Thoughts On Snobbery

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Shamelessly stolen from John Scalzi. Appropriate to many discussions on many message boards. I particularly like 6, 7, and 8.

 

Regarding Snobbery

NOVEMBER 30, 2011 BY JOHN SCALZI

 

Apropos of nothing in particular, a few thoughts on the subject of snobbery.

1. One is perfectly within one’s own prerogatives to feel snobby about things, if one feels invested in them in one way or another.

2. However, being a snob often makes one look like an ***hole.

3. It especially makes one look like an ***hole if the basis for one’s snobbery lacks an adequate foundation. For example, if despite rhetorical flourishes and handwaving, one’s critical thesis devolves to “This stuff is awesome because I like it; this stuff sucks because I don’t; those who like the things I do not are stupid,” then one will look like an ***hole.

4. If one’s critical thesis exhibits this level of foundational poverty, no amount of rhetorical flourish or handwaving will hide it. One’s pleasure at the presumed rhetorical cleverness will likely be noted, however, and added to the tally of things that make one look like an ***hole.

5. Likewise, gathering friends of like-minded snobbery and exegetic facility will not make your common critical thesis better. It merely means that as a group you enjoy the smell of your own farts. This is nice for you, and likely obvious to anyone outside your circle.

6. If one’s feeling of snobbery leads one to believe that one is in fact some way superior to those who do not hold the same snobbery, then one is at severe risk of crossing over from merely looking like an ***hole to actually being an ***hole.

7. A reason for this is that one is exhibiting a childishly binary way of looking at the world, and while that is fine for a child, who may not know better, one is an adult and should have the ability to exhibit complexity whilst thinking. Because it is polite to assume that an adult is, in fact, not stupid or incapable of complex thought, the maintenance of such a binary classification system relating to people suggests one might be an ***hole. There may be other reasons for this choice besides being an ***hole, but if Occam’s Razor teaches us anything, it is that the simplest explanation is often the correct one.

8. If one uses such simple, non-complex binary sorting to classify others as inferior in some manner, it does not make one any more of an ***hole, but it may mean that one’s sense of irony is not as finely tuned as one would hope.

9. If one declares oneself publicly to be a snob, then one actively invites scrutiny of the sort detailed above, often by those with the means to determine whether the snobbery proclaimed is warranted by anything other than one’s own estimation of self-worth. There are more of such people than you may expect.

10. It is worth considering what benefits one ultimately receives in declaring one’s snobbery. They may be fewer than one thinks.

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haha, good read

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[Guest bobjones]

Shamelessly stolen from John Scalzi. Appropriate to many discussions on many message boards. I particularly like 6, 7, and 8.

 

Regarding Snobbery

NOVEMBER 30, 2011 BY JOHN SCALZI

 

Apropos of nothing in particular, a few thoughts on the subject of snobbery.

1. One is perfectly within one’s own prerogatives to feel snobby about things, if one feels invested in them in one way or another.

2. However, being a snob often makes one look like an ***hole.

3. It especially makes one look like an ***hole if the basis for one’s snobbery lacks an adequate foundation. For example, if despite rhetorical flourishes and handwaving, one’s critical thesis devolves to “This stuff is awesome because I like it; this stuff sucks because I don’t; those who like the things I do not are stupid,” then one will look like an ***hole.

4. If one’s critical thesis exhibits this level of foundational poverty, no amount of rhetorical flourish or handwaving will hide it. One’s pleasure at the presumed rhetorical cleverness will likely be noted, however, and added to the tally of things that make one look like an ***hole.

5. Likewise, gathering friends of like-minded snobbery and exegetic facility will not make your common critical thesis better. It merely means that as a group you enjoy the smell of your own farts. This is nice for you, and likely obvious to anyone outside your circle.

6. If one’s feeling of snobbery leads one to believe that one is in fact some way superior to those who do not hold the same snobbery, then one is at severe risk of crossing over from merely looking like an ***hole to actually being an ***hole.

7. A reason for this is that one is exhibiting a childishly binary way of looking at the world, and while that is fine for a child, who may not know better, one is an adult and should have the ability to exhibit complexity whilst thinking. Because it is polite to assume that an adult is, in fact, not stupid or incapable of complex thought, the maintenance of such a binary classification system relating to people suggests one might be an ***hole. There may be other reasons for this choice besides being an ***hole, but if Occam’s Razor teaches us anything, it is that the simplest explanation is often the correct one.

8. If one uses such simple, non-complex binary sorting to classify others as inferior in some manner, it does not make one any more of an ***hole, but it may mean that one’s sense of irony is not as finely tuned as one would hope.

9. If one declares oneself publicly to be a snob, then one actively invites scrutiny of the sort detailed above, often by those with the means to determine whether the snobbery proclaimed is warranted by anything other than one’s own estimation of self-worth. There are more of such people than you may expect.

10. It is worth considering what benefits one ultimately receives in declaring one’s snobbery. They may be fewer than one thinks.