The Ignorance of People Irritates Me

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Over the last year I've been having problems even being around people because of their stupidity. I cannot tolerate it when people say things that aren't accurate, it drives me up the wall. I feel the need to correct them, but am either too afraid to or cannot do it without coming across as rude. So I don't say anything and then get even more irritated. I never used to get irritated like this, I don't know what's going on but it's really upsetting me.

Here are some recent examples of things that have irritated me:

At a birthday party last week, a group of my relatives were talking about how my older cousin is a "slave driver" and how much work he did around the house and how much work he made them do (when they were preparing to sell my aunt's house). However, they have him all wrong. He may come across as someone who works his butt off, but in reality, he is a huge slacker. I was all over him because every time I turned around he was slacking on the job. He's just really good at making it look like he is working. He is well known with the older relatives (who weren't there) to be a con man and a bull sh*tter. These younger relatives are totally naive. I wanted to say something, but since it was his mother's birthday I didn't think it would be appropriate, and now I'm still p*ssed about it.

I can't stand it when people take things at face value and can't see the truth.
An example of this is how people assume that just because a man and a woman are married, that it makes them heterosexual. Rock Hudson was married and he was not heterosexual. I don't understand how people can be so dumb to just take everything at face value like that.

The ignorance and naivety of people astounds me and I cannot take it. I feel like everybody is a friggin idiot. It's hard to do anything without coming across some clueless moron.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you deal with it? I'm actually considering starting a blog to vent some of my frustrations. I'm not sure if that would make things better or worse though.

hell yes i know what you mean. Especially when ignorance causes suffering.

Your examples are not really what I expected from the title. I get very annoyed as well by people that make logical reasoning mistakes, overuse fallacies and don't have any regard for ethics.

The first example doesn't show ignorance, but only youthful naivety. You should take comfort in the fact that your cousin's character will eventually become evident for your younger relatives.

I don't find any fault with people doing the second thing you mentioned. The vast majority of married couples are heterosexual so it's a pretty safe assumption to consider someone who is married as such. Probably people who make this assumption do realize that there are some closeted gays who are married out there. So I see it more as a sensible generalization than a sign of ignorance. However, your assumption that they are unconscious of closeted gays has no reasonable basis.

Try not to worry about it too much. It isn't your responsibility to correct everyone and if you take it on you'll find it more grief than it's worth. Also, I've noticed that sometimes people say things they don't necessarily believe in order to participate in the discourse. Not everything is literal and there's usually a whole lot of subtext going on that we Auties are unaware of. You may be factually correct, but miss a whole sub conversation that you weren't aware of. My strategy is to take the role of observer. I will only offer my beliefs if directly asked.

I'm going to post a few more things that annoy me about people because I'm not sure I'm really explaining myself and my problem that well. Maybe these things will provide everyone with a better picture of what my problem is.


Most people assume that just because someone is a licensed doctor that they know what they are doing and are good at what they do. Then why does malpractice exist? The same thing applies to lawyers, teachers, plumbers, etc. I do research before choosing a doctor, plumber, etc. because you never know if they're any good, I never just automatically assume that they are.

Most people assume that because a married couple acts all happy and lovey dovey, that they have a happy, rock-solid marriage. Yet, that marriage could be completely falling apart and on the brink of divorce. The couple could be putting on an act to save face. Nothing is always as it seems. I figure that most couples are never as happy as they seem. To determine if a couple (or anyone) is truly happy, you should really take a look at everything that they say and do. You shouldn't just look at what's on the surface, you have to look underneath and that's what I do with everyone I know.

Most people assume that just because a student makes good grades (all As or As and Bs) in school that they are smart. They could just be cheating. People always assumed I was smart. I might be smart, but I struggled in school academically. I always felt as though my brain was in a fog and I struggled a lot with school work because of it (compare it to driving in the fog vs. driving in clear weather). My mother was so upset with my bad grades when I was in 9th and 10th grade that I turned to cheating in 11th and 12th grades. I made nearly all As and people thought I was smart. If I hadn't cheated, I would've made Cs and Ds.

At that birthday party I was talking about, everyone thought it was crazy and ridiculous to shovel a path to the bird feeders for my uncle when it snowed. I was the only one (besides my uncle) who didn't think there was anything wrong with that and I thought they were the crazy ones. My uncle had a stroke several years ago and only has the use of one arm and one leg and is confined to a wheelchair (power chair/scooter for outdoor use). He loves feeding the birds and it's one of the few things he is still capable of doing. I think it's really f*cked up that people who still have the use of both arms and both legs would not want to help someone who has extremely limited mobility continue living their life in a way that makes them happy. These people are probably not thinking about the situation from my uncle's point of view. I consider this f*cking ignorant.

So all these things annoy the heck out of me. Most people I know are naive and ignorant like I've described. It makes having a relationship with these people very difficult because I feel an extremely strong urge to correct nearly everything that comes out of their mouth.

Perhaps you are struggling with the hypocrisy that is prevalent in human nature. This has bothered me too, but it seems to be unchangeable. I just focus on my own behaviour and try not to be too bothered by it. It's not going to change. People are flawed, but try to focus on the positive things that they have to offer.

I feel you man. I read a lot of gaming forums and I usually come across someone complaining that something they want isn't in the game and goes so far to say that the developer is stupid or something like that. I just want to post a Willy Wonka pic with the caption "Oh, so X developer is lazy and stupid? Please tell me more of how successful your development company is and all the hours you spent coding"

There are a variety of reasons to feel that way, but generally naivety is a thing for those on the spectrum. I am particularly tuned into that because I have both parents on the spectrum and I am NT. I have a thing against perceived assumption with nothing behind it because of my past experience with horrible parenting that doesn't distinguish between thing (not going out at night/staying away from alcohol = being good and in turn = having good grades/being a decent citizen/being successful, etc.) and explaining to my parents about how incentives, motives, probability,etc is like explaining color to the blind. However, some other reasons can cause these naive assumptions, such as fear, anxiety, etc. that causes people to irrationally turn away from logical reasoning that pulls them away from their comfort zone (i.e. a far right who doesn't feel comfortable around a Muslim however benign he/she might be, the far right can read and tell facial expressions, body language, but the subtle differences due to culture rather than mental "illness" just set them off, and revert into simplified explanations). I am NT and ironically too tuned in to aspergers/autistic naivety because of my horrendous experience with them, think of it this way, ignoring the logic is a symptom, something else is the problem. Hope that would shed some insight into your question.