Many people seem to have the idea that just because someone has a certain characteristic, they will be a certain “type” of person. This is not true. I am here to point out some common misconceptions. This list will probably get more controversial as it progresses. A lot of these have to do with college related stuff, so forgive me if you are not in or recently graduated or about to enter undergraduate studies.
Just because you have a high GPA doesn’t mean you’re smart.
The same goes for SAT scores, LSAT scores, MCAT scores, etcetera. Smart doesn’t mean you test well. Smart means you can use your brain to the best of its ability. I know plenty of people who are pretty darned smart yet don’t quite test well so their GPAs don’t necessarily reflect their intelligence. I also know plenty of people who test really well and couldn’t reason their way out of a paper bag. In conclusion, smart is a very subjective term.
Just because you’re thin doesn’t mean you’re fit.
There are so many people that equate being “in shape” with being thin. This is false. You can be fat and fit and you can be thin and fit, but you can also be fat and out of shape and thin and out of shape. Throwing up or starving yourself does not make you fit, unless you can somehow make projectile vomiting a vigorous physical activity for thirty minutes per day seven days per week.
Just because you’re computer literate doesn’t mean you’re not cool.
There are so many people that think it’s “cool” to not know how to do anything on a computer. Many of these people have severe problems and must rely on their school’s Info Tech department to fix everything. They then scoff at the people in the IT department and others who help them for being “nerds” who spend “all day” in front of a computer. I am not in the IT department, nor do I spend all day in front of a computer. I am computer literate because I take the time to figure things out for myself on a computer. If someone helps you with your computer, you should be grateful, and you should try to learn so you won’t need help next time. I personally have not had anyone call me a nerd (at least not to my face) but I hear it all the time about the IT department.
Just because you’re Christian doesn’t mean you’re a good person.
I recently spent two three hour trips in the car with someone who had recently gone on a mission trip of sorts and was talking about it. He/She would constantly receive calls while we were in the car describing how his life was changed and how racism was so unfair and that it was tearing out country apart. Also, throughout the span of both car trips, he/she managed to make the same blatantly racial slur four times, both before and after the mission trip. Did his life really change, or was he putting on a show? The same goes for people who go to church all happy-faced and then turn around on monday and call their boss a “f*cktard.”
Just because you write for a newspaper doesn’t mean you’re know what you’re talking about
Plagiarism, lies, and incorrect information exist everywhere. Don’t take facts for granted, and don’t take for granted that you’re reading from a firsthand source.
Just because you’re Republican doesn’t mean you care about morality
At the exit polls in the 2004 presidential election, which Republicans obviously won, the top reasons for voting had to do with moral issues. Many people in the south believe that if you vote Republican, you’re going to make the country more centered on Christian morality. Is pouring tons and tons of money into a war that violates a christian commandment (“Thou Shall Not Kill” for you sports fans) promoting Christian morality? I don’t necessarily oppose the initial going to war, and I don’t necessarily think that we should be bailing out of it at the moment, but the amount of money and focus on pre-emptive strikes is a little ridiculous in my opinion. But this is not the correct article to discuss this in.
Just because you’re pro-choice doesn’t mean you’re a immoral person
This is a continuation of the last point. I have recently decided I am pro-choice. Not in that I think that abortion is a good thing – I definitely morally oppose it. However, I oppose even more those who try to impose their moral beliefs on others. People can quote all the scripture they want, show all the pictures of dead babies they want, etcetera. It’s a moral, personal choice. I would never ever hear of it in a personal situation, but if two people that I have no connection with whatsoever are getting an abortion, then I’m not going to stop them.
Let me know what you all think.
13 Comments for Just because you…
Author comment by george | April 3, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Shaniqua | April 3, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Just because you write for a newspaper doesn’t mean you’re know what you’re talking about
Plagiarism, lies, and incorrect information exist everywhere. Don’t take facts for granted, and don’t take for granted that you’re reading from a firsthand source.
Truth is what you make of it, and is grossly overrated. And in the long term, truth doesn’t really matter.
steve | April 3, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Why do you say that, Shaniqua? I think I disagree with that statement. I think that there is truth and that it is worth pursuing. I don’t claim to know all the truths of the world yet, and I think that the concept of truth can be complicated. This is because the truth may be something huge and hard to grasp. People will argue all the time and oppose each other, holding onto certain points that they know are true… but in reality they are arguing two parts to the same truth. I think that truth can be made up of smaller parts, applied differently in different situations. People take small parts of truth and run with them, as can be seen in people who support a particular kind of government completely. True democracy would be terrible and mob rule. However, tyrannical dictatorship by one person would be just as bad, or worse. I guess what I’m saying is that there has to be some balance, and that balance is truth.
Shaniqua | April 3, 2006 at 9:21 pm
We don’t act on truth, we act on perception. I don’t believe in absolute truth because of the way I perceive my consciousness.
I don’t think that truth matters much. We’ll do what we’ll do even knowing the falsety in it because it suits us. Sometimes it suits us to lie to ourselves. For example, we call ourselves christians but treat others like s*it or we bomb civillians standing on the corner or we withhold food (sanctions). Our truth consists of clear contradictions but we rely on social civility so that people don’t constantly point out the lies of it. After a while truth becomes very malleable and suits our purposes – we don’t serve its purposes.
Even visual tricks can demonstrate the variable nature of truth but the chemical engine that we are doesn’t care or demand truth — just the ability to live on and exist.
