"Oh, I'll just throw something together and it'll be good enough!"
It's a phrase most of us have probably heard lots of times-- I know I certainly have. For me, phrases like that are just grating and irritating... because I value doing my best.
Although I generally tend to consider myself a very tolerant and compassionate person, I sometimes find what I consider deliberate ignorance and slovenliness to be really, really annoying!
Whatcha Talkin' 'bout, Willis?
Red Autumn Leaves
OK, so let me clarify.
In the broadest sense, I have no issue with someone who genuinely doesn't know something, and perhaps they have no particular need to know that something-- maybe it's not interesting to them, or whatever. That's not what I am talking about, here.
When I say "Cultivated Ignorance" I'm referring to those who almost seem to actively keep themselves in their state of ignorance, almost as a "lifestyle" or "personal image statement."
My former brother-in-law was somewhat like that. He was a super intelligent guy with a super sharp mind, but he actively projected an image of being "lazy, ignorant and dumb" to the world. This was someone who could easily have gotten a doctorate in something, but decided to end his education after (barely) finishing high school... and then pretty much (by choice) became a "day laborer."
What's the Point, Exactly?
A quiet bend in the river
Now, while I'm being critical on one level, perhaps I should be giving him props for "knowing who he was," on some level. His basic idea of what he wanted in life was "to sit under a tree, drink beer and smoke weed."
And sometimes it seemed like he very deliberately "manufactured" a life through a series of choices (or "non-choices") that set up a reality in which nobody ever expected anything more of him than... "to sit under a tree, drink beer and smoke weed."
So why does it annoy me so much?
After all, it seemed (at least) that he was doing what he wanted. And one should respect that, right?
But Things are not Always as They Seem...
A wild rose... with a "passenger"
I think what bugged me was the "lowest common denominator" issue. The fact that he actively pursued projecting an image of being "dumb and ignorant" when-- in fact-- he was anything but. From where I am sitting-- and I may be missing something-- he could have been smart and informed, and STILL "sat under a tree, drinking beer and smoking weed."
His ultimate motivation was fine with me... it was the idea that "you have to be a dumb hick" in order to do such a thing that bothered me.
"Cultivated Ignorance" also annoys me when people use it as a manipulative tool.
Like the person at work who-- even after having been taught about 200 times-- still "doesn't understand how to use spreadsheets." Why? Because "not knowing"-- and KEEPING themselves in a state of "not knowing"-- allows them to "farm out" their work to others who "DO know" how to do the work.
It's an integrity issue...
What do YOU think? Have you ever known someone (typically smart) who actively "cultivates" being ignorant as a way of avoiding life and responsibility? How did that make you feel? Do you see it as a problem, or do you think it's just a coping mechanism? Have you seen such an approach used to manipulate people? Leave a comment-- share your experiences and feedback-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Published 20170930 15:58 PDT
8 billion people on this planet... each, pursing their own paths, making their own choices. without exception, there are bound to be those who cross ours and challenge our capacity to accept their choices...
I totally relate. however ultimately, the brother-in-law is living his own life according to his choices. it might seem like a shame or waste, knowing his potential. but, who are you or I to intervene and declare we know what he needs to experience on his path at this point in time?
and maybe there are some ugly reflections in it, as well.
maintaining an open mind, I attempted reading through thinking, "where do I exhibit these same traits?" maybe you & I have also played ignorant at times, convincing ourselves we aren't as smart as our highest potential, exercising some coping mechanism for whatever reasons.
If I'm truthful with myself, I can't say I haven't, or still aren't. though even in entertaining the possibility that I am, there's some higher knowing that it's probably serving a bigger purpose than I can see at this point and will evolve to a standard that makes more logical sense when the time is ripe.
maybe we have to exercise some degree of ignorance at all times - there's just WAY too much information to compute and act upon all at once. partaking in a linear timeline, there's no possible way we can extend our breadth of vision to include absolutely everything we've ever known and participate in life as though we were living out the highest potential of our greatest intelligence...
there's always an opportunity cost. maybe what we'd think is the "highest" use of our time and energy never would be, because there'd always be some "greater" height. so you or I could judge someone for not living up to our ideals - but then again, our ideals are completely relative. and, we may never know where that person is at in their timeline - what break they might be needing to take right now, what contributions they've made to the collective that never got the spotlight, or how their talents & intelligent may yet to be put to use down the road. as such, maybe our judgement is merely a compromise of our own integrity through the failure to allow nature to run its course as others experience what they need and choose.
or some shit.
great questions...
It's funny... your post was the first I happened upon after hitting "POST" on my own.
There is, indeed, that very valid approach of looking at something that annoys you in another and questioning what in your own behavior is similar.
