Why do think those who display "excellent knowledge" are always shot down?

[konkikushuro]

Me and a close friend were talking about somethings... and then she asked this:

why is it that those who think are always shot down by there peers..?

So i thought for a bit... and this is what I thought on it.


The way I see it; in this world human emotions seem to be the controller instead of the mind, we as humans are often controlled by our morals or emotions, like me for example. When our emotions get the better of us we tend to do things most people are doing now. Or it could simply be a difference in priorities or thought process. Maybe it could be that, because mainly knowledge can be seen as a threat; as nowadays people who are smart are seen as deadly: look at the Holocaust; that is what a smart man with enough hatred can do. Maybe it's just people liking ignorance, or arrogance, or it's possibly a human make up some people don't have. There is this one black guy in my High School Reading Class; he is always making threats to "get off his back" whenever the class corrects him, and he always thinks he right.


It could be embarrassment, when I'm wrong, i hate to admit it, or even be pointed out on a mistake, or when a teacher decides to go against me for something i feel i have the proper rights for or am just picked out for the simplest thing, it offends me. Embarrassment can come from many things; including being outsmarted or being in the same room with someone who appears "smarter" than you. Honestly; I'd think of it as one person being angry or jealous at the other for having the same thing; only better. Like a girl with a flat chest being jealous of a girl with a huge chest who gets stalked by guys and is very popular.


Plus let's face it; to most guys a ditz, blonde, [woman who sleeps with multiple guys] , or otherwise, stupid/cute girls is ALWAYS popular. One of my friends (yes I'm pointing you out you know who you are) gets lots of comments, mainly because she's cute, and she doesn't display that much intelligence. (okay that's going a bit too far...) She also gets massive points for being able to sound super cute and sparkly, think of it as what most of the anti-Japanese culture fools of today call: Desu-Desu nonsense. Hana Minx gets TONS OF VIEWS AND FANS... and do you know why? not because of her Japanese knowledge, it's because of her MELONS, yes I said it; she has BIG BOOBS... they stick out like a black man in a crowd of Asians; you CAN'T ignore them, and I think she knows this specifically.

(Yes I am black so please don't go saying anything alright?)

What do you think?

Clarification: The question is asking why do you think those who show they are "smart" are always insulted or exiled.
(I keep forgetting this is AF, unique from the other web communities I've been in where they actually can read walls of text unlike other forums who always complain about them.)

[CrimsonMoon]

By shot down, do you mean killed? Your examples help to makes things clearer, but I don't see the example where people are shot down, except for the Holocaust. As for your question, people who display excellent knowledge are sometimes killed. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, they were all killed. I think it's because of what you said. Human anger, disappointment, jealousy, greed, fear; they all lead to irrational behaviour.

[Eris]

Your wall of text is unreadable. Jesus tap-dancing Christ, learn to use paragraphs!

[konkikushuro]

By shot down, do you mean killed? Your examples help to makes things clearer, but I don't see the example where people are shot down, except for the Holocaust. As for your question, people who display excellent knowledge are sometimes killed. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, John Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, they were all killed. I think it's because of what you said. Human anger, disappointment, jealousy, greed, fear; they all lead to irrational behaviour.

When i said shot down, I meant as in insulted, or pretty much ridiculed, like in my School: 95% of the students always say something about someone being "smart" it's as if the only thing that matters... is who can "get the most girls" but then again this is Illinois, and America....so I guess I should be used to it by now?

[SakuraKiss13]

Well.. Not really the situation in my previous class.. It was the opposite.

[CrimsonMoon]

When i said shot down, I meant as in insulted, or pretty much ridiculed, like in my School: 95% of the students always say something about someone being "smart" it's as if the only thing that matters... is who can "get the most girls" but then again this is Illinois, and America....so I guess I should be used to it by now?

Lol, my bad, I really thought you meant they were killed, I feel like a dork now. o.o Some are insulted because of those human emotions that I said earlier. Others make fun of other kids just for the heck of it. In real life (at least in my school), geeks or nerds are often bullied. I think people think it's fun to bully them because they're weak and they cannot do anything about it. They fear retaliation, so they don't do anything. This is why bullying cases just increase. To bullies, insults are necessary to boost their ego as well as to make others know they're 'boss', sorta like that.

