Jeanna wrote:
In my philosophy class, I tend to be able to remember a lot of facts on animals and human development in utero because they were once my special interest at a point of time, so I remember most of the things I read from research papers and encyclopedias and things I saw on documentaries. But because I tend to point out logical flaws in people's arguments, they aren't happy. And now some of them like to say I'm just making them up or tell me to my face that they're skeptical of the facts I tell them and that they can't be true. Someone even told me I was mixing up reflex action and cognitive ability which is just ridiculous because I don't make mistakes like that, and he was the one who thought perception was not cognitive ability.
So now I don't know whether I should even bother saying anything else. I think it just makes people mad at me because they don't want to be wrong? But at the same time, they honestly do make a lot of factual mistakes, and when I point them out, they either dismiss me or demand that I tell them the name of the article I read- and I can't even remember that because that was so long ago! The instructor doesn't seem to mind and he always seems interested in what I say and often asks me my opinion in class, but I'm worried that people will hate me now. One guy got mad at me because his friend wrote a short argument full of factual errors and I pointed them out and he said I was making things up to sway people to my point of view. So I apologised in case I had offended anyone, but he and his friends are still mad at me.
Anyway, this was just a post because I'm kind of upset about what's been happening and I don't want to make enemies.
You're going through what is known as the 'intellectual wall' .
Simply because you are much better read and informed than others makes them uncomfortable when this is pointed out in a public setting.
The only advice I can give you is to practice identifying your audience. For example, in a class setting pointing out errors in someone else's work (even if the instructor asks you to) is seen as rude and embarrassing by the person who made the errors (and by default, his friends and likely the entire class if you end up ripping their arguments apart).
When a prof. asks you for your thoughts it is best to just add something related to it rather than point out an error.
Personally I much prefer to speak to people like you who are learned enough to have a healthy debate/conversation with .. but NT's care more about socializing than about information.
26 Oct 2012, 10:01 am
