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People will take any opportunity to push you down the ladder. They worm their way through any small hole they can find and they attempt to change your perceptio

by RevRal 17y ago

People will take any opportunity to push you down the ladder. They worm their way through any small hole they can find and they attempt to change your perception of yourself to that of a lesser human being. It is even more petty when they do it in front of other people. It's a status game, and I luckily started to notice it while very young. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of hope for people who don't see the problem with this practice and who have followed it for a long time, unquestioningly and subconsciously. And confronting them about it is only good for increasing the temperature of their head. That is, their temperament is volatile and effects the density of their head... makes it susceptible to temperature increases. Thus, hot headed. This is one of those things that really, really, really annoys me. And it needs to become socially acceptable to call people out on it. But I have a question. I skipped college, so I don't know. Do people still do this in higher education?

almost 17y ago
Just be confidant in yourself and it shouldn't be a problem. So what if someone wants to imply that you're stupid for asking a question? Ask anyway, then you'll be learning while those who dare not ask are left behind. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Just chill out a bit and life gets easier and more fun :)
- wr1472 17y ago
  That's right play the game, don't let the game play you.
rdtsc 17y ago
> It's a status game, and I luckily started to notice it while very young. You see this often when engineers meet. If the group is new, and haven't established a status hierarchy already, they will quickly start throwing jargon around at each other, to show who is more knowledgeable and try to make others look stupid. That quickly establishes who is who on the status ladder and then the meeting or discussion proceeds on. I think of apes beating their chests and throwing sticks around to show their might. Once you become aware of it, it is quite amusing to watch. I started chuckling during a meeting we had with 2 new consultants, and everyone started looking at me strange... But there is an upside to it. To a certain extent it is necessary to establish a hierarchy, because a senior engineer's opinion is worth listening to a lot more than a junior's engineers opinion. Time is money. If Joe is a senior engineer and we have all as a group accept it, we will drill down and explore his suggestions, if Steve, a junior engineer proposes something, we won't consider it as seriously. For us to consider Steve's suggestions, he'll have to prove himself. I think it is necessary to emphasize that this extends to professional domain knowledge. It is absolutely unacceptable to put anyone down because of their religion, sex orientation, skin color, or body shape. Otherwise, at least were I work, we have no qualms telling people they are full of shit, when it comes to domain knowledge.
- CamperBob 17y ago
  It is absolutely unacceptable to put anyone down because of their religion Wait, I can't make fun of Scientologists?
  - rdtsc 17y ago
    You can, but do it in your own time, not at work.
    - Confusion 17y ago
      If a consultant turns out to be a Scientologist, it will make me seriously doubt his sanity, as well as his moral fiber. That makes it very much relevant to work. Political correctness can be very harmful, if it causes you too ignore the real impact that who someone is can have.
- bootload 17y ago
  "... You see this often when engineers meet. If the group is new, and haven't established a status hierarchy already, they will quickly start throwing jargon around at each other, to show who is more knowledgeable and try to make others look stupid. ..." Great observation. Mean girls and Queen-bee behaviour in engineers ~ http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Bees-Wannabes-Boyfriends-Realities/dp/0307454444 http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Bees-Wannabes-Boyfriends-Realiti... "... But there is an upside to it. ..." In the natural world, "status hierarchy" is used to protect the integrity of groups at the expense of pions. So there is upside. You see it in Bees for example: ~ http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/researchers-unravel-secret-of-queen-bees-behaviour_100227498.html http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/researchers-unr... "... I think it is necessary to emphasize that this extends to professional domain knowledge. It is absolutely unacceptable to put anyone down because of their religion, sex orientation, skin color, or body shape. ..." It's naive to think telling people "they are full of shit" won't have repercussions. If opinion is disregarded with such emotion it will have negative impacts on the team and team members. Queen bees use "homovanillyl alcohol" (HVA) to chemically interfere and suppress worker drones. Maybe in human teams, status is enforced through social pressure? "... Evolution has provided queen bees with a chemical that selectively blocks aversive learning but leaves reward learning intact ..." Now that's an idea worth exploring. How to knock down potentially inefficient ideas more efficiently?

by RevRal 17y ago

almost 17y ago

Just be confidant in yourself and it shouldn't be a problem. So what if someone wants to imply that you're stupid for asking a question? Ask anyway, then you'll be learning while those who dare not ask are left behind. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Just chill out a bit and life gets easier and more fun :)

wr1472 17y ago
That's right play the game, don't let the game play you.

rdtsc 17y ago

> It's a status game, and I luckily started to notice it while very young. You see this often when engineers meet. If the group is new, and haven't established a status hierarchy already, they will quickly start throwing jargon around at each other, to show who is more knowledgeable and try to make others look stupid. That quickly establishes who is who on the status ladder and then the meeting or discussion proceeds on. I think of apes beating their chests and throwing sticks around to show their might. Once you become aware of it, it is quite amusing to watch. I started chuckling during a meeting we had with 2 new consultants, and everyone started looking at me strange... But there is an upside to it. To a certain extent it is necessary to establish a hierarchy, because a senior engineer's opinion is worth listening to a lot more than a junior's engineers opinion. Time is money. If Joe is a senior engineer and we have all as a group accept it, we will drill down and explore his suggestions, if Steve, a junior engineer proposes something, we won't consider it as seriously. For us to consider Steve's suggestions, he'll have to prove himself. I think it is necessary to emphasize that this extends to professional domain knowledge. It is absolutely unacceptable to put anyone down because of their religion, sex orientation, skin color, or body shape. Otherwise, at least were I work, we have no qualms telling people they are full of shit, when it comes to domain knowledge.

CamperBob 17y ago
It is absolutely unacceptable to put anyone down because of their religion Wait, I can't make fun of Scientologists?
- rdtsc 17y ago
  You can, but do it in your own time, not at work.
  - Confusion 17y ago
    If a consultant turns out to be a Scientologist, it will make me seriously doubt his sanity, as well as his moral fiber. That makes it very much relevant to work. Political correctness can be very harmful, if it causes you too ignore the real impact that who someone is can have.
bootload 17y ago
"... You see this often when engineers meet. If the group is new, and haven't established a status hierarchy already, they will quickly start throwing jargon around at each other, to show who is more knowledgeable and try to make others look stupid. ..." Great observation. Mean girls and Queen-bee behaviour in engineers ~ http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Bees-Wannabes-Boyfriends-Realities/dp/0307454444 http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Bees-Wannabes-Boyfriends-Realiti... "... But there is an upside to it. ..." In the natural world, "status hierarchy" is used to protect the integrity of groups at the expense of pions. So there is upside. You see it in Bees for example: ~ http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/researchers-unravel-secret-of-queen-bees-behaviour_100227498.html http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/researchers-unr... "... I think it is necessary to emphasize that this extends to professional domain knowledge. It is absolutely unacceptable to put anyone down because of their religion, sex orientation, skin color, or body shape. ..." It's naive to think telling people "they are full of shit" won't have repercussions. If opinion is disregarded with such emotion it will have negative impacts on the team and team members. Queen bees use "homovanillyl alcohol" (HVA) to chemically interfere and suppress worker drones. Maybe in human teams, status is enforced through social pressure? "... Evolution has provided queen bees with a chemical that selectively blocks aversive learning but leaves reward learning intact ..." Now that's an idea worth exploring. How to knock down potentially inefficient ideas more efficiently?