A small piece of snobbery

MemeLab@aol.com
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 14:56:21 EST

We all like to think that we can be beautiful, smart, and destined for much better things. It's a noble dream. But it is pathetic to see it turned into so much petty downlooking on others. It's the begining of complacent snobbery. If you do not like your position in the pecking order this kind of attitude could be your theme on a "comfortable" way down. (Lucifer Principle) Complacency is a waste of time. In addition to being sorta lewd - like yanking your genitals out in public.

Hmmm, lets see an "in-duh-vidual" named "Jethro" and a suggestion to "wear loose clothing". Yeah right. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to connect the dots. Pretty lame piece, but mildly amusing. Being a criminal defense lawyer, I have dealt with a few of your "in-duh-viduals". Yes they are out there. But it might surprise you that many of them can describe themselves much better than you can. Sometimes it is just that funny. Sometimes it is even funnier. And sometimes it just isn't.

Did I take this too seriously? Perhaps. But it was either that or take it as a joke, and that just wasn't as fun. In my frame of reference it just wasn't nearly as funny as reality and the fact that SOMEBODY must think this is funny. Now that's funny!

In a message dated 1/26/99 12:47:09 PM Central Standard Time, jr@shasta.com writes:

<< To paraphrase Scott Adams, who may well have outdone Prof. Minogue, "There are two types of people in the world: the bright and attractive people like yourself who participate in the Extropy mailing list, and the 6 billion idiots who get in our way. Since we're outnumbered, it's a good idea not to refer to them as idiots to their faces. A devious Extropy list reader suggested calling them 'In-duh-viduals' instead. The advantage to this word is that you can insult someone without risk of retribution. Example:

You: You're quite an Induhvidual, Jethro.

Jethro: Thank you.

"If you're not already surrounded by Induhviduals, you will be soon. New
ones are being born every minute, despite the complexity involved in breeding. Frankly, I think much of the procreation of Induhviduals happens purely by accident when two of them are trying to do something complicated -- like jump-start a car -- and they suddenly get confused. Whatever causes the breeding -- and I truly don't want to know the details -- it's safe to assume there will be more of it.

"The way I see it, you have three good strategies for thriving in a future
full of Induhviduals:

  1. Wear loose clothing and pretend your car battery is dead.
  2. Keep Induhviduals in your car so you can use the car-pool lane.
  3. Harness the stupidity of Induhviduals for your own financial gain.

"Option one is dangerous. I recommend that you stay away from anything that
involves Induhviduals, electricity, and sex. It's just common sense.

"Option two requires you to be in your car with Induhviduals for long
periods of time. There is a real risk that they will attempt to make conversation. That would negate any benefits you get from avoiding traffic congestion. And if you accidentally leave them in the car and forget to crack the window open, they'll die. You'll need more than one of those little Christmas-tree air fresheners to solve that problem.

"I recommend option three: Harness the stupidity of Induhviduals for your
own financial gain. In order to do that, you'll need to be able to anticipate their moves well in advance. This can be difficult, because the average Induhvidual does not anticipate his own moves in advance.

"If you asked the average Induhvidual about his plans, he'd say he has no
plans. But if you yanked the eight-track tape player out of that Induhvidual's Pinto and then repeatedly hit that average Induhvidual with it, you could make him confess that he has some plans, even if those plans are not very exciting:

AVERAGE INDUHVIDUAL'S PLANS

"Clearly, with a world full of people who have goals like that, most of the
things that happen in the future will not be the result of good planning. That makes the future difficult to predict. That's why you need to read this mail list."

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(Slightly) Paraphrased from _Dilbert Future, Thriving on Stupidity in The 21st Century_
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