Chris H | April 3, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Wow, George, there’s a lot of material in this one.
I’ll start with your first point. Intelligence is subjective, but evidence of intelligence is positively correlated with good performance in tests, grades, etc. Standardized tests are valuable for two reasons, it gives an insight into intelligence and the amount of material learned and retained, while also testing people under stressful conditions. A person that doesn’t “test well” may have had a bad day, but also might not be as dependable in crunch time.
However, some people may flaunt their Phi Beta Kappa status, GPA, or LSAT as a symbol of the intelligence. Unfortunately, this is a fact of life. Some people you know will always try to promote their status, whether it is with scholarships, prominent internships, fancy cars, or beach houses. Many of them deserve these things, some of them are for show.
Bottom line, it is up to you what you want people to think of you.
josh | April 4, 2006 at 2:01 am
George, I seem to agree with most of your points, but there are a couple to which I must take exception:
“Just because you’re Republican doesn’t mean you care about morality”
I agree with your point, but think your reasoning for it is highly misguided. First of all, you represent all “moral” Republicans as supporting Bush and all of his policies and then call them hypocrites for it. First of all, many Republicans do not support Bush. I consider myself to be a moderate Republican, and voted for John Kerry. I did so even thinking that he would make a lousy president, but that he would be the lesser of two evils.
Second of all, many people are Republicans for reasons other than moral ones. For example, many people believe in smaller government and fiscal responsibility, traditionally Republican virtues. The current administration apparently believes in neither, which is why many people like myself are so frustrated by them. No president since FDR has increased the size of the Bureaucracy as much as Bush has. I’m not sure what the exact figures are, but I know our current budget deficit is one of the biggest we’ve had for a while. You can’t cut taxes and drastically increase spending with a budget already operating on a deficit!
Third of all, you can’t call Christians hypocrites for supporting the war. I will make no attempt to justify the war (I am strongly opposed to it), but a war does not violate the commandment which you call “Do not kill.” The Biblical commmandment is “Do not murder,” which is a very different thing from “Do not kill.” Murder implies the deliberate killing of an innocent victim. Killing just means the ending of another’s life. There are forms of justifiable killing, such as self-defense, that are supported in the Bible. Collateral damage, within the context of a justifiable mission, also does not qualify as murder. I personally think this war is a mistake and is having a horrible effect, but I don’t see the necessary contradiction with Christianity. Argue whether the war is justified and if those directing the war are making every attempt to avoid civilian casualties (I postulate that they might not be), but don’t use Christianity to criticize someone’s political views.
I guess I strayed off topic a little bit, but it’s 2 am and I don’t feel like editing this. Maybe I’ll tackle the abortion point tomorrow.
Author comment by george | April 6, 2006 at 5:05 pm
I was hoping this article got more comments than it did.
In response to the two comments I received, I reply that I never said that any of this stuff was global for everyone. That’s exactly the opposite point the article makes. Evidence of intelligence is correlated with grades, tests, etc, but still – it’s just correlated.
In regard to calling christians hypocrites for supporting the war, I am not necessarily saying that they are, I am just offering a reason for why one might not believe that ALL republicans care about morality.
Anyways, thanks for the comments.
Z | April 7, 2006 at 7:49 am
I tried to register but never received the registration password from WordPress.
Author comment by george | April 7, 2006 at 8:51 am
Gotcha, I’ll fix this on sunday… I’m going to be out of town for a few days…
Author comment by Z | April 12, 2006 at 5:58 pm
George, what good is allowing me a logon if I can’t create a post?
No worries dude — I’ll keep the pedophilia links to a minimum. :-]
Now that Kilgore’s gone and blown his brains out I figure I gots a free hand on proselytizing left-wing, commie economics.
Shaniqua | May 1, 2006 at 12:36 pm
We don’t act on truth, we act on perception. I don’t believe in absolute truth because of the way I perceive my consciousness.
Stephen Colbert’s speech over the weekend:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1062760&mesg_id=1062760
And I just like the guy. He’s a good Joe. Obviously loves his wife, calls her his better half. And polls show America agrees. She’s a true lady and a wonderful woman. But I just have one beef, ma’am.
I’m sorry, but this reading initiative. I’ve never been a fan of books. I don’t trust them. They’re all fact, no heart. I mean, they’re elitist telling us what is or isn’t true, what did or didn’t happen. What’s Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was built in 1914? If I want to say it was built in 1941, that’s my right as an American. I’m with the president, let history decide what did or did not happen.
It’s a whole school of philosophy that’s overlooked at institutions of higher learning. Make truth maleable to suit your individual or collective consciousness.
My left sock | May 18, 2006 at 9:44 am
Truth? Perception? Hmmmm. My favourite philosophical argument is that of DEFINITION. I suppose in that way I agree with Shaniqua – everything we percieve in life we must define in order to understand it. Personal definitions. No one can be wrong, becuase no one on earth should consider themselves above anyone else. We all live, we all die. So our definitions and opinions are all worth just as much as each others. Like if you wished to define a canal as a lake, who’s to say you would be wrong? We ‘know’ that a lake is a lake, because we have been taught it. But who sat down originally and decided to call it a lake instead of a canal? Another person. Why is their opinion any more valid than mine?
ARGH! I think I am talking balls now…..but….does anyone get what I mean?
I feel like this should generate a few comments at least…