
The Dripping Sarcasm Voice - Mz
http://raisingfutureadults.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-dripping-sarcasm-voice.html
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penpapersw
I can relate too well with the author here with knowing more than others, but
I see it from a different perspective. From the perspective that there are
other forms of being smart besides knowledge. There is a bigger picture of
culture, which just means how we interact with the world and people around us,
and intelligence is only a small part of that.

Culture is hard. I thought it was just me at first, but I've been meeting more
and more people who just don't "fit in", and I think it's because they never
really "got" the culture around them.

And now I'm seeing it more and more in my children, the fact that some people
don't just naturally pick up the culture around them like others do. For some
it's harder to learn than others and takes more effort.

As I grow older I realize more and more of this was caused by me being an
arrogant kid. That arrogance stopped me from learning from around me because I
would be too focused on the thoughts inside my own head, believing them to be
more worthwhile than anything externally.

So I never picked up learning from the world around me during the time I was
supposed to, and I was decades late to the party. Case in point, I'm 31 and
only gave beer a real chance for the first time this year (conclusion: I like
it!).

And I've accidentally passed that on to my own children, the arrogance and the
cultural internalization. I just wish I had spent more time being quiet and
listening to the world around me than thinking too much.

Half the time I wasn't actually "smarter" than anyone around me even though I
thought I was, and the other half when I actually was, my intelligence did
more harm than good to myself.

Some of the people I look up to the very most are "ignorant" by the standards
I held myself to growing up (and maybe society did too). They're "uneducated
fools". But they're kind, patient, quiet and thoughtful, good listeners, meek
and humble, compassionate and understanding, forgiving. I find myself wanting
to be around them just because they're them, and wishing I was more like them.

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notburnt
:( This post rubs me wrong. Maybe because it's so centered on author while
purportedly under a parenting blog. Maybe because it's screaming that the
author is the type of "smart" person that gives them/(us?:)) a bad name.

To anyone nodding along to the post, because you are so special that you don't
have friends: "smart" people everywhere have gone through feeling isolated
from their age peers. Smarter people figure out how to navigate the shortfall
rather than increasing it. Feynman anyone?

As an aside, I have a kid starting kindergarten this year who's been
reading/writing for 2 years now. At home (and at pre-school by request) we
make it a point not to over-praise this.

Because I don't want one innate attribute warping his whole identity.

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stevejb
> I am still trying to figure out how to clearly, effectively and consistently
> communicate on the internet when I am being straight up serious and when I
> am kidding. I have yet to figure out an internet version of The Dripping
> Sarcasm Voice. That fact sometimes gets me into all kinds of trouble.

This is what /s is for.

I agree with the comments saying that this is quite self-congratulatory and
does not have must useful substance.

> With that incident in my past and still weighing heavily on my mind, in high
> school, I was painfully aware that many of my classmates simply did not have
> the background knowledge I had and this gap in knowledge about the world was
> growing with every single passing day as I continued to take yet more
> advanced classes.

I think that by the author's metric I would be considered "very smart". I've
taken and done well in many fancy classes. However the type of "smart" that
comes from classes is worth a lot less than one would think, and I think that
a lot of us learn that lesson much later in life than we would like.

There is a great scene in the movie "Captain Fantastic" where the eldest in a
homeschooled family lashes out and says "I don't know anything! If it doesn't
come from a book I don't know it at all!" This character was accepted to all
of the best universities, had a strong grasp of physics and philosophy, etc.
But, after a series of awkward social encounters, realized that they had some
deficiencies.

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lapsock
what the f did I just read

this sounds like the most upvoted /r/iamverysmart post of all time

~~~
johnfn
The problem with Reddit is that it's impossible for anyone to mention in any
way that they are more intelligent than average without a bombardment of "this
belongs on iamverysmart".

My theory of why this is is that most Reddittors have a bit of an inferiority
complex and when someone says they're intelligent they feel a need to prove
that they are better than that person somehow. This is just a theory mind you.
I'm not trying to analyze your behavior.

In any case, I hope we can do better than Reddit when discussing people who
claim to be more intelligent than most. Saying "iamverysmart" shuts down the
conversation completely without adding anything meaningful. Even if OP is
bragging (a sense I did not get), there are still things to learn from the
post.

~~~
stevejb
> The problem with Reddit is that it's impossible for anyone to mention in any
> way that they are more intelligent than average without a bombardment of
> "this belongs on iamverysmart".

I think that this is because intelligence is usually self evident. It is
similar to wealth; the people that tell you that they are rich are typically
not the wealthiest people you know. On Reddit, perhaps mentioning a relevant
professional qualification (e.g. being a lawyer).

~~~
johnfn
But how are you going to discuss the accoutrements of being intelligent
without admitting that yes, you are intelligent? (Wealth has the same
problem.)

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stevenh
I wonder if HN would benefit from some sort of informative flair or icon when
OP links to their own content.

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the_cat_kittles
come on. this is so self congratulatory. really?

