On 7/20/09 7:07 PM, "Deepa Mohan" <mohande...@gmail.com> wrote: > > We also have the culture of "kill-the-messenger"...the person who proves you > an idiot is, in a reflex reaction, "proved" to be an idiot hesself, and > hence, incapable of passing judgement on us or our work. The > not-so-good-friend who says pleasant things (or even damns with faint > praise) gets away with it, and is, indeed, appreciated for hes > "compliments". > > Each of us prides ourselves on, and is vain about, something..intelligence, > looks, breeding, wealth, connections, power...and it's difficult to take > when one is exposed as a fool.
I have had "narrow escapes" of being called an "ass" and "pride" myself for not being called out yet - in mailing lists at least! (and hopefully won't be with this post). I do smirk when I see an idiotic post or people making, ahem, cardinal sins of email etiquettes. Mostly because, this soothes my ego that I may not be the most successful person among my peers/acquaintances, but at least I am not as bad as THAT guy. Which means, even though my life might be miserable, there is someone whose life is worse! And I also think, we are all caught out as "idiots" very early in life - that experience probably still rankles most people and hence they don't want to go through that again. - divya -- I blog at http://nimbupani.com/blog
