psyche

The sociology of a world in which we are all mindfucked and in which lies are almost always credible and people get away with everything is much more complex that I care to boast about.

Okay, firstly:

Fake Modesty
This is an important and prevalent device, which is also extremely annoying.

1: How was your Sociology exam?
2: It was okay but I know I’ve messed up every question because I’m really bad at Sociology.
1: But you said yesterday that you’ve consistently come top of your class in terms of test results, displaying extreme arrogance and tactlessness which was above the norm but low enough that it would look odd if I killed you.
2: Yeah… but… but… aw you got me, I can’t refute my own greatness.
1: *becomes enraged and then commits suicide*

2 is here using fake modesty and the following irrefutable paradox to boost their image (assuming there are other people).

I don’t know what it is about things but almost everyone (yes I know I do as well, don’t be a cynic) has such an inflated self-image that it’s unbearable but also consistently gets away with it. Hallmarks of this evil include:

• Responding to a speaker when they are addressing your group but not you specifically
• Being a dick
• Complimenting someone when they fail
• Falsely putting oneself down in the knowledge that people who are accustomed to telling the truth will refute it and boost your image
• Telling someone that “Person X is good at Y”, Y being something that the teller would like to be good at but has failed at. However, the teller has sufficient skill in, say, Z that the teller can appear to be accepting X’s power when in fact the teller is utilising a sort of fake modesty. “Oh I am terrible at Parapsychology. I’m only good at Sociology.” = “I tried and failed to compete with X’s natural/earned talent in Y, so I’m staying out of that theatre until I’ve done some revision, taken some tutoring, lied that I haven’t and then I can burst in and be a perfect little genius again.”

There are others but I’m murderously angry and thus cannot think straight or retrieve them from my brain. If only characteristics like greed, arrogance and sadism weren’t so highly correlated with natural talent or skill. I suppose it makes people who are smart or good at something but not total twats seem completely messianic - similarly it messiah-ifies people who can prevent their evil aspects from being seen, which is important in our media culture in which we hardly meet politicians: we only see their public image, which is theirs to shape.

Pax