Why are some people just jackasses?

[Roland98]

Well? :)

[Godless Wonder]

'cause they're pissed off by the other jackasses?

That's why I'm a jackass.

[Roland98]

So would you be a jackass to someone who's not a jackass to you simply because you're pissed off by other jackasses? :)

[pescifish]

Some jackasses don't have the ability to detect jackassness in themselves.

Or their criteria for jackassocity is different than others'.

All people are jackasses some of the time while usually being nonjackasses most of the time, while some people are just jackasses. Period.

[Godless Wonder]

So would you be a jackass to someone who's not a jackass to you simply because you're pissed off by other jackasses? :)
You think jackasses are always confined to rational thought?

Well, I'm just thinking lately I've probably been a bit of a jackass to some coworkers at work, on account of they voted for Bush. It was either be a jackass, or shoot them, and if I was going to shoot them, I should've done that before the election.

[beyelzu]

Well? :)
speaking only for myself, not jackasses everywhere.

I think I am a jackass because I can be one. It can be funny as hell, and quite hnestly, I am an arrogant asshole to people that I dont know.

A chick I once went out with called me aggressively shy.

[beyelzu]

Some jackasses don't have the ability to detect jackassness in themselves.

Or their criteria for jackassocity is different than others'.

All people are jackasses some of the time while usually being nonjackasses most of the time, while some people are just jackasses. Period.
and if only we had a test for all the time jackassocity we could ship them off to siberia where they belong. :D

[ApostateAbe]

Why be a jackass? The chicks love it. And why not?

[Petra]

Oi! Roland! You talkin' 'bout me? Eh? You wanna watch yourself, sweets. I'll be forced - forced, I tell you - to set the dogs on you. So just you watch yourself. Although a few quid should help settle any damages to my rep. Bring yer chequebook, did'ya? Bloody hope so, mate. You'll be speaking to my lawyer if yer not careful.

:grinch:

[Dingfod]

Nobody at work has given me shit for the election outcome, is this because I'm a jackass and they're scared of my jackassedness?

[livius drusus]

So would you be a jackass to someone who's not a jackass to you simply because you're pissed off by other jackasses? :)

Have you considered paranoia? Not adopting it as a way of life, mind you, but as an explanation? Perhaps the jackass sees your nonjackassocity as a uber jackassdom in disguise. Perhaps the jackass is even more threatened by your silky smooth ways than he would be by bey sitting on his neck and punching his kidneys. The latter is at least a known quantity.

[Shake]

Why are some people bitches? :chin: :P

[livius drusus]

Good question. Possibly on account of the pig fucking? Or maybe it's the microcephaly to blame.

[godfry n. glad]

Okay...okay...okay...

You seem to make "jackassedness" out to be a bad thing. Is that right?

Asses are downright smart animals....equine animals. Jackasses are male smart equine animals.

Is the comparison of humans to male asses some kind of "put-down"? Because if it is, is certainly falls flat with me. I would never compare a "difficult" human to an ass, as the ass might become offended. In many cases, to refer to a human as a "jackass" is a compliment.

godfry

[Dingfod]

dogfry, jackasses mistakenly have the reputation for being stubborn, nearly as stubborn as a mule. Mules and asses are intelligent beasts, that's why it is hard to get them to do something they don't want to do. If they don't want to do it, there's probably a reason. They might be tired. They might be thirsty. They might be hungry. They might think they're going to get hurt. Or they might just be sick of the human acting like a horse's ass.

Many horses, on the other hand, are barely smarter than a sheep. Horses would ride over a cliff if you, the rider, told it to. A horse will eat so much that it will get sick. A horse will drink itself to death. A horse will run itself to death. A horse will defecate in it's own food. Horses frequently get hung up in wire fences. I swear a horse could hurt itself in a rubber padded stall. You won't find a mule or ass doing any of those things if they don't want to. It is possible to train a horse to do a lot of things that make them appear to be intelligent as a mule or ass, but they're not. So, let's change the insulting phraseology from jackass to horse's ass, a term which is apt.

[godfry n. glad]

I agree with your assessment wholeheartedly. The biggest reason for stubborness of asses is that their human caretakers have overloaded it. The ass is smart enough to know that carrying an overweight load is not good for it.

My understanding of horse behavior, in comparison to ass behavior, is also the same as yours. I've actually seen a horse run into a barbed wire fence, slicing open a flank.....smart.

Asses are often kept as stable-mates to horses because they are, in comparison, cool, calm and collected and calm the stupid jittery horses.

Mules are a cross between horses and asses...the reason being that the power of horses needed to be combined with the intelligence of asses.

