Some People Think I'm a Genius, I Think They're an Idiot

The title sounds rather generalized so let me be more specific. People discover that I am a web programmer, very good with computers and I can retain a lot of useless information which tends to prove handy when playing Trivial Pursuit and they start describing me as brilliant, a genius or just really really smart.

Those people, they're idiots.

I am no more a genius than your mechanic that fixes your alternator. That person can take apart an engine and put it back together without any of those random 'spare parts' that don't seem to fit back in somehow... plus as an added bonus, your car will start when you turn the key. I can't do that.

So if a mechanic can do all that and I can't, why do these people think I must be a genius but not the mechanic?

It's all a matter of perception. The world has set several courses (career paths) in motion that have become so ingrained in our every day life that we automatically make assumptions of the people in those paths. Garbage man? Gas station attendant? Burger flipper? Mechanic?

The funny thing is that these are considered "dirty jobs" because, well, you get dirty. And therefore, only an idiot would do a dirty job because no normal person likes to get dirty.

If you can work a computer without wanting to throw your keyboard through the window however, you must be brilliant.

I have news for you. The burger flipper isn't an idiot. If you think they're an idiot, sorry, you are. You've played into the hypnotic stereotypical trendy way of thinking that makes you the sheep that you are.


By labeling a computer person as brilliant, you are inadvertantly labeling those 'dirty job' people as idiots. It's just more politically correct.

Yes I can do things with a computer that most people can't, I've also been sitting at my computer for 10 plus hours a day for about 14 years. If I wasn't any good with it by now, I'd be in serious denial.

Don't judge someone's intelligence by how well they do the one job that is their job, unless you intend to do it with everyone who does their job well, mechanics, burger flippers and everyone else.

Instead of envying what I can do in my job, take pride in what you can do in your job. If you're a burger flipper and wishing you were 'smart like me' to work with computers, stop it. Many burger flippers have gone on to have a lot more money than me, been far more successful and retired young. Was it because they were idiots for being burger flippers or brilliant for being burger flippers?

I'm not a genius. You're not an idiot. It's not about what I know or what I do, it's about what you know and what you do... no matter what anyone else thinks about you. Do your best at what you do and some people will think you're a genius too. Those people, they're idiots.