are kermudgeons born that way, or does our society create them?

A podcast will go out later today covering this very topic. Some.

The issue at hand is that there are some of our great permaculture teachers that are labeled as dicks, or assholes, or jerks, or cranky fuckers, or .... all sorts of names. Let's stick with "jerks".

My theory is that these people did some genius thing and then freely, openly, generously, lovingly shared their genius thing. Then some ignorant boob said "that's stupid". And our hero patiently, lovingly visits with them until the ignorant boob reaches understanding of the genius-ness.

Now repeat this a thousand times.

Now our hero is desperately trying to remain patient. But after explaining it so much they are not working on further genius stuff as much as they would like. And as people start to enjoy the genius stuff, the trickle of ignorant boobs has grown to a fast running creek.

Then we get to 10,000 and the creek is now a good sized stream. And our hero is now sporting the label "jerk".

This is only a theory.

That rather than our society respecting and honoring the people that make the greatest contributions, that instead, we subject them to a parade of ignorant boobs full of nasty insults based on ignorance. After a while, they get sick of sharing their awesomeness and choose to live a happier life, keeping it to themselves.

So .... I think our society turns decent geniuses into jerks.

My position. There may be other positions out there ....

Paul,

To answer the question in the thread's title, I would have to say most definitely, Yes. I suppose the correct answer is relative to the decade in which it is asked. (Or, as I learned at the University, the correct answer is whatever the professor says it is.)

I come from a long line of kermudgeons, on both sides. Of course, that still doesn't necessarily clarify anything, since learned behavior can be passed down through families.

It may also have something to do with hormone changes, you know, menopause, female and male, as most kermudgeons are over 40.

Of course, your explanation is as good as any I have read.

I listened to the podcast last night and liked it. I feel you did a very good job expressing a lot of the frustration that I, and many others, have been having with getting flamed by dumb-phuks on the internet. I have noticed over the years from using many different forums on a variety of subjects that it has been getting worse across the board. My theory on this has to do with computers and the internet being so user friendly that now really dumb people are finding their way to forums and flooding them with ignorance. Now I don't have a problem with dumb people, but I do have a problem with dumb people who think they are not dumb. For simplicity sake I'll refer to the later as "Dumb-phuks"

How to spot a Dumb-Phuck:
Dumb-Phuks don't ask questions, they make statements.
Dumb-Phuks make opinion statements and project them as facts.
Dumb-Phuks speak in absolutes.
Dumb-Phuks say things like, "That won't work because.... , You can't do that because.... , The problem with that is...." When they have never tried.
Dumb-Phuks love to shit on new ideas, because if it's such a good idea they surely would have thought of it already.
Dumb-Phuks never encourage, they only discourage.
Dumb-Phuks never have sources, only beliefs.

I feel a bit like Jeff Foxworthy with this list. Maybe it should start with, "You might be a Dumb-Phuk if......."

I think Albert Einstein expressed it best when he said:

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices, but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thought in clear form.

Keep up the good fight Paul, don't get discourage. For every person that bashes you or criticizes you there are many others who respect and admire you.

According to Ghandi your on the right path:

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Mohandas Gandhi

Looks like your half way there!

*This post is 100% pure opinion.*

Brad,

That was phucking awesome! I'm putting a bunch of that in a podcast.

paul wheaton wrote:Brad,

That was phucking awesome! I'm putting a bunch of that in a podcast.

Phuck yeah! Can't wait to hear it.

Well, I did pass through a time I was a curmudgeon but eventually you just ignore people who don't have anything to say and nothing silences the critics like success. There are many people who are failures who want everyone else to be failures because that then excuses them - sad but true.

Really, the naysayers out there are sad - such a futile way to spend your life. Much better to go build something with your ideas, or even ideas you agree with borrowed from others.

From my experience, most naysayers I have known were people who seldom had success. They have grown hateful of success, and to anybody's attempt to try a new, unproven idea.

My philosophy on hatred is:

Mankind hates what they fear, and fear what they don't understand. Hate, therefore is a byproduct of ignorance.

The haters want attention and want you to change because of them, I guess they feel it gives validation to them. I prefer to act like they don't exist - and then they usually go away.

Paul and Jocelyn cover more listener questions in this podcast. Some things they talk about include Paul's food rating system, (similar to Jack Spirko's Agritrue), eco-labeling, nurture vs. nature, recycling, legality of things like the clothes line, and pirating copyrighted material.