Aristotle said: "There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing and be nothing."
I did that, for a good bit of my earlier life... as a tool to avoid having to deal with people and their foibles. I took no pride it it, mind you-- just used it to "avoid." Avoid the spotlight, avoid connections, avoid obligations, avoid indebtedness, avoid responsibility.
I know that I am not always at my best and finest... but I aspire to at least take some degree of care when I undertake something.
Thanks for a great reply!
ha ha, likewise. funny, I don't usually scan posts in the "new" section - yet here we were, cross-checking/posting on eachothers'.
good quote.
t'is a fine line, determining when and when not to speak up. as in the situation with the brother-in-law - maybe the lesson is to just accept him as he is and honor him with the respect for his own life choices. though then again, maybe you can see things in his blind spots, and could serve him very well by speaking up and introducing the possibility of a higher standard for him to live up to.
maybe it's just a part of maturation, knowing when to discern what is avoidance and when it's appropriate to take a hands-off approach. no absolute answers all the time...
I totally agree with your points. Very well thought out
I have a sister who coasted through school with just average grades and allowed everyone to think she was just not that smart. In actual fact, she was smart enough to figure out exactly how much effort she needed to put in so that she didn't fail and was able to coast through school with minimal effort.
I guess she already knew that she had no intentions of pursuing a higher education and wasn't worried about needing good grades to get into a certain university or to earn scholarships. Like your brother, she knew what she wanted from life and schooling was not part of that equation.
I was oblivious to all that, so when I found out I was quite shocked. I didn't know what to make of it. Was she actually really smart or just plain stupid? I can't even say after the fact. It is her life and she needs to live it. Would she be happier had she obtained some sort of degree? I'll never know. She seems to be content with her lot in life, so I guess it's really none of my business what face she chooses to portray to the observers. I've accepted that.
Ironically, that was also me, during most of my middle/high school years. I knew the exact amount of effort it took to leave me at exactly around A-/B+... smart enough to never be in trouble, but not so good I attracted attention. Smart enough that my parents were "moderately proud" of my aptitude and left me alone.
There was a 2 1/2 year gap between my finishing high school and going into college. On entering college I CLEP'ed out of essentially all my freshman and sophomore classes, and about half my junior year equivalent... and then screwed around for five years, basically taking classes I thought would be useful/interesting... completely independently of any degree plan. When you start college with 78 credit hours with A's, you can pretty much do what you want.
Then I graduated and have been various versions of self-employed for 30+ years-- never used the degree for anything.
Point here being... I always did my best when I was the only one I needed to impress; I cared less when it was someone else's expectations of me that were on the line.
Selfish? Perhaps.
If your sister is content with her life, bully for her! The thing with my brother-in-law is that even though he "accomplished" what he was trying to accomplish... it didn't make him happy, it just made him invisible.
Could it be that invisible is exactly what he wants? Some people like to sabotage themselves so that they can never be happy, but rather simply exist in their own world.
I’ve know some people who say things like that. Really annoys me to when they do 100000% better job at something after I gave it my all. Until, I found out that person just don’t want people thinking he was “stupid.” He was really into the “I’m a genius” just look how little effort I put into things. Total lie, worked harder than most, and then downplayed it using the line “I just throw something together.”
There is a lot of wasted potential out there. We all in some sense have wasted our own potential chasing after what we wanted in life. As you said playing stupid can get you out of having to do things. More importantly, it keeps people form coming to you for every little thing.
You also have the people out there who just assume you are very smart and assume you’re just being lazy on purpose. People often accuses me of being very smart. Some days I forget how to tie my own shoes. Yet, don’t let the books I keep in my library (it’s really just a book shelf but look at how smart I sound by stating I have a library!!! Why don’t you have a library? Shame indeed) fool you.
Other times when people are smarter then you. You assume and wish they had done more in life as that gives you some kind of hope that you could do more then what they have done. I grew up with a lot of redneck friends and I took pre-calculus in high school so I was a genius to them(I failed that class twice by the way never did pass.)
Those who get to do what they want in life are the true smart people out there.
Lots of variations, yes... and generally, I tend to lump all of this together under the broader headings of "manipulation and deception." Not necessarily malicious deception... it can also just be deception to avoid accountability, and such.
I guess I just don't like head games... my ex was particularly into that; leading people to believe she was something other than what she truly was (rather a genius; held some 20 patents for computer interface design, yet played the "dumb blonde" a lot)... other people I have met along the way.
Just be yourself... seems like (at least in the long run) people are pretty self-sorting, and you end up with the tribe you belong with, eventually.
The point about people at work acting like they are slow is so not a good idea. If people think you are slow, they will not want to invest in you in say a future promotion or training for a better position because it will be perceived as being too costly or a bad investment.
