Tuesday 2 December 2014

Five ways to deal with a FOOL!

You see them standing in front of you at the
grocery store. Maybe you've come across them
in your office, school -- or worse, even in your
extended family! They are...dumb people. And
unfortunately, they are everywhere. But that
doesn't mean you have to let them get to you or
spend hours being frustrated by their complete
inability to be rational human beings and to "get
it." You can't always ignore them, but you can
find an effective an un-soul-crushing way to deal
with them. So how do you do it? Just follow
along.
Lower your standards. This one is
tough, but very important. Part of the
reason that you may find yourself constantly
frustrated by the stupidity in the world is
because you expect everyone to be as smart
as you, your closest friends, or the people
you respect the most. However, as the
saying goes, "It takes all kinds of people to
make the world" -- and that includes stupid
ones! Remind yourself that the "average"
person isn't going to meet your high
expectations of how a person should think
and act, and lower your standards
accordingly.
If you don't expect people to be sharp,
respectful people, then you'll be
pleasantly surprised when they are --
instead of being constantly
disappointed when they don't meet
your expectations.
Understand that they may not have had
the advantages you had, genetically or
environmentally. Intelligence is largely
determined by genetics, but opportunities
can make a difference to overall "smarts."
One of the reasons you may be oh-so-smart
is because you came from a loving home,
got or are getting a good education, and that
you haven't been stuck having to take care
of family members, working a part-time job
in high school, or taking on other
responsibilities that kept you from spending
so much time becoming a smarty pants.
When a stupid person frustrates you, just
ask yourself if the person had all of the
opportunities you did -- chances are, you'll
see that this is not the case.
Intelligence is not determined by
education or family or wealth or love .
However, development of skills and
knowledge can be influenced by one's
life experiences and opportunities.
Reminding yourself to take each person
on a case-by-case basis will make
you less frustrated, because you'll stop
constantly asking yourself why this
person isn't acting just like you are.
Even if you are intelligent because you
got the genetic dice for it, that does not
mean you earned it or made yourself
intelligent, no more than a tall person
made themselves tall. Stupidity is
frustrating but you should neither feel
pity, nor anger at the stupid, nor feel
that you are obligated to them
somehow.
Understand that you won't be able to
change their minds. This is another
important point to get before you get yourself
mixed up with stupid people. You may think
that reason or sheer facts will win out every
time, and that a stupid person will walk away
thinking, "Wow, I never thought of it that
way..." after you've given him or her a
double-dose of logic. However, this is
unlikely to happen; if a person is dumb, then
he or she is also likely to be set in his or her
ways.
If you realize that, while you may have
very valid and reasonable opinions,
you won't be able to convince a stupid
person of your point of view very
easily, then you will stop trying. And if
you stop trying to make a stupid
person see your point, then you will be
much less likely to get frustrated.
Remember that your goal is not to
make the stupid person agree with you;
it's to make yourself stay calm and
sane while dealing with him or her.
Don't judge a fish by its ability to climb
a tree. As Albert Einstein once said,
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a
fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its
whole life believing that it is stupid.” This
means that you should consider the fact that
the person you're dealing with isn't really
dumb, though he or she may be dumb in the
one or two areas where you expect him to
be smart. The girl in your math class who
can't add may be a wonderful poet; the
person who can't get your latte order right
may be a killer musician. Stop thinking that
there's only one way to be smart or dumb
and you'll start to see that people are
capable of more than you think. [2]
Think about it: if people can be only
smart or dumb in one regard, then
there may be people out there who
don't think YOU are very smart. And
that can't be true, can it?
Try to see any situation from their
perspective. Another way to change
your approach to dumb people is to consider
the situation from their points of view. Sure,
you may think that there's only one way to
view gun control, or that you just have to be
right about being a vegetarian, but before
you get set in your ways, make sure you
have a reasonable grasp of the argument
from the other side, and try to see that there
really may be another side of the story.
Also, seeing where the person is
coming from can help you understand
his or her world view -- if he grew up
in a very conservative area while you
grew up in Berkeley, then yeah, you're
not going to see eye-to-eye on all of
the issues.
Arm yourself with knowledge.
Knowledge is power. Especially when
you're dealing with people who don't have
any. If you want to deal with dumb people to
the best of your ability, then you should get
your facts straight. Read as much as you
can, listen to informative podcasts, watch
and read the news, and make sure you have
a firm grasp of a concept before you start
arguing about it. The more facts, statistics,
and talking points you know, the easier you'll
be able to shut a stupid person down.
Though your goal shouldn't necessarily
be to prove that you're right when
you're talking to a dumb person
(what's the point, anyway?), the more
the person sees that you've done your
research, the less likely he'll be to
engage with you.

No comments:

Post a Comment

ads