Is boasting bad? I think conservative values would say so, but I also think most people, conservative or not, indulge in their own way to some extent. It seems common or even encouraged to boast about obvious abilities.
Take a look at this youtube video of Brian Shaw deadlifting 973lbs. He is competing for the title of World's Strongest Man; nothing more than bragging rights. He has devoted his life, or at least a very sizable portion of it, to proving to the world that he is stronger than anyone else. Nobody seems to be offended by this. Look at the video comments; people are saying what a beast he is. It is impossible to deny what a beast he is, and that he is the world's strongest man, once he's set the record. There is no question.
Similarly, in a room of people, say a classroom or an office, you can look around and see who the strongest person in the room is. If this room full of people got bored and someone proposed an arm wrestling competition to kill time, nobody would be surprised when the big guy wins, and when he wins, probably nobody would take it the wrong way if he did a little celebratory touchdown dance in jest. Let's say a 200Lb Xerox machine needed to be moved across the room and set on a pedestal, and the big guy spoke up in a friendly manner; "I'm the strongest here, I'll take care of it," would anybody disagree or have their ego damaged? I doubt it
But, in areas that are not so obvious to everybody, like intelligence, it seems completely unacceptable to even insinuate that you might be the smartest person in the room, much less brag about it. Treading that ground will quickly have you labeled as a "know it all" and being described by a long list of adjectives like arrogant, conceited, vain, egocentric, etc.
Going back to our room full of people, if someone stood up and said "I'm the smartest person in the room; I'll tackle the complex feat of engineering," I'm sure the class would be unified in ostracizing whoever said that. People get their feelings hurt when you assert that you are smarter than them. They replace the idea of smarter, with better. "Oh, so you think you're better than me?"
Why? Why the special exception for smarter? Would a young woman, upon hearing the big guy's offer to move the Xerox machine, ask "Oh, so you think you're better than me?" No! Nobody construes what he said, because an assertion of strength isn't often confused with an assertion of superiority. But intelligence is.
Just because someone thinks (or knows) that they are smarter than someone else, does not mean that they think they are superior to that person. Intelligence is an attribute, just like height, skin color, bench press max, 100M dash time, visual acuity, clap speed, and how fast one can talk a woman into bed. It is a real attribute, but it seems to have been targeted by the general populace for inclusion into the Handicapper General's Laws of Equality. Nobody is allowed to be smarter than anyone else, unless you win the Nobel Prize in Physics. Then you can brag. But if not, you're no smarter than the next guy.
I understand half of the problem. I understand why people have trouble identifying who is smarter. It's only obvious to the smarter person. Imagine being an adult in a room full of 7 year olds. The 7 year olds see everybody the same, but you, being an adult, are acutely aware of the fact that you're the only person in the room who has the foresight to pee before you leave the house or pay the credit card bill before the end of the month.
Unless you are going to force everybody in your vicinity to submit to an IQ test and then throw your IQ score in their faces, you will just have to accept the fact that you won't always be given due credit for your standing in the hierarchy of intelligence.
The half that I don't understand is why every attempt one makes to affirm their own intelligence is perceived as an attempt to degrade someone else's, and why that perceived degradation is construed to be on the grounds of something more than a simple attribute - more, to the point of being on the grounds of one's value as a human being.
Note: This rant isn't spawned out of frustration with my own attempts to make my intelligence known. I'm sure it sounds that way, but it's actually just a life-long observation that I've only just now been interested in discussing. I have more conservative values and usually don't brag about intelligence or anything else. If I feel the need to be recognized, I usually just go pisss excellence and wait for the compliments to come rolling in
.
Take a look at this youtube video of Brian Shaw deadlifting 973lbs. He is competing for the title of World's Strongest Man; nothing more than bragging rights. He has devoted his life, or at least a very sizable portion of it, to proving to the world that he is stronger than anyone else. Nobody seems to be offended by this. Look at the video comments; people are saying what a beast he is. It is impossible to deny what a beast he is, and that he is the world's strongest man, once he's set the record. There is no question.
Similarly, in a room of people, say a classroom or an office, you can look around and see who the strongest person in the room is. If this room full of people got bored and someone proposed an arm wrestling competition to kill time, nobody would be surprised when the big guy wins, and when he wins, probably nobody would take it the wrong way if he did a little celebratory touchdown dance in jest. Let's say a 200Lb Xerox machine needed to be moved across the room and set on a pedestal, and the big guy spoke up in a friendly manner; "I'm the strongest here, I'll take care of it," would anybody disagree or have their ego damaged? I doubt it
But, in areas that are not so obvious to everybody, like intelligence, it seems completely unacceptable to even insinuate that you might be the smartest person in the room, much less brag about it. Treading that ground will quickly have you labeled as a "know it all" and being described by a long list of adjectives like arrogant, conceited, vain, egocentric, etc.
Going back to our room full of people, if someone stood up and said "I'm the smartest person in the room; I'll tackle the complex feat of engineering," I'm sure the class would be unified in ostracizing whoever said that. People get their feelings hurt when you assert that you are smarter than them. They replace the idea of smarter, with better. "Oh, so you think you're better than me?"
Why? Why the special exception for smarter? Would a young woman, upon hearing the big guy's offer to move the Xerox machine, ask "Oh, so you think you're better than me?" No! Nobody construes what he said, because an assertion of strength isn't often confused with an assertion of superiority. But intelligence is.
Just because someone thinks (or knows) that they are smarter than someone else, does not mean that they think they are superior to that person. Intelligence is an attribute, just like height, skin color, bench press max, 100M dash time, visual acuity, clap speed, and how fast one can talk a woman into bed. It is a real attribute, but it seems to have been targeted by the general populace for inclusion into the Handicapper General's Laws of Equality. Nobody is allowed to be smarter than anyone else, unless you win the Nobel Prize in Physics. Then you can brag. But if not, you're no smarter than the next guy.
I understand half of the problem. I understand why people have trouble identifying who is smarter. It's only obvious to the smarter person. Imagine being an adult in a room full of 7 year olds. The 7 year olds see everybody the same, but you, being an adult, are acutely aware of the fact that you're the only person in the room who has the foresight to pee before you leave the house or pay the credit card bill before the end of the month.
Unless you are going to force everybody in your vicinity to submit to an IQ test and then throw your IQ score in their faces, you will just have to accept the fact that you won't always be given due credit for your standing in the hierarchy of intelligence.
The half that I don't understand is why every attempt one makes to affirm their own intelligence is perceived as an attempt to degrade someone else's, and why that perceived degradation is construed to be on the grounds of something more than a simple attribute - more, to the point of being on the grounds of one's value as a human being.
Note: This rant isn't spawned out of frustration with my own attempts to make my intelligence known. I'm sure it sounds that way, but it's actually just a life-long observation that I've only just now been interested in discussing. I have more conservative values and usually don't brag about intelligence or anything else. If I feel the need to be recognized, I usually just go pisss excellence and wait for the compliments to come rolling in
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