Existentialism makes you Cry.

What has two thumbs and doesn't care?

Ok, truce, buzzfeed. Or rather, buzzfeed users. I'll stop asking stupid questions if you stop demeaning my ignorance.

It's become a trend on social media sites to post quippy lists of stupid things that people are or do (and on the flip side, furry bunnies and things that make you go 'aww', but more on that later). I must say though, that it's slightly getting on my nerves. Despite web2.0's purported information sharing function, a lot of human behavior is being streamlined into stereotypes (autocorrect tried to change that to attitudes, which was pretty cool) that can fit a picture exuding an appropriate level of "bitch please". For example, haha, look at these idiot Twitards (insert photo of sparkly something).

Now, I'm not saying that ignorance is a good thing (it's why I hate my job sometimes) but rather, it's a naturally renewing resource that you can't dam (otherwise I wouldn't have a job. Also, u c wat I dd thr? Dam.....n? It's not fun if I have to explain, you know). So apart from the entertainment others derive from reading about some poor stupid schmuck, and your enjoyment of endorsement by aforementioned people, what's really the point of ranting about how people are don't know the things you know? I mean, there are always going to be ignorant people because no one has ever informed them otherwise.

If anything, being mean to someone because they don't know something is one way to condition them into never asking anything ever, which in turn breeds more ignorance, shading into stupidity.

I'd like to take this moment also to point out the difference between ignorance and stupidity. One is a dinosaur and the other is a mammal. If you never knew what ignorance was, you're ignorant, but if you believed my definition, you're stupid. See the difference? Now when did ignorance = stupid? That's really not fair.

I admit I'm guilty of painting people in the wrong shade of dull-wit grey when they've asked me things that were patently obvious to me. Like whether I celebrate Thanksgiving.

I know, it's hard to believe, but I don't. I know my English has a certain je ne sais quoi you don't expect from an Asian (why thank you, you sweetheart you) but the second reason I would not celebrate Thanksgiving anyway is because I'm not American (unless you're my American email address stealing counterpart - seriously, stop signing me up for spam mail and stop inviting me to children's parties and STOP inviting me to look through your company's inventory).

Now, if you've never had the opportunity to learn about Thanksgiving, you'd assume it was just a white man holiday, since white men all come from America. Because a lot of the tv programmes we watch is American. Also because I think Americans make up the largest proportion of the English-speaking Caucasian users online. Australia is a white man country. Ergo, they must celebrate Thanksgiving too. To be fair, it's hard to tell the difference between world-wide and culture specific celebrations, especially with globalization and the Anglocentricity (Americocentrocity?) that pervades most of what we read in English (which is again, a white man invention).

But that's just ignorance. Stupidity is when I pointedly say Thanksgiving is an American holiday and you respond with "Yes, but what about the native Australians? Do they celebrate Thanksgiving?"

Anyway, back to my main point. It's really, really not fair to make fun of someone's ignorance. If they've ever said "Oh, I didn't know", you apologize if you were mean. Or you refrain from being an ass about it. You especially don't post their ignorance on a public platform and tag them in it. Seriously, because you're saying things just to make yourself feel superior and make others feel bad about themselves - "I was only ignorant before, but thanks for making me feel stupid and contrite!" said nobody ever.

As much as this is a preachy rant aimed at people who demean others, it's a good reminder to myself to be nicer next year. I am very, very guilty of being snarky, sarcastic and deadpan insulting to people because I'm always full of the explosive incredulousness of "HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW.....?!?!?!?" Even as I write this post, I'm feeling quite visceral pangs of guilt (or could be hunger. It's about that time.)

I'm trying very hard not to use disability as an analogy, but I can't really think of anything else at the moment. If you're a half-way decent person, you wouldn't laugh at someone for having no legs. Likewise, I don't think you should mock someone for having no knowledge. It's not a great comparison because prosthetics are a poor metaphor for education (unless education is a sort of crutch?) but still. You get what I mean.

Ah! It's like mocking people for being poor!

I've said pretty much what I wanted to say about this topic, so I'm gonna move on to my promise of talking more about "good things in the world" posts.

I get it. There is good in the world. It was nice the first few times round, but honestly I'm getting a bit desensitized to heart-warming stories. There's only so many times I can read "Seeing eye cat leads blind dog to safety" before my eyes start rolling back into my head. I suppose it's the problem of social media (I'm looking at you, Facebook) being used to share everything. I also suppose the solution is for me to stop looking at Facebook so much.

:: And that's all she wrote 12:00 PM [+] ::
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What has two thumbs and doesn't care?

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