[sunnyside]

When i said shot down, I meant as in insulted, or pretty much ridiculed, like in my School: 95% of the students always say something about someone being "smart" it's as if the only thing that matters... is who can "get the most girls" but then again this is Illinois, and America....so I guess I should be used to it by now?

Oooh. That is sadly a cultural thing, and a big problem for the country. And it isn't true everywhere.

Well.. Not really the situation in my previous class.. It was the opposite.

In case you guys are new to the meme side of the internet, there are some stereotypes in play here. Now, usually stereotypes are about being mean. However there's a weird thing going on with the Asian stereotype thing where the west is sort of picking on them, while realizing that the western stereotype is actually the stupid one.

[Ravin]

Because humans are stupid and they dont see the worth of knowledge

[Cantelope]

If you're being insulted/outcasted, it's not because you're smart, it's because you're a loser. Face it.

[Miss Moonlight]

Well, if they really are actually smart, they more than likely will make the less intelligent kids feel insecure and not as smart, so attacking them is usually the plan.

[Kaleohano]

Speaking of intelligence


Personally, i'm one who thinks with his head more often than not. There are only few situations where I go by emotions. And my ideas and opinions do seem to get frowned upon. In other words, i'd be good for government.
As far as why my ideas are rejected, its cuz most logical things tend to go against the emotional response which most people can't get over. They can't find anything good in say for example a tragedy of some sorts.

A bomb takes out an important enemy base but kills a few civilians as well.
Emotional Response: "You can't be killing civilians! You're terrible!" end...
My (Logical) Response: "Killing the civilians was unfortunate and should be avoided, but that base had to be destroyed. It'll pay off in the long run."

The emotional response will only show you one side of any argument/situation whereas a logical one will look at all sides of it.

not entirely sure if i'm off topic right now...
however,

[Thefringedninja]

Generally, I think that being highly intellegent often comes with difficulty fitting in socially. For example, Einstein was a true genius, but suffered with autism, which caused him to be socially stunted. Therefore, it's not hard to understand why some smart people are austracised. Also, a higher level of knowledge often comes with strong opinions, which may be unpopular with others.

---------- Post added at 03:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 PM ----------

Personally, i'm one who thinks with his head more often than not. There are only few situations where I go by emotions. And my ideas and opinions do seem to get frowned upon.

Sorry, but since when is the 'emotional' response not using your head? Surely, thinking emotionally can be beneficial in the long run as it allows you to empathise with others and to see all the aspects of a situation through the eyes of others.

[Kaleohano]

Sorry, but since when is the 'emotional' response not using your head? Surely, thinking emotionally can be beneficial in the long run as it allows you to empathise with others and to see all the aspects of a situation through the eyes of others.

If you're looking at all sides, then it is not emotional, its logical. Emotional means you're acting according to how YOU feel. Logical looks at the situation and its various outcomes. Why do they always say you should stay "level headed?" They say it because using your emotions will more often than not yield bad results.

On a 2 stroke dirt bike, your emotional response to make it go fast would be to twist the throttle as far as possible very fast. Using logic however, you discover that this would only flood the bike causing it to lose power and possibly die. So through logic, you'll gradually increase the amount of throttle you're giving the bike to maximize its performance.

argue as much as you'd like. There is no end of examples that'll prove why using our emotions to make decisions is both childish and ineffective.

[Explorer Oak]

Oooo i dunno lemme ask teh smert persan over tere. I think we should look to see what would happen to our country should emos get to sit it the big kid chair. First thing they would do, all razor blades, nooses and on shot pistols half-off. Also, suicide is no longer frowned upon so visit your local bridge and get in line!

[Eris]

Well, if they really are actually smart, they more than likely will make the less intelligent kids feel insecure and not as smart, so attacking them is usually the plan.

Though most non-autistic intelligent people will realize they're surrounded by a bunch of half-wits, and adjust their communication to their level. It's a lot like how you use short words and simple concepts when you talk to young children.

