The Religion Of The Ignorant

People manage to distress each other by very clever methods in the Religion of the Ignorant. For example, telling someone wearing a new outfit, "It's great, but it doesn't really suit you. The one you wore yesterday was more you," is generally done for the purpose of disparaging the other party. There is no room for praise, compliments or references to beauty in Ignorantism. Therefore, people do not praise one another's attributes. Telling someone with a new hair-do, even though one may actually like it, that, "The other style suited you more" is the kind of barb employed in the Religion of the Ignorant. Finding some flaw in every thing of beauty and speaking about what is flawed rather than what is attractive is a rule in Ignorantism. A requirement of this rule is to avoid praising an attractive person by saying things like, "She's pretty, but I've seen prettier," or, "She's pretty, but her dress lets her down," or, "She would have been even prettier if her eyes were green."

Enjoying oneself at the expense of other people's errors or deficiencies is another cruel aspect of the Religion of the Ignorant: Laughing at someone's being cross-eyed, for example, behind their back, saying, "I can't tell if he's looking at me or you," or "I can't manage to look him in the eye." Saying things like "Hold tight!" when handing something to a clumsy person, or telling someone who's going bald of all the new hair restorers on the market, or saying things like, " They've developed a new hair-replacement treatment. We'd better get you an appointment," or, "It looks like you've lost a few more hairs since last night." Saying ignorant things to a short person such as "How's the air down there?" or, "How's the view from down there?"

All these are methods of cruelty employed in Ignorantism. Others include laughing at someone who has fallen, mocking someone whose clothes are tattered, or imitating someone who stammers.

In such situations, those on the receiving end generally respond with behavior appropriate to the Religion of the Ignorant. They may laugh to avoid giving the impression that their feelings are hurt. Yet inside, they still feel the pain those words caused. Alternatively, the victim may counterattack by referring to a defect in the other party, and thus this ugly behavior takes on a life of its own.

6- PROVOCATIVE TACTICS

Another important feature of Ignorantism is seeking to anger other people. Some people behave this way to annoy people they do not like, and others, to take revenge on someone who has offended them. For others, it becomes a lifestyle all of its own. They take pleasure in exposing others' weaknesses and watching them become angry, and satisfy their own worldly urges in this way. They behave toward their parents, teachers or friends in ways expressly designed to anger.

However, this component of the Religion of the Ignorant is not implemented in a blatant manner. Angering other people has its own particular methodology, which methods include:

"Playing It Cool"

This method is frequently employed by those who enjoy annoying others. Adopting an exceptional calm on subjects which others find important or feel excitement or concern about, is one way to upset them. One often encounters this behavior in young people's attitudes towards their parents. A young girl who wants to get back at her mother for not letting her go out in the evening will respond to all her mother's questions in a very calm, indifferent tone of voice.

While the woman frantically searches for car keys she has mislaid and asks her daughter to help her look, the girl may reply, "I haven't seen the key," in a placid tone and keep on reading her magazine. When her mother is talking on the telephone and urgently needs a pen and paper to write something down, her daughter may get up—very slowly—and bring her those items in an annoyingly laid-back manner. When her mother asks happily what she did at school that day, she may reply merely, "Nothing much." Asked how her day went, the daughter may just reply, "Fine," and carry on with whatever she's doing, knowing that all such behavior will annoy her mother.