What do you think of people thinking they're better than the others?

Well “them” is a pretty broad description, but I get the idea.

My mother had a crude phrase that sums it up nicely, “They think their shit’s ice cream”.

So long as “they” have no immediate authoritative power over me, I pay them little attention. It’s almost comical, because you know they’re dillusional.

If they think it and they are correct, well I guess it figures.
If they think it but they are incorrect, they will eventually face a reckoning.
If they think it but they are incorrect and they wind up being President, I really dislike them.

I think I’m better than people that think that way ~

Since I can’t change what people think of themselves, why would I let it concern me?

I understand that those people have self esteem issues.

I dislike those people to the extent that unless there is no choice but to put up with them, I choose deliberately to avoid them. They are vexing at best.

I really don’t care what any of you lowly plebs think.

I think I’m better than them.

I wonder how they don’t get tired of themselves, since everbody else is.

I keep them out of my space. I think they’re super shallow and ignorant. In our town it’s often based on perceived high income, it has always been that way around here and it’s so pretentious and dumb. They desire their neighbors to try and keep up with their possessions and vacations. I like real people. Not phonies with red manicures who can only talk shoes and purses. Lord; these people have toilets too.

Everybody does, at one time or another, and in certain circumstances. The very act of rebuking people who think they are better than others implies you think those who do not think they are better than others, are actually better than others.

It’s a sign of insecurity.

Nobody is “better” than anyone else, but we often ARE “better” than others behaviors.
I am not “better” than a murderer as a basic human life form, but I AM better than the behavior of murdering.
Death…the great equalizer, regardless of how attractive, successful, rich, esteemed, one is…we all end up in the same common grave.

I don’t see any point to thinking badly about anybody.

They always annoy me. Especially the ones that think they are smarter than everyone else. Like MENSAns.

But I have nothing to do with people like that, and thus avoid being annoyed.

@Wundayatta I disagree with the generalization you just made there. My Grandma was a MENSAn, but she was never full of shit. In fairness, they can’t all be that bad.

I don’t have a problem with people expressing themselves to be intelligent. Knowing you are a bright person isn’t always synonymous with arrogance. I mean really, it’s okay for people to brag about their addiction recoveries but it’s not okay to talk about being gifted and the challenges that come with high intelligence? I think there is a lot of prejudice against bright people talking about their brightness.

Why is intelligence seen as something that needs to be hidden?

@lightsourcetrickster I agree with that. My husband is a member of Mensa and he is the kindest, most helpful, friendliest man I know. My former husband was also a member.

Why would anyone think they were better than someone else? Mostly because it helps them feel better about themselves. But what is really important is if people agree with you. Because if you are perceived as better, then you have higher status, and if you have higher status, you get more resources and your choice of mates. So perhaps people think they are better than others because they are marketing themselves and trying to convince others to believe the same thing.

@lightsourcetrickster and @YARNLADY I’m sure your folks are very nice MENSAns, but I still am annoyed by people who think they are smarter than anyone else. And since MENSA is all about giving smart people a club where they have to prove they are smarter than everyone else in order to join, then that’s who those people are. And I’m afraid I haven’t made a generalization. I’ve just told you I’m annoyed by such people. You can’t disagree with that. That’s like telling me, no, I’m not annoyed.

Why is it that I make a statement about my feelings, and people think I’ve made a generalization? It is a fact that to get into MENSA, you must score a certain level on intelligence tests. It is a fact that that is the basis for this particular club. It annoys me when people choose to associate with each other based on that criteria: being able to score highly on intelligence tests. I would hope than anyone who was eligible to join the club would understand that. But perhaps not. Wouldn’t surprise me. Test taking is a useless way to sort people out.

Ok wait…you’re pissed at the people who ‘run’ the club not the people who are members of the club?

@wundayatta There really isn’t any difference in the attitude/value judgement of being able to achieve a certain score on an I. Q. test as a criteria than there is in being able to sing and joining a choir. Would that automatically mean the singer thinks he/she is better than everybody else.

How about a club of people who ride horses? Do they think they better than everybody else because of their horsemanship? How about a band? Do the musicians think they are better than everybody else because they can play a musical instrument.

What about members of The Great Books Of the World club. Do they automatically think they are better than everybody else because they read “Great Books”?

Your attitude/value judgement doesn’t make any sense. Members of clubs join because they have something in common, no matter what that attribute might be, and not because they think they are better than everyone else.

I agree with @YARNLADY I doubt I am Mensa material but I am a bright and curious person and finding like minded peers is difficult. If I were to join a club for highly intelligent people it would not be because I felt I was better than others, it would be to have the company of like minded others that had more interests than cleaning their houses and complaining about the people in their lives.
Hobby clubs and organizations like Mensa are designed to bring together like minded people IMO.

