So... "talking down to" people.

Post Reply New Topic

Just what is it supposed to mean... precisely?
Just a bit earlier I was in a vaguely one-sided argument of sorts... consisting of the other participant giving me a hail of verbal abuse, and my attempting to dismiss it all in order to return to the perfectly ordinary, non-invested discussion that was taking place before. Obviously they had no intention of mitigating the trouble, so certain they were that they wanted to escalate it for no discernible reason..... and what was otherwise a perfectly ordinary discussion resulted in my getting another ban. A ban for sitting there and politely dismissing insults.... AND it all came about because apparently I was "talking down to" them.

What. The. f**k ... ?!

Obviously in the most literal sense, I talk left to right... not down. I'm not Asian. Left to right is pretty much the way all my text goes... BUT they don't mean that (so one count of not meaning what they say, obviously).

It seems to link into the usual mundie socio-hierarchal bullsh!t somehow, but I have only a vague surface understanding of that.... and it pretty much comes down to a load of idiots believing firstly that there is some sort of objective superiority, and secondly that it applies to themselves devoid of cause or justification (and thirdly, that criticism of that notion is expressly forbidden on pain of impotent bouts of fury). It is almost like some sort of invisible score that they're all competing for, but which basically means nothing whatsoever...
Intelligence I get. Intelligence I can understand. I have it and they don't.... or more accurately, I have more of it than they do... and it happens to annoy me greatly when they demonstrate their utter deficiency in that regard.
.... But "better" or "worse"? ... That means nothing without context. One of them might be able to build exquisite furniture from wood with simple hand tools, and another might be a skilled football player... but without these elements of context, claiming "better" or "worse", let alone assuming that I would subconsciously meld some sort of subtext BS into my communication to such ends, is utterly preposterous (and further evidences their stupidity).

And that is just as far as I can understand of the ends of such things.... The causes I have no clue about.
I've no idea what they consider "talking down to" and what they don't. It seems equally applicable (or not) to pretty much anything... No pattern. No means of avoidance (nor deliberate initiation, for that matter). So often, just the simple purpose of trying to engage in neutral information exchange with mundies can lead to their taking offense at everything under the sun, like I just pissed on their lamp-post or tried to take a bite of the kill before they did. Like everything I do is potentially an attempt to beat their imaginary high-score...
... and I cannot for the life of me find any way around it! >_<;;



Thor damnit.... why do I have to put up with their pointless social BS games? Why?!

Talking down to someone is when you are engaging with someone in a way that would indicate that you are better than them. It's not a good idea to "return the favor" when you are being talked down to, because like it or not, you are in a minority group that's discriminated against. If anyone sees you doing something rude or impolite in response to being bullied, you will get in trouble.

A ban from where?

If it's an MMO, I think some of them have ban appeals?

Like I said "better than them" means no more to me than "red" does to a blind guy.
For the record, that sort of "trouble" generally doesn't bother me for too long. I really don't let the ad populum fallacy bother me. If I'm right, it doesn't matter how many of them there are, they're still wrong. I'd pick a fight with the whole world if I believed it justified.



A particular group chat on the Line application, regarding one of the Monster Rancher games. I doubt you'd know it. It is a bit niche.
I'll probably get re-invited eventually. Last time this sort of thing happened, some of them eventually missed my input. I'm actually fairly good at the game, irrespective of personal differences.

Fine, but expect to continue to be banned.

I assume it means talking to them like they are a child or like they are stupid. I think it can also mean putting them down and being critical.

I do.
Knowing I'm in the right is enough. The bans are a temporary inconvenience.



Firstly, I talk to children and adults (and dogs) the same way. It tends to cause confusion irrespective... and occasionally the misconception that I'm "good with children". ¬_¬
I talk to cats differently... because unlike the others, they are worthy of reverence.

Secondly, they ARE stupid. If they weren't, they wouldn't get offended by things never said. Sometimes I suspect it is simply because I give people the benefit of the doubt and treat them like they're NOT stupid that they get so pissed off at me. They obviously don't understand half of what I'm saying... but giving them the slow-talk would hardly improve things.

It's not necessarily being "better than them". It is that you assume that you know better than them and are lecturing them on the matter rather than discussing it. It puts you in the position of acting "wiser" or "more mature" than them. There is no "give and take" between you, only information that you are pushing on them.

It's as if you are an adult and they are children and they did something wrong that you are patiently correcting them.

Hmmm.... curious.
So that is the source of this particular irrationality.
Yes, that does fit perfectly...

So why do they see it that way? ... I mean as opposed to simply seeing information as information and judging it on its own merits?
What insanity (besides simply being mundies) would lead them to such flights of fancy?