pseudo-intellectuals
As someone who hates stupid people, there’s a confusing group of people which I especially hate that I’ve probably talked about briefly before. They seem at first to know what they are doing, having a general grasp of whatever the topic is at hand. However, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding in this case is the problem, it’s a couple weeks old and it’s presumably housing more strains of bacteria than Paris Hilton’s snatch. In other words, it’s crap. They know the basics but they couldn’t tell you why, a general lack of detail.
Then there’s another serious problem with the pseudo-intellectual types, often times they’ll be discussing their opinion on something and they will be completely wrong about the subject. You can try confronting them, although this likely won’t work as the pseudo-intellectual types are typically unable to understand the “why” part of things. Why something is bad, untrue, or even just plain fucked up. To this type of person, things just “are”, sometimes to the point where it’s almost insulting to be around them.
Things like this are common:
PI: Why do you like X? Z is better.
Me: A legitimate reason for liking X.
PI: Z is better.
Me: Whatever.
The knowledge is bare minimal like someone who studied not to do well, but to get by. On the other hand, I don’t even study. A refusal to even understand why you think what you do is common. A general stubbornness towards truth or alternative ideas seems to go along with that.
The worst is when this type of person ends up in a position of power. In general their lack of understanding and stubbornness towards anything contrary to their beliefs will mean that they are incapable of understanding how other people around them think. There is no compromise with this type of person, not because they disagree with the concept but because they are incapable of understanding why they it’s necessary in the first place. They are always right.
In general most true intellectuals that I seem to come across have a sort of way about them, they can generally come up with solutions that no one else would have thought of, things to this extent. Pseudo-intellectuals barely do more than copy what they see others do, this includes things that they see true intellectuals do, though they would probably never acknowledge that person has any advantage over them, even if it’s weighted advantage. Meaning, they’re super good at one thing, and really bad at another (many people with actual unique talents are like this from my experience).
It’s unfortunate that in this world full of bullshit that some people like this are able to prosper, albeit for the most part to a self-limited extent. There’s always the lucky ones. I guess it’s no surprise, it’s this kind of thinking that leads to many of the stupid ideas of the past and present. If you never ponder “why”, things like religion all of the sudden start to make a lot more sense. The one-size-fits-all answer is this person’s sustenance. They thrive off it, as this type of answer basically means to them “why should anyone disagree with me?” And I know why.
They are inferior follower types who usually portray themselves as leaders. Even if they are in a position of power, this type of person is inevitably leeching knowledge from others around them. Since they rarely have an educated opinion, they generally don’t offer any good new ideas, preferring to keep things as they are, as this is most comfortable to them.
I’ll be damned if this type of person expects me to legitimately acknowledge them in any sort of manner, regardless of the situation. That’s exactly the type of confirmation that allows such a person to thrive in the first place. I refuse to let such stupidity thrive. I generally stick to my ideas if the opposing argument is weak, even if action has been taken to try and prevent me from doing so. This isn’t malicious by any means, rather since I am never able to come to an agreement with such a person, it is often better to simply pretend things are that way while I quietly go on doing things my way. This seems to lead to less confrontation with such individuals but does nothing in dropping them down a notch, which is probably what these people really need in order to understand those around them.
I’m also sick and tired of people who are randomly assholes about certain things for absolutely no reason. Some of them may be pseudo-intellectuals, but this isn’t really a requirement. For example, I’ll ask this type of person a legitimate question and they’ll respond with some sort of smart ass reply or otherwise inappropriate rudeness. Where as, I may have just asked them a question a few minutes before and they were being perfectly normal.
I’m sorry but it’s not my problem that you’re a pissy fuckwad, take your anger out on someone else. I need to start keeping track of stuff like this, especially considering the places where some of this occurred, harassment lawsuits here we come.
That’s another thing which pisses me off, frivolous harassment lawsuits, but I think I’ll save that one for another time.