Generally, I think that being highly intellegent often comes with difficulty fitting in socially. For example, Einstein was a true genius, but suffered with autism, which caused him to be socially stunted. Therefore, it's not hard to understand why some smart people are austracised. Also, a higher level of knowledge often comes with strong opinions, which may be unpopular with others.

No he did not. An unbelievable amount of crap is attributed to this guy that are simply not true. He was a very successful physicist, and like most physicists before and after him, he built upon the work of others. Nothing more, nothing less. Not the smartest person ever. Not the most successful physicist ever. Just a successful physicist.

[Hakoshi]

I guess people never show their true intelligence because, knowing too much is, too scary.
and knowing to little is also scary.
In short, people are afraid of being smart...

[Datenshi]

It's important to keep in mind that the kind of attributes that are valued by people (and what aren't) depends a lot on the situation and the type of people you associate with (to take a rather extreme example; in a primitive society that sustains itself on hunting, it's only natural that being good at throwing a spear would be highly valued over the ability to engage in high level mathematics).

Now, being that, I take it, you are still in junior-high or high school (which is filled with hormone-crazed teenagers) it is only natural that large chests will be valued over intelligence in that particular environment. And although that may seem like the extent of the entire world to you now, you'll find that if you move on to a different environment (like a decent university or an intellectually challenging career) you'll meet people with wildly different values about what sorts of attributes matter.

So if you feel like your intelligence is being undervalued now, the only concrete advice I can give you is to try your best to move out of that particular situation to somewhere where you can associate with smarter people. If that fails, then unfortunately, you weren't as smart as you thought you were in the first place.

[Eris]

I guess people never show their true intelligence because, knowing too much is, too scary.
and knowing to little is also scary.
In short, people are afraid of being smart...

It's more a matter of not rubbing it in people's faces. Nobody likes people that do that.

Successful smart people don't rub it in.

[Light Buster]

Simple, people don't think of the cons to their plans.

[Miss Moonlight]

It's more a matter of not rubbing it in people's faces. Nobody likes people that do that.

Successful smart people don't rub it in.

Sure they do! how else are people supposed to know you're a genius because you're in mensa and you have an IQ of 9 billion, and this mensa card that I bought shows it, see, IT'S ON MY WEBSITE

-- People who actually brag about paying for a membership card that shows they have an IQ that's supposed to prove I R BETTER THAN YOU.

Then again, that's kind of missing the "successful" part, since a lot of the people who are in Mensa seem to be in it for show, and not all of them have fantastic achievements. (Or any.)

[Ayu 「あゆ」]

To answer the OP, we as human beings are resistance to change, and not only that, we have trouble accepting anything new being introduced into the already well-accepted known workings of the World. We gather in packs and we isolate those who are different. It's always been this way: People don't like change, and we despise those who are different from us.

[Eris]

Sure they do! how else are people supposed to know you're a genius because you're in mensa and you have an IQ of 9 billion, and this mensa card that I bought shows it, see, IT'S ON MY WEBSITE

-- People who actually brag about paying for a membership card that shows they have an IQ that's supposed to prove I R BETTER THAN YOU.

Then again, that's kind of missing the "successful" part, since a lot of the people who are in Mensa seem to be in it for show, and not all of them have fantastic achievements. (Or any.)

You can rub it in once you've actually accomplish anything. In the end, intelligence is potential. You may be a smart nothing, but you're still nothing if you don't actually do anything with it.

[Nion]

Am I the only one that doesn't understand why the OP brought up their own race? I don't think race has any direct correlation with the topic at all.

On topic though, a lot of people here have already touched based with what I believe, such as people being afraid of intelligent people. It's true, I guess people are threatened by people who are intelligent, which means not only are many people well... not intelligent compared to the genius we celebrate, but they're also insecure.

Just gotta be confident and be good-natured as well, some problems I've seen are that intelligence is gained through interest in some things but reinforced with negative childhood experiences, so they become bitter people who are intelligent but nobody will respect them because they're become bitter, unpleasant people.

[Haoie]

Here in NZ we call it 'tall poppy syndrome'. Exceptional people are, so to speak, cut down to size.

[Xelious23]

I thought intelligent people were praised :/