EXCERPT #4
Ask a random kid today if she wants to be popular and she’ll tell you no, even if the truth is that if she was in a desert dying of thirst and had the choice between a glass of water and instant popularity, she’d probably choose the latter. See, you can’t admit to wanting it, because that makes you less cool. To be truly popular, it has to look like it’s something you are, when in reality, it’s what you make yourself.
I wonder if anyone works any harder at anything than kids do at being popular. I mean, even air-traffic controllers and the president of the United States take vacations, but look at your average high school student, and you’ll see someone who’s putting in time twenty-four hours a day, for the entire length of the school year.
So how do you crack that inner sanctum? Well, here’s the catch: it’s not up to you. What’s important is what everyone else thinks of how you dress, what you eat for lunch, what shows you TiVo, what music is on your iPod. I’ve always sort of wondered, though: If everyone else’s opinion is what matters, then do you ever really have one of your own? (p. 241)
Questions:
Is popularity more important than anything else…dying of thirst?
No I do not think popularity is more important then anything else I think if you are popular thats cool ... your well liked by many people. But I would not say its any important then other things like dying of thirst i would rather worry about me and my health then what other people think about me.
What is the difference between being popular and belonging to the group?
I think the difference is when you are "popular " it just means you are well like by many people and many people admire you being yourself. Now when you "belong to a group " I believe this is a way to not be yourself and a way not to be liked because when you are in a group you are suspected to act a certain way and not yourself therefore if everyone else in that group is a bully so are you.
Can everyone be popular?
I think their are way to many people in the world for everyone to be popular and for everyone to be known but every person could be popular in what they are good at and how nice of a human they are for example: a job or at school or playing a instrument.
