Do you ever pretend to be less informed on certain subjects in order to benefit the flow of an IRL conversation?

Thread: Do you ever pretend to be less informed on certain subjects in order to benefit the flow of an IRL conversation?
teezzy

teezzy

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So I'd like to think Im more or less average in terms of my intelligence

With that said im fairly knowledgeable on certain subjects like movies, music, video games, etc

Yknow... nerd shit. I think everyone here can relate

However sometimes I have to curb that knowledge when talking to others to avoid completely filibustering a conversation and allowing the other individual to get their say in etc

I think this is an important social skill to have, especially because nobody likes a know-it-all and people usually want to feel validated in their knowledge as well. Sometimes ill let people share facts with me which i already know and pretend as though i dont, or I'll feign interest in something they enjoy knowing full well it isnt something for me

So yeah, its a fine line. However if someone is telling me about some media Im actually interested in and know nothing about, im absolutely full of questions

Maybe a dumb thing to make a thread about
 
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I am a jack of all trades / master of none... I get bored and neurotic so I learn random shit for fun and to keep my mind occupied.

As a result I find myself having to pretend I don't know a lot on certain topics as I'd just come off like a know it all and dominate conversations (as you said).

Typically I'll let people ramble and then politely correct or fill in missing information for them if I feel necessary. Otherwise I'll just move on.
 
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It depends on how bored I am, what the topic is and who the other person is. Most of the time I will act dumb and ask innocent, yet loaded, questions, just to see their reaction. Other times I will present a well thought out answer that runs counter to the NPC programming.

Them: "LGBTQ people are being genocided by society"
Me: "Oh that's horrible. Those poor, poor people. How many have died because the police or army need to do something to stop this!"

or

Them "People like you who refuse the jab are anti-vax nazis and are killing granny"

Me: "I believe in vaccinations. We need to protect the vulnerable in our society and those less fortunate than ourselves across the world. I cannot in good conscience take a vaccine to a disease that my age/gender range has a 99.5% chance of survival against. Not only that, but we live in the richest part of the world with access to the best medical care in the world. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that poor africans and middle-easterners, with no access to health care, may die because I took a vaccine in a rich, privileged country, just for my own selfish reasons. But each to their own"

The outcome is the same; screw with NPC programming.

Edit: that was on normie topics. On subjects where people know more than me, I am happy to listen and learn.
 
teezzy said:
So I'd like to think Im more or less average in terms of my intelligence

With that said im fairly knowledgeable on certain subjects like movies, music, video games, etc

Yknow... nerd shit. I think everyone here can relate

However sometimes I have to curb that knowledge when talking to others to avoid completely filibustering a conversation and allowing the other individual to get their say in etc

I think this is an important social skill to have, especially because nobody likes a know-it-all and people usually want to feel validated in their knowledge as well. Sometimes ill let people share facts with me which i already know and pretend as though i dont, or I'll feign interest in something they enjoy knowing full well it isnt something for me

So yeah, its a fine line. However if someone is telling me about some media Im actually interested in and know nothing about, im absolutely full of questions

Maybe a dumb thing to make a thread about
Click to expand...

I bet you 100 Factsaredead-bucks this was born by someone discussing Slim Shady spawning from ICP.
 
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teezzy said:
So I'd like to think Im more or less average in terms of my intelligence

With that said im fairly knowledgeable on certain subjects like movies, music, video games, etc

Yknow... nerd shit. I think everyone here can relate

However sometimes I have to curb that knowledge when talking to others to avoid completely filibustering a conversation and allowing the other individual to get their say in etc

I think this is an important social skill to have, especially because nobody likes a know-it-all and people usually want to feel validated in their knowledge as well. Sometimes ill let people share facts with me which i already know and pretend as though i dont, or I'll feign interest in something they enjoy knowing full well it isnt something for me

So yeah, its a fine line. However if someone is telling me about some media Im actually interested in and know nothing about, im absolutely full of questions

Maybe a dumb thing to make a thread about
Click to expand...

Sometimes I do because I don't want to sound like a dick to the other person. So I just let the conversation flow.

That said, I fucking hate small talk.
 
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lock2k said:
Sometimes I do because I don't want to sound like a dick to the other person. So I just let the conversation flow.

That said, I fucking hate small talk.
Click to expand...

I just say I hate small talk to new people I meet and 90% of the time they same they say they hate it too.
 
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I will do this at work for professionalism's sake. I've worked with a know-it-all and no one liked him. Really, it's more like the art of "let someone finish what they're saying" and then I may say something in response like "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I've set one of those up before. We could totally do that. Great idea, Bob."
 
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DonDonDonPata said:
I don't pretend, I just tend to keep my mouth shut. Outing yourself as an expert can have annoying consequences.

There's a simple pleasure in listening to people rattle on about things they don't know about and choosing to stay quiet.
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That's me too , not usually much of a talker unless I really know someone but it's kind of fun seeing some people try to sound smart but in reality know they are full of it.
 
Optimus said:
I will do this at work for professionalism's sake. I've worked with a know-it-all and no one liked him. Really, it's more like the art of "let someone finish what they're saying" and then I may say something in response like "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I've set one of those up before. We could totally do that. Great idea, Bob."
Click to expand...

At work it's easier for me as I'm the head of my departments (IT/security). But I do have to cut people off or correct them quite often and I still end up coming off like an ass, lol.
 
I don't advertise the fact that I'm Jewish and when people I barely know go on anti-Semitic rants I join in and egg them on. Does that count?
 
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All day everyday. Unless I am working (and even then) I feign ignorance and let people spout inaccuracies.

Sometimes to let a conversation progress, but other times to simply avoid.
 
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Especially when politics and culture come up, it's often hard to shut up when people start making the most absurd and wrong statements. Engaging doesn't win you any points though and there's really no benefit.

Like when the Elon Twitter takeover happened, a colleague started talking about how it's the worst, he's censoring people, how bad he is etc. I quickly realized that the gap between reality and his information was too big to even say anything.
 
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regawdless said:
Especially when politics and culture come up, it's often hard to shut up when people start making the most absurd and wrong statements. Engaging doesn't win you any points though and there's really no benefit.

Like when the Elon Twitter takeover happened, a colleague started talking about how it's the worst, he's censoring people, how bad he is etc. I quickly realized that the gap between reality and his information was too big to even say anything.
Click to expand...

We do live in entirely different reality from the majority though, and knowing that nearly half tne population don't even have internal self speaking, it makes it even worse.
 
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I occasionally pretend I can't use Yandex (or Google) to find an answer to something brought up in conversation so as to keep the conversation going, does that count?
 
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