🛠️Labor Day began with a parade organized by union workers in 1882 to fight for better wages and pay. Today, union workers earn on average173 dollars moreper week than non-union workers.
Question #154: Writing in everyday work, learning to ignore the irrelevant
Harris Sockel ( Harris Sockel)
When I first heard the term “supplemental masculinity,” I thought it was a typo. I was so used to hearing about toxic varieties (about the 2800 stories on the substrate) that my brain couldn't compute another T-word in that phrase.
No, “supplemental masculinity” does not describe guys who like gin and supplements (that's another newsletter). The term recently appeared on X and Threads to encapsulate the demeanor of VP candidate Tim Walz: he fixed your bike. He knows gutters. For many, he represents a model of masculinity that is confident rather than aggressive, helpful but not soft.
According to gender equity researcher Amy Diehl, this is “supplemental masculinity”: support and husband. The meaning of “supplemental” is “vibrant and refreshing.” It also refers to the first note of a musical scale or the “key” of a song, which is part of a song that sounds like a release.
Brand strategist Nancy Friedman dug into the origins of this term, (I was shocked to learn) it apparently first appeared on Medium in 2020, when a leadership coach wrote about how men can embrace (rather than reject or suppress) traditionally male archetypes like kings, warriors, and magicians.
I don’t think “supplemental masculinity” is a political term. To me, it feels more like a cultural one. Over the past decade, culture has focused on the reasons that make the playboy bad without defining what could make him good. Julius Bridgeforth defines it as expressiveness: support and enthusiasm for the people you love, rather than stoicism and silence. It’s really just the energy of genuinely caring for other humans.
What else we are reading
- Emily · J. Smith J. I learned a lot from this story, mainly: view your work as a job, not as a messianic call to save the world. You’ll be happier, and you’ll have more energy to reduce your profitable things.
- Political science professor Darren Zook explains why every American campaign speech is allowed to end with “God bless America”: There is no law in the U.S. Constitution that separates church and state. Most of us misunderstand how the founders of America envisioned the interaction between religion and government. In fact, they believed that everyone’s religion should inform their politics - the only thing they opposed was establishing a national church like the Church of England.
Your Daily Practical Wisdom: Ignorance
Humans have a bias towards action, which doesn’t do us any hard favors (take it from me, those who immediately respond to every text I receive). Ignoring unimportant issues is a skill. For every na-bite item landing in your inbox, ask yourself: Can I afford to ignore this? If so, do it.
The winner of the Friday quiz is…
Sargas correctly identified these three biases:
- The gambler's fallacy: We believe the probability of an event changes based on past outcomes, even if it’s all random.
- Outcome bias: Judging our decisions based on their outcomes rather than the quality of our decision-making.
- Bike-shedding: Fixating on trivial issues while ignoring more important ones.
Congratulations, Sargas! We will return with some new quiz questions based on this week’s newsletter.
Learn something new every day through Medium journalism.Sign up here.
Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Rose Gillis
Questions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us at: tips@medium.com