Pretentious People

[mattbcl]

I'm fairly certain it doesn't happen only in classes that have a focus on the arts, but as my studies were inclined towards a degree in creative writing, I can say that I did see a lot of the pretentiousness you both describe in Literature-based classes. Probably the most annoying example of it was this guy in my Film Appreciation class who would hijack class discussions for 10 - 15 minutes while bloviating about what he thought was REALLY going on with the movies we watched. I don't really remember anything of substance he actually said, but his favorite phrase - I heard it thousands of times - was, "In a sense..." My fingers developed this tic that caused them to twitch whenever he said this phrase... it's entirely possible they were aching to kill him.

Brian brings up a series of fair points. It makes complete sense to me that professors would be taught to adopt the superior air, if only to shoot down the idiots who want to mess with their heads and turn the class into a waste of time. Teachers can't afford to get their cages rattled, especially early on. It's only further into the year, when there's a rhythm established, that an educator is going to feel comfortable releasing a little bit of control to the students who actually WANT an education, versus the morons who're just there because their moms and dads are making them.

But while this all describes what happens within the halls of education, it's a sad thing to remark that one can find equal pretention in fields of other employment. Even in something as mundane as carpet cleaning, which is what my career currently entails, one can find a lot of pretention and a LOT of idiots. It's not just the customers I describe in this case, although we have plenty of morons who seem to think we can't tell when they're lying about particular spots or stains... it's the employers, too. I can't tell you how many times I've been condescended to because somehow I've failed their expectations with regards to adding on high-dollar unscheduled services. The region I live in is very conservative and it's a very difficult thing to get customers to let go of their money, and I make an honest effort every day toward that end... but honesty is also IN the effort I make, and that means not shystering the people who pay me into purchasing something they really don't need. I'm a salesman, but I'm not underhanded. My bosses seem to fail to understand any of this - they live in a much more urban area and are accustomed to easier customers than these, and to my knowledge they have never once tried to operate the kinds of routes they send me and my co-workers on. Until they do, they will never understand the difficulty we face here... even though the employees from that urban area who've visited our territory have consistently confirmed our protestations as to the difficulty. The bosses don't want to hear that. They just want their money.

It frightens me, actually. If that's going to be how it is in a simple carpet cleaning business, how is it in other venues of employment?

[Shadow Wolf]

Ugh, just reading that word makes my blood boil. See, I'm a fan of respect, and this particular topic is one of the main reason why respect is no considered something not worth doing.

With that being said, I can agree with Brian on saying that they are pretentious people everywhere.

An example of this is a girl friend of mine. She has trouble with English (up to the point of even forgetting basic words). But despite of this, she studies hard to get good grades.

But one day (one of those first days of university), she asked a classmate (whom she befriended quickly) about some words she didn't understand. Her "friend" took this arrogant and pretentious attitude towards her while giving her the "are you stupid?" look and didn't help her at all due to considering her "inferior", since she didn't know some basic words.

She cried in frustration while telling me this...

Another type of pretentious people whom tick me off really quick are the ones who love to say "I'm the best" and when they face a challenge, they have an encyclopedia of excuses to evade them. For this kind of people, I love to use the "prove it" argument, since most of them find themselves unable to do so.

Finally, the last type of pretentious person is the one who has the "I'm always right" argument". I can't even describe how they irritate me, but the best thing I can do is ignore them because, unlike mature people, they don't have the capacity to do some logical thinking.

Oh, and don't make me touch the "flirting-people-who-consider-themselves-the-last-coca-cola-in-a-desert" kind.

I don't like to make people feel bad, but when I face people who try to put me or others down -consider this evil- but I love to take a counter stance and blow them away.

[ChobiChibi]

Wow, this topic is like my whole degree in a nutshell.

Oh, and don't get me started on the notion of "writing like a scholar." Most published journal articles make me want to vomit, because the researchers use a tremendous number of words to say virtually nothing.

This. Oh god this. The thing is, aside from Music Theory, a lot of academic writing about Music is purely opinion anyway. Even composers writing about their own music, or others' compositions, is just mostly how they feel about it. And arguing with each other on how it should be done (read some pretty amusing stuff that Stravinsky and Schoenberg wrote about each other, for example). But of course, being an undergrad means you're not allowed to have your own opinion, unless it lines up roughly with an academic.

What have you seen in your lives? Do people tend to act more pretentious when they're being graded or otherwise judged on how much knowledge they appear to have?

All the time. I'm probably mildly guilty of this also. Music is a competitive subject anyway, because there are auditions to get into ensembles, public performances etc. that make you want to prove that you're better than everyone else.

I'm guilty of this when it comes to choral works, specifically, because I've been in a choir for 14 years (including a Cathedral choir where we'd learn a piece of music in 2 weeks and sing it in a performance in the third week) and I'm good at it. Sight reading, pitch, confidence... It's my specialism. I can back this up however (ask the lecturers lol), but it's the people that can't that really bug me.

For example, there's a girl in my year that claims she can play pretty much anything. Oboe, bassoon, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, saxophones of all varieties... Oh, sure, you may be able to play a couple of tunes, but can you actually play them? The lecturers in the end told her she needed to specialise, and she got really huffy about it, but they all knew that in reality, she was only good at maybe three of those instruments. My main instrument is clarinet (with a bit of bass on the side if I had one) and I play saxophone and flute, but I would not for a second put myself forward for a professional sax or flute gig, because I know that I'm not good enough. They're my projects on the side.

The thing with assessments, particularly performance ones, is that we all get to see each other's assessments, and judge for ourselves what mark we think they should get, compared to what they think they should have got, and what the lecturer actually gave them. I got marked 57 for my dissertation (a sung performance of classical works), and a lot of people who came to see it thought I should have done better compared to some of the others that got 2:1's. But that's their opinion, cos they like me, not cos of my ability.

Probably the most annoying example of it was this guy in my Film Appreciation class who would hijack class discussions for 10 - 15 minutes while bloviating about what he thought was REALLY going on with the movies we watched.

Aha, I heard of a Masters student who would do that every week in their seminars. He was a mature student (he was in his 70's at least) and would just spout off about anything and everything.

There were a few quite bad people at this in my year. There was one guy who would always put his hand up, which was really annoying, but most of the time what he had to say was relevant to the conversation. There was also this other mature student in my year that would literally argue with lecturers and other students over points for ages. It was so frustrating.

Another type of pretentious people whom tick me off really quick are the ones who love to say "I'm the best" and when they face a challenge, they have an encyclopedia of excuses to evade them. For this kind of people, I love to use the "prove it" argument, since most of them find themselves unable to do so.

Oh THIS. There was a girl who played clarinet too, but she'd only been playing for 4, maybe 5 years. We were in an arranging lecture, and someone wanted to know about the Eb clarinet (it's a tiny clarinet that plays really high), so I advised her. Apparently, after I'd said this, this clarinet girl turned to her friend and said "what does she know about the clarinet? It's not her first instrument". What she doesn't know is that I've been playing for the best part of 15 years and actually, yes it was my first instrument. So what if I wasn't in chamber orchestra? I didn't WANT to be in it for the pure reason that I couldn't commit to it.

This from the girl who would always make up excuses for not being able to be at chamber orchestra rehearsals. And wanted to spend a semester on clarinet, and the second semester on oboe. Pfft.

Anyway, here's my very ranty contribution to this topic that shows that it is indeed common within all arts to be pretentious. Also admitting to being guilty of it too, but at least I know my faults and have the evidence to back it up >_>