but it's very cringe of u all refuse to think past your main character syndrome for just one second. like im sorry you had a hard time coping with real life lmao i did too ive been there i get. but nowhere did i say this is anyone's own fault so save the traumadumping for your therapist. my point is, if youre well into your 20s and you still identify with the intelligence tests you took in elementary school, it's time to get some fucking perspective.






















