Online discourse is another one. I feel like the main motivation for participating in it is basically just "being right", which is a subset of "feeling smart"
ableism, racism
@socks It comes from a way of thinking about people as on a hierarchy, with superior "smart" people at the top with high "IQs", and inferior "dumb" people at the bottom with low "IQs". Largely invented to enforce white supremacy. It encourages putting people down to make yourself feel "smarter", because if you're not one of the "smart" ones, you risk being one of the "dumb" ones. That means everyone's on edge and insecure about their place in this socially constructed hierarchy.
We've learned to fully reject the hierarchy. It took a lot of effort, but was very worth it. Not only does it make us more secure in our mental capabilities, it also provides a much more accurate lens for understanding others.
🦇
ableism, racism
@diligentcircle Yeah, I don't think I've fully unlearned it yet but I'm working on it.
I just really hate how prevalent the attitude of "being right at all costs" can be even in leftist circles, which you'd think would know better.
@socks a possibly related thing that we fall into sometimes is wanting to make sure people understand why we were wrong when we are
-F
It's also been on my mind a lot because I've been listening to a podcast about the tech industry, and it seems like an extremely prevalent issue among programmers is that they value feeling smart way too much