Comments on: Recurring Themes, Part Seven: Categorical Contempt for Others

By: E

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:39:43 +0000

My knee jerk reaction was to agree with the darker view – George Carlin’s “picture the average American and then realize fifty percent of the people are even dumber.” But you’re right: lashing out won’t help, or at least it hasn’t often helped me. Or most of the environments in which this kind of contempt for someone’s intellect has been leveled. I have learned this the hard way.

And where the trust isn’t given back, well, instead of giving the gas face give them the “Rubin.” Let your own Mrs. Underestimator know with grace that the mental box they have assigned you is too damned small.

To Rubin. That’s my new verb. Thanks.

By: Gabi Wan Kenobi

Gabi Wan Kenobi — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:46:50 +0000

Actually, I’m feeling as though you’re all condescending to me, because I have no fucking clue how to interpret any of this. In fact, I am SO much fuckin dumber than this Average Joe you speak of (I have never seen him in the news!!?!) that you would ALL hold me in high contempt if you met me in person. Further, I don’t think, I operate solely on base sexual urge instincts and the need for food. I ravage my fellow man for what I can plunder from him due to the fact that I am too fucking stoopid to get a job that doesn’t pay a lower-than-standard-of-living wage, which at this point of economic/environmental/social crisis in our world is probably anything under $150,000 a year.
Lastly, you may ask, “If you’re so gotdamn dumb, then how did you have the neural function to compose such a rant?” The answer is simple, but not as simple as my protozoal self. I employed my mother to write this. She has a Ph.D. in Literature and is generally pretty successful, whilst also being completely disappointed in me, because I am less functional than an atom whose electrons have spun off axis.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:02:34 +0000

Yeah, I don’t have that compassion gene. What can I say. My memory sucks too. But other than that I’d say you’ve pretty much got it.

Later, baby(gen)pop.

By: Roy Christopher

Roy Christopher — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:31:16 +0000

Well, Matt, everyone knows you’re above average in every aspect — except compassion, of course.

By the way, next time I see you, you’re getting popped for using the portmanteau abbreviation “genpop.”

-shudder-

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:13:19 +0000

I dig what you’re saying. Sometimes I have to shake myself out of those sorts of thoughts by thinking about how young I was (and must have looked) when I was doing/thinking any given Smart Type Thing.

Of course you realize the inapplicability of “In spite of what you tell yourself, you are not smarter than everyone else” to me – but since you write these things for the genpop I’ll overlook the obvious error…

By: Roy Christopher

Roy Christopher — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:13:38 +0000

As much I understand your argument, Chris, I guess I've just grown tired of the "no one thinks"/"everyone is stupid" attitude that I've seen so much of. No, everyone isn't smart, but must we chronically assume the opposite? That's all I wanted to bring to light. P.S. I have read Everything Bad is Good for You (I wrote a bit about it and Hip-hop a while back), and in fact referenced it above ("evidence to the contrary"). I appreciate its premise and Steven's arguments very much.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:05:06 +0000

I respect your faith in your fellow man, but I don’t share your high opinion of the intellect of Joe six-pack.

An “average” IQ is 100. Do you spend much time socializing with people who have an IQ of 100? The average American reads less than 1 book a year. Albert Einstein liked to say, “Not everything that counts can be measured, and not everything that can be measured counts.” IQ may not be the be-all-end-all, but taken in aggregate, it’s a good indication that “average” intelligence is a pretty dim bulb.

My late Uncle use to say, “The average Joe is a pretty sorry slob.” He was the son of a sharecropper, who became a self-made multi-millionaire entirely from working the stock market in his spare time, while working as a librarian. He was a smart man, and a really nice fellow, too.

But I try not practice contempt. Or, more charitably, I give people the benefit of the doubt. After all, there are worse things than being ignorant, or even being stupid. Some people are mean. Other people are smart and evil. I would prefer to avoid both.

Take the lady who came in looking for Neil Diamond, for example. I don’t know whether she’s smart or not (I suspect not), but she does sound mean.

P.S. Have you read “Everything Bad is Good for You” by Steven Berlin Johnson? If not, I think you might like it.