@YARNLADY I think that intelligence scores are a poor way to bring people together. First of all, I have no idea what being good at tests means you are really good at. It doesn’t tell me anything about your talents (except test taking), nor about your personality (except you’re a dweeb who is good at studying). It is, in my opinion, a horrible basis to bring people together on. I have no respect for people who like other people because they test well. I hate that attitude. I think it is smug and inhumane and shows a lot of signs of a lack of care for other humans.

I hate testing. I think testing is the lazy man’s way of evaluating others, and I totally reject the validity of testing. I think it is one of the major sins of our society and of all societies that do it. So I guess I look down on people who totally buy into testing, as signified by glorifying and fetishizing it, which is what MENSA does.

I understand why people test, but I think it’s stupid and lazy to give into the demand for product—human product—which is the motivation for testing. Testing is done so people can pretend they have an objective way to measure people one against the next and rank them. I hate the idea of ranking people. I think it is dysfunctional and inhumane. And MENSA stands for this process I hate and think ill-serves humanity. MENSA is the glorification of one of the most dysfunctional aspects of our society. So I find such people highly annoying. And the few who have broadcast their supposed super intelligence around me by proclaiming their membership in MENSA have struck me as peculiarly inadequate human beings, kvetching and complaining about how the world doesn’t treat them right. As if we owe anyone anything due to intelligence.

Uh-uh. Intelligence matters little, as far as I can tell. Being able to relate well counts for a lot more. Being able to do things, counts for a lot more. Being able to manage people counts for a lot more. Intelligence doesn’t seem to translate well into the things that count in life.

@wundayatta I dunno….IQ and EQ are two separate types of intelligence, but, in my experience those that are not the sharpest knives in the drawer are also less likely to have good emotional intelligence. Intelligence is a willingness to learn, grow and expand and this includes an earnest desire to work on all aspects of oneself.
Ignorance may be bliss for the ignorant but it is hell for those of us that require more stimulation than a Cocker Spaniel licking our faces. lol

@Coloma You may not be MENSA material, but you look to be far better off than most of the whiz kids I come in contact with. And those that test well, will not necessarily be interesting or entertaining to you. I’m all in favor of bright people who are humorous and can get things done. I’m just saying I don’t think that good test takers are going to be those people. In fact, I’ve found test taking nerds to be quite the opposite of what would most likely entertain you. They sure don’t entertain me.

But then, I’m a boring guy and am hardly entertained by anyone.

@wundayatta Yes, I am not a fan of test taking myself, and I do agree that social/emotional intelligence is far more important that simply stuffing ones head with facts and statistics.
Without good social and people skills all the IQ in the world really doesn’t matter.

@wundayatta Judging from many of the comments I have seen on Fluther, the users here are much more verbal in their belief that they are better than other Q & A sites, yet we don’t see that as a reason to not be a member of the collective.

Jellyies are very adept at making up derogatory names for other Q & A sites, and making derogatory comments about the users of other sites. They obviously believe they are better than the others. Are you going to refuse to use Fluther because the users actually exhibit the very things you accuse members of Mensa supposedly feel.

Does being able to give better, more intelligent answers to questions make you better than anyone else? After all, you do have one of the highest scores on Fluther.

@YARNLADY I’d never claim my answers were better or more intelligent. Perhaps I understand better what people are asking. Perhaps I can imagine the situation more fully. Perhaps I’ve been in more situations than others. Perhaps it’s dumb luck.

Most of the people in my life have been educated. Most of the work I’ve done has to do with politics and policy analysis or education. My father was a professor, so I guess that made me a professor’s brat. Maybe I’ve had the privilege of being around more educated people, but in all the years of my life, I only knew one who was a MENSAn. That person made such a big deal of it, and this was in a conversational salon. She was so full of herself, and just because she could test well. Her ideas were not interesting to me, and I kinda don’t think anyone else was that interested either.

However, I don’t think she was like that by accident. I think she joined MENSA because there were other people there who were like her—people who were impressed with her credentials and who had the same credentials.

I am not impressed with people who show off credentials. Credentials don’t mean anything to me. What means something is what a person can do. I want people to show me what they can do, not tell me they are smart. I’ve found that the people who show you what they can do are more reliable and more creative and generally more fun. The people who tell you how smart they are are boring and don’t do much.

People on fluther rarely brag. They just talk. They just do. They let their words speak for them. They don’t say they can do things. They describe what they have done. That’s a big difference.

There are people here from time to time who brag about their scores. Like I said. I’m not impressed. There are people here who tell really good stories. Now that impresses me.

If I’m lucky, then what people like about me is my stories. But no one ever said that. So I’m clueless as to my lurve situation. But I do know I am not better than anyone. I’m also not worse than anyone. We are all people and we all have stories to tell, and that’s what makes us interesting. I love the stories. And if someone can tell their story with panache, I like it even better.

@wundayatta Well said.