I left this comment over at Heartiste’s blog. It was in response to this post albeit on a later one.
I think that you and myself are disgusted because having intelligence is as much of an outlying trait as feminism and manboobz. When you don’t fall at the top of the bell curve, you are guilty by association with white guys that play digeridoos.
The top of the bell curve guy is granted with average looks, average intelligence, average empathy, average aggression, average skill with women, average grades, average friends. But within that, many other perfectly average people can be found and easily empathized with. All your friends look, act, think, and fuck the same. You bond over chee-weez, beer, and football. Nothing questioned, no paradigm shifted, nothing better than 9-5 and sports on the weekend. Cursed to be a sheeple, but blessed to be a sheeple. They couldn’t see any other way.
The right of the bell curve are isolated and lonely in their posession of some above average trait. Read left to right of bell curve:
Some are overly intelligent: smart > brilliant > genius > prodigy > autistic
Some are overly empathetic: nice > kind > caring > sacrificial > slobbering emotional bucket
Some are overly creative: talented > artistic > visionary > absorbed > high off his ass > stuck inside a quadriplegic body
Some are overly cunning: quick witted > narccisitic > diabolic > pure evil > the devil incarnate
Some are overly outgoing: popular > center of attention > famous > stripping for attention > must dominate any social interaction or die a la fitty cent
Some are overly symbolic: manly man > trendy man > hipster/douchebag/guido > amalgamation of ghetto-hipster-asian-punk rock-roid rage-valley girl.
Some are overly testosterone laden: athletic > lifts weights > roids > meathead Olympia
When you look at it, the guys I knew who were most successful with women and friendships simply couldn’t be described with any of the above adjectives. They were too normal. There is a reason why the top of the bell curve indicates the most average, and not the the top of the bell curve indicates the most intelligent/highest achievers. Women select and reproduce the most with the average normal men and perpetuate the trend.
Scary thought, but maybe game should be about shopping at Walmart, wearing St Johns Bay, and flirting with soccer moms’ daughters out in Suburbia.
My point is that everyone who is not top of the bell curve most likely experiences frustration and loneliness due to his extenuating characteristics. Some get more, some less, but all have some disconcerting feeling that they are not Joe Blow. Intelligent people probably comprehend their differences and come to despise that they were not the average guy. In fact, all the advice that follows the lines of “be yourself,” or “embrace your uniqueness” essentially boils down to: “make those traits seem as normal to yourself as possible.” In other words, “be normal.”
