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Lecture Time - Ignore at Your Leisure
As I've put the finishing touches on Suck Free Poetry Volume 2: Prelude to a Battle of Wits and ready it to send the the printer on Monday the 29th I've had a bit more time to poke around and consider my plans for publishing a collection of poets next year about this time which has had me looking at work and reading critique and thinking.
What I've been thinking is simple:
"Why are people generally idiots?"
I don't have a good answer, just a theory and a lot of observational evidence that generally people are idiots. They are idiotic in their arrogance. They are idiotic in protecting their sycophants. They are idiotic in claiming competence in areas in which they suck. Intellectually I understand all of this and I even understand the reasoning behind it.
My theory? It all comes down to a poor response to insecurity. I have a secret; everyone is insecure. What matters is not the feeling of insecurity, it's the reaction to those feelings.
If you need people to tell you how wonderful you are, it's a bad sign. If you feel you have to tear others down in order to make yourself look good, it's a bad sign. If you feel you have to pretend ability when you could not rent a clue, it's a bad sign. And if you take any criticism of any kind as a vicious and personally directed attack and thus self-destruct and drag your fellow idiots into a fight; drop me a line. You're my playground.
This is where we return to the theme that I am not a nice person. Got it. I gave up being nice when nice included thanking people for abuse of myself or others.
Back to the lecture. So even though I understand the issue intellectually, I cannot understand it emotionally. Emotionally it seems to be nothing more the holding your breath until you turn blue. I'm not asking you to stop, just stop doing it around me.
And that should explain to people why I respond the way I do when I witness such behaviour. I am not looking to fix anyone or help them grow or prove them wrong or win a chat war or anything else other than teach them, as quickly as possible, that they will not enjoy the results should they behave in their "natural" manner around me.
If all I accomplish is to give one person a pause one time, good. As I know I have had that effect on people, I see my method to be validated and will continue it.
Others like to work in what they view as a more positive manner, encouraging rather than discouraging. The issue, as I see it, is that they encourage everything, even the bad behaviour and that is just, wait for it, idiotic. You want reasonable discussion? I'll encourage the hell out of you. You want to throw a tantrum? Pound sand and I'll do my level best to make you regret it.
So what to do?
I have no idea. I'll continue on my path until it's demonstrated it is not effective and since the very least that I have accomplished to date is to get certain idiots to avoid me, I'm guessing my path is secure for a while. As a result some people will hate me. Good, it means they will leave me the hell alone.
Occasionally one of the people who hate me will decide they will give me what for.
Even better because then I feel justified in kicking their metaphorical ass and I do as they are looking to be taken seriously and I am only looking for sport.
And that's the other secret folks. I don't take the interactions seriously and I don't attack, I respond. I'm the THEN clause because all I want is to be left the hell in peace and have people observe common decency in their behavior towards others but there is always that person who just has to throw a tantrum because their response to their insecurity demands undeserved consideration.
It's because people are generally idiots.
Not me, of course, I'm special.
What I've been thinking is simple:
"Why are people generally idiots?"
I don't have a good answer, just a theory and a lot of observational evidence that generally people are idiots. They are idiotic in their arrogance. They are idiotic in protecting their sycophants. They are idiotic in claiming competence in areas in which they suck. Intellectually I understand all of this and I even understand the reasoning behind it.
My theory? It all comes down to a poor response to insecurity. I have a secret; everyone is insecure. What matters is not the feeling of insecurity, it's the reaction to those feelings.
If you need people to tell you how wonderful you are, it's a bad sign. If you feel you have to tear others down in order to make yourself look good, it's a bad sign. If you feel you have to pretend ability when you could not rent a clue, it's a bad sign. And if you take any criticism of any kind as a vicious and personally directed attack and thus self-destruct and drag your fellow idiots into a fight; drop me a line. You're my playground.
This is where we return to the theme that I am not a nice person. Got it. I gave up being nice when nice included thanking people for abuse of myself or others.
Back to the lecture. So even though I understand the issue intellectually, I cannot understand it emotionally. Emotionally it seems to be nothing more the holding your breath until you turn blue. I'm not asking you to stop, just stop doing it around me.
And that should explain to people why I respond the way I do when I witness such behaviour. I am not looking to fix anyone or help them grow or prove them wrong or win a chat war or anything else other than teach them, as quickly as possible, that they will not enjoy the results should they behave in their "natural" manner around me.
If all I accomplish is to give one person a pause one time, good. As I know I have had that effect on people, I see my method to be validated and will continue it.
Others like to work in what they view as a more positive manner, encouraging rather than discouraging. The issue, as I see it, is that they encourage everything, even the bad behaviour and that is just, wait for it, idiotic. You want reasonable discussion? I'll encourage the hell out of you. You want to throw a tantrum? Pound sand and I'll do my level best to make you regret it.
So what to do?
I have no idea. I'll continue on my path until it's demonstrated it is not effective and since the very least that I have accomplished to date is to get certain idiots to avoid me, I'm guessing my path is secure for a while. As a result some people will hate me. Good, it means they will leave me the hell alone.
Occasionally one of the people who hate me will decide they will give me what for.
Even better because then I feel justified in kicking their metaphorical ass and I do as they are looking to be taken seriously and I am only looking for sport.
And that's the other secret folks. I don't take the interactions seriously and I don't attack, I respond. I'm the THEN clause because all I want is to be left the hell in peace and have people observe common decency in their behavior towards others but there is always that person who just has to throw a tantrum because their response to their insecurity demands undeserved consideration.
It's because people are generally idiots.
Not me, of course, I'm special.