Top Ten Reasons I Hate Top Ten Lists
10. They’re turning us into lazy learners and even lazier writers.
9. They’re creating a generation of people with a “Top-Ten” mentality.
8. There can only be one David Letterman.
7. They provide information that is quickly and easily forgotten.
6. They lack context.
5 They over simplify necessarily complex information.
4. They deny us the challenge of the search.
3. Their “sources” are often unsubstantiated.
2. They present information like songs off the billboard charts.
And the number one reason I hate Top Ten Lists…
1. They rob us of the fulfillment that comes with discovery.
So, what has happened to this process called discovery? Shouldn’t knowledge be gained by unearthing the answers – not reading lists? History has taught us again and again that by pursuing information about one thing, discoveries are often made about something else. Look at Alexander Fleming and his discovery of Penicillin. An accident. Greatbatch and the accidental discovery of the pacemaker. And what about Kellogg and the first Cornflake? I’m serious. Look it up. But each one of these discoveries came about by a distraction or a diversion that led to the birth of a new question.
Condensing the exploration of a subject to a top ten list is, if nothing else, absurd. 130 million books have been written throughout history, according to Google. Are we to believe that each one of these books contains information that can be reduced to ten statements lined up in a row?
How do we stop the insanity? Not only do top ten lists oversimplify complex subjects but they also provide us with idiotic, inane information. Here are a few I was able to find on the internet; “Sarah Jessica Parker’s top ten most insane outfits of the early 2000’s.” “Ten reasons a panda should never be your BFF” and “Top ten crimes committed by squirrels.”
I’d like to make a plea for the encouragement of postulation, discernment, and perspective. Not everything in life can be reduced to a list…except maybe groceries.
