The art of condescension.

The latest Presidential debate and the ensuing political firestorms on Facebook that happened as a result of people (both Democrat and Republican) screaming "MY GUY IS BETTER THAN YOUR GUY LOL" was really just something I did not want to deal with. That's all it really was. Although there were pockets of intelligent discussion, usually centering on how shitty of a moderator Jim Lehrer was, a lot of people started the equivalent of World War III wherever they could, acting like their whole family was recently murdered and taking it out on everyone possible, and in all honesty, it got nowhere fast. This then diluted the possibility of any intelligent discussion that would have taken place, and effectively dashed the chances of there being civility in any political discussion.

Then, I came up with an idea: that condescension was really just a form of art. Now why do I call it an "art" and not as something, as most psychologists say, that says that you're so insecure about yourself that you have to look down on everyone to make yourself feel better? It's simple: there are situations where condescension is completely uncalled for (looking down on crippled people, homosexuals, and women just because of who they are) and situations where it's completely justified (someone believing in young earth creationism when scientific evidence largely points to the contrary, people branding our soldiers as "murderers", thinking Obama is a Muslim, socialist, or a Muslim socialist, PETA opening their mouth, ever). The art of condescension is rather simple: you don't look down on someone for what they are; you look down on what they think. Just because you have a different opinion doesn't necessarily make it a good one. I could recall hundreds of times when this happened and I was criticized for calling people out on their bullshit, usually in the form of people telling me to watch what I say or the usual "well, that's just like, your opinion, man." Of course it's my opinion, was it somebody else that I'm magically pulling the strings on?

A lot of people think that condescension is this horrible, awful thing that should never be done. Everyone looks down on something. Heck, my parents look down on me for one reason or another, and I'm sure at one point, yours have too. It's what we look down on that makes it "acceptable" and "unacceptable". This is just my take on it. As for the politics, bring it on. I'm quite a reasonable person politically, and anyone who has met me knows that.

So to wrap things up: it's not so much who you are (unless you're a neo-Nazi/white supremacist), it's what you're saying. Learn the difference, accept it, and be happy.

Bracing myself for the inevitable "BUT YOU'RE WRONG BECAUSE FUCK YOU" backlash.