Horse's rump would be the offensive end of a stupid animal which practically must be whipped to get the animal to do the proper thing. I'd say that would be a much more appropriate analogy.

godfry

[Roland98]

Conversations about donkeys (and bitches :D ) nonwithstanding, I think in my most recent :beathead: experience was probably either a result of pesci's or liv's suggestions. Maybe I was being a jackass myself and not realizing it? Or else they were reading jackassedness into what I'd written, even though none was intended? I dunno. Either way, I just don't get it, and sometimes it still takes me aback, though I guess I should be used to it or something. I mean, sure, if I tell you to fuck off, you whiny cumbag, by all means, I think someone is justified in telling me where to stick my belongings. But I dunno, I just don't understand pre-emptive hostility.

I think I am a jackass because I can be one. It can be funny as hell, and quite hnestly, I am an arrogant asshole to people that I dont know.

Any particular reason? I mean, is this just random, or is it to people who've been an asshole to you first? Like would you be in just a random conversation with someone about something and then just start being a jerk for no reason?

[livius drusus]

Maybe I was being a jackass myself and not realizing it? Or else they were reading jackassedness into what I'd written, even though none was intended? I dunno.

I've found that a calm demeanor can be very easily transmuted into condescension or baiting when being read by someone in a rage. This is particularly so when the someone tends to have a rather low opinion of themselves to begin with, so they see it reflected in all kinds of places where a disinterested party would see just a perfectly normal, curteous interaction.

I've been on both sides of that fence once or twice myself, and it's painful all around. Being misunderstood sucks, particularly when you've made an effort to be as clear and honest as possible. Feeling rejected sucks, particularly when you've laid your heart out.

Then again, as pesci said, sometimes people are just jackasses.

Either way, I just don't get it, and sometimes it still takes me aback, though I guess I should be used to it or something. I mean, sure, if I tell you to fuck off, you whiny cumbag, by all means, I think someone is justified in telling me where to stick my belongings. But I dunno, I just don't understand pre-emptive hostility.

It's probably not pre-emptive to the person employing it, however. It's likely to have been building for a while before you see it, and by then, depending on the individual circumstances, there are so many potential pitfalls that even if you tried your damndest to avoid anything that could even remotely be interpreted as hostile it wouldn't be enough.

[pescifish]

I think discerning jackass intent online is much more difficult than IRL. For example, my earlier post in this thread was flippant and a bit jackassish itself. But, it probably wouldn't have been if the OP had given a specific situation. I.e., my flip post was (hopefully) ok relative to the somewhat flip OP. I generally try to match at least some of the energy of what I'm responding to.

Online and IRL, I agree with livius' point about presenting calm vs. someone else's rage inciting even more fury. However, I seem to be able to adjust much more easily in person, when the interaction is immediate and the reaction can be gauged and countered before any "mistakes" set in and do irreparable damage. I can detect misunderstanding more easily and use an iterative process to hone in on a correction.

This, of course, is assuming that the person on the other side (as well as myself) is genuinely interested in achieving some peaceful understanding. Otherwise, I'm back with the "Some people are just jackasses, period."

Online, not only am I missing the body and verbal cues but the asynchronous nature and permanency of bulletin board communication makes my usual iterative process much more difficult.

[Brimshack]

Hmm, let's see:

Differential Association Theory: Because they interact with others in a subculture that celebrates jackasedness as a positive value, albeit most likely cast in different terms, say casting it as "strength," "successfulness," or "power."

Control Theory: Because being a jackass is inherently desireable, much as sex and violence are presummably ends in themselves. The real question would then be why some people are not jackasses, perhaps because they have internalized social controls and thereby lost their inner jackass.

Illigitimate Opportunity Theory: Because being a jakcass helps someone acquire ends not normally available to those who choose not to be jack-like asses.

Conflict Theory: Because jackassiositude is actually defined by those in power, and it is defined in such as way as to seriously limit the options of the subaltern. Being a Jakcass thus becomes a trope of freedom, so to speak, an attempt to subvert the dominate paradigm by flaunting ones contempt for the normative consciousness of the definers of jackasiositudinality.

Labelling Theory: Because somewhere along the line they acquired a reputation (perhaps unfairly) for being a jackass or some related horrible, and their subsequent secondary jackassidness is a resignation of sorts.

...no really, I have no fucking clue.

[Dingfod]

I'm sure it is just fun to be a jackass. Right, Brim?

[Brimshack]

Well

...yeah.\\ :cool:

[Roland98]

Well

...yeah.\\ :cool:

Jackass. :)

[Brimshack]

Ooh baby! I love it when you talk dirty.

[godfry n. glad]

Just don't go all dacshund on me, Brim.

And your title is sofa king we heard.

godfry

[Brimshack]

Dacshunds are entirely too cute for the likes of me Godfry. I would have to be a slobbering pug or something like that.

[godfry n. glad]

small...yappy...annoying = puntee

um, if you don't want the sofa king thing....I'll kipe it.

godfry

[Brimshack]

I strive to be far worse than annoying, and no I like being the Fuh king. It's a good title, albeit an improbable one, on a couple levels actually.

[godfry n. glad]

Well, then... where was I?


oh...yeah...All hail the Fuh King!

godfry

um-hmmm, it works well on you

[Brimshack]

...or Bray On, as the case may be.