By Eline Kullock
In my day (and yeah, this was during the time of dinosaurs), people were really careful when talking about other people.
Talking badly about someone, could hurt someone. There’s a saying in Portuguese that says: “Loose words blowing in the wind, can never be taken back.” After all, words are like nails in a chunk of wood, you can take out the nail, but the hole remains…like an open wound. To “attack” someone meant taking a risk. If a friend was hurt by you, you fought, you broke up, you got fired, there were often very serious consequences.
It seems that Generation Y doesn’t think this way.
They are propelled by their own voice. It seems that it’s become common to talk, to criticize others, without having an idea of the consequences.
Talk, talk, talk. The most important thing is to talk. A recent example occurred here in Brazil. A student at the local Brazilian University, Uniban was violently ostracized by other students, simply for wearing a mini skirt (the university has no dress code.) Surprisingly, the majority of the students were in favor of the student’s expulsion. A small group resisted, protesting against the expulsion, calling the others Taliban’s.
So this became a huge event, in which most everyone took part in. Not only in the case of Uniban, it’s clear that Gen Y talks more and more, saying whatever they want, to whoever will listen. It seems that Freud’s superego has disappeared. Freud must be rolling over in his grave!
There’s no self-censorship anymore. There’s just talk.
And what does this have to do with the larger issues? This attitude can drastically interfere with the life of business organizations. This generation will soon be speaking on behalf of businesses, expressing their opinions to the media, exposing themselves and others.
Mauro Segura, you work in the field of communication at IBM. How do you feel about this? Are you comfortable with this? How will businesses feel, having Gen Y responsible for their communication, if they simply say whatever floats into their mind at that specific moment?
If the idea is simply to speak, to give one’s opinion, you simply give an opinion and change it later. But is this it? Is this what’s happening? Perhaps this will fuel a great demand for lawyers? Are we moving towards a world of abundant lawsuits, where people are constantly sued for what they say?
Our supermen and superwomen have to rethink the superego.
Wiki defines the superego as “…the critical and moralizing function.” It represents censorship imposed by society and culture, imposing this on the Id, impeding individuals to indulge in complete satisfaction and the total fulfillment of their desires. In short, it’s repression. The manifestation of one’s conscience, indirectly exercising itself as morals, creating an ensemble along with duties and education, producing an “ideal” which is good and virtuous.
Does anyone still know what a superego is? Or should we just remove it from the dictionary?
