Category: Let's talk
Hello all,
Whether it's a survey question on here or a friend's questionnaire on my facebook feed, I'm becoming largely fed up with reading that the one thing that irritates individuals are the supposed ignorance or misunderstandings of others.
Example:
50. What bothers you the most? (Or some variant of)
A: Ignorance, stupid people
A: people who don't understand
A: people who can't think intelligently
A: ignorance
A: closed minded people
A: ignorance
A: besides the usual stuff like ignorance and liberals, nothing comes to mind
A: arrogant people who think they know everything
A: ignorance, finger-pointing by the Bible-thumpers, closed-minded people
A: people who watch CNN or FOX and don't think for themselves
A: people's stupidity
A: lack of intelligence
A: people who don't have open minds
A: arrogance
[All of these answers were more or less just taken from the many surveys I've seen around, most of them from questions on my facebook feed]
I find most of these statements extremely ironic for a number of different reasons.
It's crystal clear that you, you oh-so open-minded, "intellectual" survey taker, hate ignorance and people who apparently can't think for themselves; and it's even clearer that you are just so above being human. You don't make snap judgements about people or occasionally make statements out of ignorance; you accept *everyone* with open arms and never, ever, ever discriminate against anyone with that ridiculously open mind of yours. You read ten different newspapers a day, always listen to NPR or some other deep news source, never watch CNN for your news; have an in-depth knowledge of current events and history and have never made any type of ignorant statement. Seriously; you must be perfect.
But ... that's just not true. Maybe you're too ignorant and naive to notice. Maybe not.
Perhaps most annoying of all, is that I find many of the people who complain about the ignorance of others, quite ignorant and naive themselves.
What does this say? I think, at least in part, it says that what's one thing to you might be something else to another.
I can't help but groan a bit when I read that someone doesn't like ignorance or arrogance, when in (my) opinion they can be, like (all) other human beings, quite ignorant and arrogant themselves.
Please stop telling us how you hate ignorance, lack of intelligence, arrogance, or closed minded people. Most people do, or they claim to. Even those that you or I consider ignorant and arrogant often say they hate the same thing. Thus, telling us how you hate ignorance, arrogance, unintelligent people, or closed-minded people really doesn't say very much. Except that you might just be a pseudo-intellectual snob.
Brice
Aah, so to recap your statement: What you hate most is ignorant people, or rather, ignorant people who say they hate ignorant people .. isn't that a bit ignorant of you, really?
":
What you hate most is ignorant people, or rather, ignorant people who say they hate ignorant people."
No. It's not. At least ... not exactly.
I'm sick of people, just general people, who say they hate ignorance or arrogance and closed-mindedness. It's a lot of meaningless nothingness; for what's ignorant to one might not be to another, and vice -versa. Saying "I can't stand closed-minded people!" means absolutely nothing, in part because those you hate for being closed-minded might very well think the same way of you. We all possess these qualities to greater or lesser degrees, at some point, on some stage. Even If we don't know it. Even me. Even you.
":
isn't that a bit ignorant of you, really?"
*grins* Perhaps it is. Perhaps it's not. That's not really where I was bringing this exactly, but it's valid nonetheless.
On those surveys I always say liars and people who are irresponsible and/or unkind. Frankly, I think this topic should be on the rant board.
The thing which really annoys me about ignorance and stupidity is the fact that two words which mean something totally different are treated as synonyms. Once again, we are seeing the degradation of the english language and usage. So Boo Ya!!!
Ignorance is not knowing about something because we haven't been exposed to it. Many of us are ignorant of the lifestyle of tibettan herders because, guess what, we don't live in that country and the only thing we know about lambs and sheep is that when prepared well, their meat is very tasty.
stupidity is the physical lack of intelligence and the inability to use common sense. Many of us are not born with the same mental acuity. So according to some we are stupid. Of course, this subjective view has a definite cultural bias. To a farmer, I would be considered stupid because I don't know or care about what feed those damn lambs and sheep must be given. If I don't admit my ignorance, and humbly ask for helpand just go out and give them, say a bunch of chocolate pudding, I appear to be stupid. Farmer jones will say "anyone with half a brain knows that sheep eat grass and weeds. is pudding a grass or weed?"
Hating ignorance is fine. "
Educating the ignorant is much more productive and useful.
Not respecting the stupid is totally wrong. You are asking someone to be and do something they are incapable of doing or being. lEach of us has our individual briliant points and our dark dumb recesses. Nurturing the positive while strengthening the weak areas is what friends and families should do.
I, like you, hate ignorant people who hate ignorant people. At least I think so.
Bob
I suppose that the only thing I can contribute is this thought, for what ever it's worth.
People don't have to like the very things that they can often be. I'm well aware that in some facets of life I am utterly ignorant, and I'm sure that some would consider me arrogant, however, if somebody were to ask me character traits that I don't like to see in others, I'm sure that ignorance and arrogance would be close to the top of the list. Though ignorance, on the proviso that it is meant in it's less traditional form for stupid. Apologies turricane, please don't hate me. *Grin*
The point though is that just because we're capable of being these things, doesn't, at least to my mind, invalidate them as answers. There's no rule that says we have to like everything that we are as people. I'm sure if you took the time right now you could quite easily think of something that you don't like about yourself. If you can't then congratulations. I certainly wish I were that lucky. But just because I can identify those less agreeable traits in myself, doesn't then mean that I shouldn't list them as things that I don't like in others.
I feel like I'm not explaining this train of thought particularly well I'm afraid but there it is.
Dan.
Dan, I was going to say pretty much what you said. I have found that many people hate characteristics in others that they themselves have but don't recognize. This brings to mind a humorous situation that happened a couple years ago at work. While eating lunch with other staff members, one woman was going on and on and on about a particular subject and simply would not drop it no matter how many people tried changing the subject. Later that day I was complaining about her and apparently going on and on about it. I said how I hate people who can't let a subject drop, and my friend pointed out to me that I was doing the same thing. We both had a good laugh, and as I thought about it, I realized that maybe I have some of the same tendencies or characteristics that I can't stand in others.
Regarding ignorance and arrogance, I believe those two traits are things that most people recognize in others but never in themselves. I've never heard anyone admit to being ignorant or arrogant, yet we all can be both. Everyone is ignorant about some topics, and everyone is arrogant at some times. Of course there are people who are just plain stupid all the time and people who are arrogant all of the time, but I believe most of us are both of these things some of the time.
libra lady and harp, you guys are geniuses. i totally agree. the things which annoy us about others, are often the things about ourselves we don't like.
arrogance often is confused with self confidence. if a person is comfortable with their skin, then, if you like and respect them, they are self confident, and if you don't they are arrogant. at least that has been my experience.
Like one a my life long friends says, you spot it you got it! grin