2 ms·

I think we're living in a time where the tendency to see "smug" in writing/speaking/personalities is unusually high. There's a deep hatred for smugness that is

I think we're living in a time where the tendency to see "smug" in writing/speaking/personalities is unusually high. There's a deep hatred for smugness that is maybe justified and maybe not, but regardless it has been wildly overapplied during the past 10 years. Specifically I think the line between writing in a colloquial, sarcastic, dry, opinionated, florid, or satirical style; and being arrogant; is where we are overinterpreting things as the latter. We seem to be sensitive to the idea that somebody might think they are "better than us". It seems often like an insecurity?

rtsil 3y ago
I think it's just that what you wrote is the difference between good writer and great writer. > the line between writing in a colloquial, sarcastic, dry, opinionated, florid, or satirical style; and being arrogant; If the point they're making is clear, the prose is informative, entertaining and never boring, being smug is a writing style like any other, people will like it. If the writing is annoying, people will criticize the smugness, when in reality that just means they didn't like it. It's also possible that the success of sarcastic, satirical styles drew a lot of people to these styles, and not all of them are successful in using these styles.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]