Sunday, April 02, 2006
The Danger Of Listening To Smart-Alecks
You meet them everywhere. They rub shoulders with you in class. They lead your CCA. They are the so called 'intellectuals' in your school. They argue with teachers on the 'intellectual' level, questioning things like school rules, law and order and civil liberties of students to tuck out their uniforms. They have huge masses of faithful followers subscribing to their divine opinions, and also the inevitable group of detractors who outcast them.
Who am I referring to?
Yes, the title mentions it. The term 'Smart-Aleck' is now antiquated, but the type of person it refers to is still very much a pest in society today, especially amongst the youth, and in the 'higher' levels of learning, especially junior colleges and unviersities, where opinions are flaming hot and firebrands are not in short supply. Anyone with a reasonably good command of the English language can straighten out their thoughts and publish them to the world in a spurt of literary venom, making them seemingly wise, and earning praise for 'expressing their views'. Rubbish.
Dictionary.com defines 'Smart-Aleck' as 'A person regarded as obnoxiously self-assertive'. In simple terms, it means 'a person that nobody can tahan, and everytime think they are right.' Let me take that one step further. The type of person I am referring to are those that talk a lot, communicate well, but worst of all, people believe them.
These are the type of people who grow up to be salesmen or their higher-class counterparts, 'marketing reps', and are so good at flowering their words that you'd happily buy a normal river pebble from them for $1000, believeing it has magical healing powers for that after-workout muscle ache of yours.
Well, I've encountered many such people, and can randomly shoot a few names off at will. Even my class has a few such character(s). So-and-so is so convincing, he/she can convince you that his $200 digital camera is better than your $900 model in every practical, usable way, and make you feel like you ought to throw yours away and get something like his model. Yep. Thats how good he is.
However, such bullshit will only fool others for a short amount of time. Anyone who takes what others say at face value is an idiot, and soon anything that cannot be validated, proven or felt will be exposed for being lousier-than-advertised.
Well, the point of this whole essay is to warn you against such people, and that in your respective social groups, classrooms or other circles, you should beware, sieve out and cancel out such people from your life. Don't listen to them; pretend to nod and agree just to get them to shut up, while shutting the gates to your mind very, very tightly. THEY ARE JUST A BUNCH OF BULLSHITTERS.
There. Finally got that off my chest. Go think about it =)
Now for those whose minds are whirring right now, you might think that I am one such person, and this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Ha, see, I can read your mind. Hey, this is mY blog, and I can run my mouth here. Like anyone living in a society that allows free speech, whether you choose to listen to me is entirely up to you, and I do not enforce this little "manifesto", and the accompanying statements and opinions, upon you, in any way whatsoever. There. There's that obligatory disclaimer. Booya! =)
But in my self defense, I assure you that I am nOt a smart-aleck, and you know that serious, non-joking issues are ranted about in my blog only when they keep nagging at me all the time.
The English word 'After' means 'anus' in German. Hmm.
jOhn thought at 3:47 PM