As for people who act lazy in life in general, that is such a deep and interesting topic. Since life can have so many outcomes, one never knows how things could have turned out if they (our lazy loved one) were not doing what they are doing right now. Still people should strive to be their best right? i think at the end of the day we need to offer to help people in a loving way and not judge them. i think when people feel like they are being judged or expected to do something at times they can do the opposite just to piss people off.
Those people who do act all lazy and miss on better life outcomes do not realize how precious time is and how valuable they should treat it at times till its too late. We need to remind them of that and if they are indeed just trying to piss a family member off, atleast when they get older they can not say they did not realize it till it was too late.
Thanks for the comment @leggy23!
For me, there's a definite difference between being lazy and keeping yourself ignorant. I know I'm not the most "ambitious" person on the planet, and have seldom aspired to "greatness" in the sense my parents often pressured me to... but I've certainly never taken pride in ignorance.
For me, that works out as perhaps undertaking fewer projects than many, but the things I DO take on, I make a point of doing well, and to high standards. Some might call me "lazy," but it's unlikely they'd call me ignorant.
I've watched a long time ago a rare recording of Napoleon Hill, and in a second it all just hit me.
Why just do "good enough" in certain activities? Why not give it all, doing it the best you can? Doesn't your life include all those activities?
Basically Napoleon Hill was saying in that video that if you commit yourself to doing something, give it all you got. Otherwise why do it in the first place?
It's your own time that you are wasting that way, and with such an attitude you wont get too far in any area of your life.
And yes, unfortunately I know some people that are actively cultivating being ignorant as a way of avoiding life and responsibility, but it's a choice they made, who am I to make it for them...
You're right, of course... we can't make life choices for others; just like it wasn't my place to make life choices for my former brother-in-law. He was a slacker and a mooch... and he created his life to allow that.
As I pointed out in a different comment, I'm no "king of ambition." So I may take on less, in an overall sense... but the things I DO take on, I choose to do my best at,
Unfortunately this starts very early in the school yard where it's cool to be dumb or more accurately, being seen as smart is the kiss of death to many young people.
This learned behaviour or trait becomes part of the adults makeup. They continually tell themselves and anyone who will listen how inept they are.
I know many adults who have no clue about computers or smart phones. Or at least they say they don't? And yet some work a terminal in their jobs?
It is a self esteem issue. A fear of failure, so they don't even try and so never fail.
If they only knew that failure is how we learn. Things might be different.
Good post @denmarkguy 100% upvoted
I went through most of my school daze with that mindset around me... perhaps I escaped some of the peer pressure because I was pretty much always "that weird kid in the corner."
If you present yourself as inept and ignorant, less will be expected of you, less will be asked of you... and so you can stay OFF the path of having accountability.
I understand the pressure. It's a shame that this has to be the way for so many people.
I have seen this many times; the beer-swilling pothead sitting under the old gum tree, not accomplishing anything. I once asked why they would spend their life doing this when they could be so much more? They had the looks and the brains to accomplish great feats. The answer I got was that it was much easier to let others do it and live off the spoils, meaning I suppose that welfare was a better option than working. I lso believe that it is a type of mental illness...
Mooches, slackers, transhumanists, free spirits, couch surfers, lazy bums... whatever we might call them, they typically have an agenda, which is "to do as little as possible."
Friend of a friend parked his van in our driveway for a couple of weeks... mid-30's guy, college degreed, bright. Nice guy... been "finding himself" for over 10 years. Primary interests in life: Going to festivals and getting baked, daily.
_On entering college I CLEP'ed out of essentially all my freshman and sophomore classes, _
another thing we have in common.
Did make it easier to get that piece of paper everyone seems to think is so freakin' important. Still have it somewhere-- think it's still in the original cardboard mailer from UT.
mine...all three or four of them...are on my "i love me " wall...along with other stuff I've picked up over the years.
I have seen it both ways. Different people of course. Not sure why they do this.
In most cases-- it seems-- to avoid being seen, and having to deal with any responsibility.
This deserves some attention. Upvoted and resteemed :]
Thanks.
Display ignorance as though it's something to be proud of.
Good luck
Thank for sharing and great post
upvoted!
i agree with u,,,.
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STOPGive me a lazy man and he will find the fastest solution to get the job done!
Now with that saying is also the understanding it will not be the greatest job done in quality workmanship.
Over the years I have witnessed the down sliding in craftsmanship to the point I no longer ask for anything that needs a finishing level and just do it myself.
The "good enough" attitude is not good enough for me.
Your article reminded me strongly of this Nanci Griffiths song:
She sings about her sister, who never amounted to much...
😄😇😄
