The term "extravertocracy" (or "extrovertocracy", following more recent, less sensible spelling conventions), which I hereby coin, refers to any society, like our own,
that is ruled by its extraverted members, while the
introverted minority takes a secondary role, begrudgingly
tolerated by the extraverted as unworthy little beings one just has to
deal with in life. In an extravertocracy like our own, one expects
introverts to be disparaged as antisocial shut-ins or
aspersed as self-absorbed eccentrics. Other terms by which an
extravert might label introverts in an attempt to marginalized them are
"too serious", "depressed", "odd", "morose", or "shy".
Needless to say, introverts are, in the general case, none of these
things. ("Sensitive" and "deep thinker" are also obliquely used to
refer to introverts, but I feel they come closer to being generically true).
Partly this aspersion is in place because extraverts tend to
misunderstand the way introverts relate to the world: mainly, introverts' --
to an extravert inexplicable -- desire and ability to restrain
themselves from subjugating every aspect of their environment to their
will, and instead their tendency to observe, internalize, and
appreciate the beauty of the world around them as it is. Partly,
though, it is because of willing misperception and a deliberate
campaign by the powers that be in the extraverted hegemony to
malign and derogate the introverted underclass in order to further
opress them. Unfortunately there are also these turncoat introverts
who have sold out to the extravertocracy and have decided to
partake in their campaign. Take for example the MTV book The Perks of Being a Wallflower,
which from the title seemed like it would be a book that finally
succeeds in explaining to the extraverted masses the workings of the
introverted mind, but turned out to be one of the worst books I've
ever picked up and read. (Listen to me. I sound like the UHB
from Metropolitan who was horribly disappointed when he saw The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
because he thought it was going to be flattering to the bourgeois.) I won't belabor my hatred for this book here (go read the book's node for more disappreciation for the book), but I will say that the troubles of the protagonist in the book have nothing to do with him
being intorverted; they have everything to do with him being a clueless
idiot, albeit a sensitive, introverted clueless idiot.
The plight of the introverted underclass, which I will term "the
introvertariat" for convenience, is non-trivial. It is not trivial for
an introvert to suffer through these long, mostly-content-free
small-talk conversations with extraverts which many introverts are
forced to indulge or else appear "rude". Rude, or course, by the
social rules drafted by the extravertocracy. Nor is it trivial for
introverts to endure situations of prolonged social exprosure, denied
of the precious time alone they need in order to recover their energy.
Try to put an extravert in a situation where they are alone for a
similar period of time and they will probably not know what to do with
themselves. Some do not even know what torment they put introverts
through every day. But most of all, to have your natural orientation, which you share with a significant portion of the population, so regularly and systematically marginalized and maligned is not a trivial offense to suffer. A lot of introverts, faced with this brutal
intolerance, try to shed off their introversion. Some are successful to
various degrees, adopting the behavior patterns of the extravert in a
manner that fools most extraverts. Some still stick in privacy to their
introversion, making time each day to spend alone, inside one's head,
but some deny their introverted nature even to themselves. Though they
are sometimes fully embraced by the extravertocracy, they are the
members of the introvertariat who suffer the most, since they deny
their true selves.
An introvertariat uprising is the fantasy of many introverts and
the subject of more than one song -- a revolution in which society
will be reorganized in a manner that values the lives of introverts as
highly as extraverts'. In some fantasies, this takes the form of a
bloody class war wherein heads roll and lined up agaist the wall are
all authors of etiquette books, anyone who ever carelessly used the
word "misanthropic" (!!!), and just any extravert who made the
mistake of trying to engage in conversation an introvert in deep
thought. Some fantasies are not as violent and stop at imaginaning an
introverts' rights movemement that pushes for a world in which
introverts are understood and respected.
In the mean time, however,
introverts have the benefit of other introverts and a puny minority of
sympathetic extraverts to draw comfort from. Fortunately and courageously, most introverts remain
positively engaged and not withdrawn from society, they remain
open-hearted and receptive to all that is beautiful in the world and
that is suppressed by the extravertocracy, and they remain vigilant in
belying to one extravert at a time all the filth and misrepresentation
they have been intdoctrinated with about introverts their entire life.
Further reading: Caring for Your Introvert by Jonathan Rauch, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200303/rauch