(November 18, 2007)
Dear Axe Tashina,
People make me angry. In particular, I have a hard time dealing with rude people, pretentious people, socially awkward people, ugly people, and stupid people. My anger has boiled to a point where I am considering living with animals, being a hermit, or killing people. How can I safely and effectively deal with my infuriation at the human race?
Your 1 Fan,
People Hater
Dear People Hater,
Gee...
As many people know, I'm rather well known for my dislike of people, so I feel your pain. Dealing with people is hard, but we can get through this together! Because really, that's what needs to happen. All of the smart people who hate people should get together and constantly commiserate about how much they hate other people. It's the only topic they could talk about, because they'd probably annoy the shit out of each other if they talked about anything else. In all actuality, people who hate people are pretentious people, which means that they also hate themselves.
But I'm not gonna get into some hippy-dippy bullshit about "how to get over your self-hatred and start loving people again." If you're interested in that, go fuck yourself. Or fuck your therapist while he tells you how to get over your self-hatred. (Hint: fucking your therapist is NOT the right answer. No matter what he says.) No, we're gonna talk about how to deal with these people in a way that allows you to get some infuriation out, and entertain yourself at the same time. Ready?
RUDE PEOPLE. Pretty easy. Rude people are usually so busy being rude that they won't notice if you're rude back. Or, if they notice, they'll just continue to plow through on the Rude Train, and you'll be no more irritated than before. In fact, if they notice you're being rude back to them, the conversation turns infinitely more interesting.
Let's say that at first, they get your goat by saying something rude about Radiohead, like "They can't play their way out of a paper bag, and Thom Yorke sings like a strangled manatee out of water." RUDE! So rude. The proper response? "I hope you and your entire family fall down a well like that baby Jessica bitch, and when people come looking for your family, they forget about you, so then you die in that well, all alone." Make sure you say it in a completely normal tone of voice, because then Rude Person is confused as to whether you insulted him/her, or baby Jessica. If they do respond in kind, just keep shooting out random insults until they get exhausted. The more non-sequiturial (that is not a word) your rudeness is, the more quickly you will win.
PRETENTIOUS PEOPLE. Also easy, because as I said before, you ARE a pretentious person. So this again comes down to a battle, but rather than the battle of insults, it's the battle of obscure pseudo-intellectual references. Which again makes Radiohead a good example. So Pretentious Person says, "Did you know that Radiohead was originally called On A Friday?" Of course you know that. You love Radiohead! Stupid Pretentious Person. You respond, "Of course I did. But did YOU know that Jonny Greenwood composed the music for Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie, There Will Be Blood?" Which they probably did know, but only because they studied up on Radiohead before they came to meet you, knowing that a Radiohead conversation would transpire. However, you have impressed them with your obscure knowledge that not only mentions Radiohead, but also Paul Thomas Anderson, who is a HUGE favorite amongst pretentious folk.
But you already knew that... because you're pretentious. As am I, so I know from experience that if you get stumped in these types of conversations, the best tactic is to always change the topic to someone who is MORE obscure. Is the topic Radiohead? Change it to Sigur Ros (who came out with a new album and a DVD November 13th, just to give you a morsel to use). Is it Paul Thomas Anderson? Just bring up any obscure movie you can think of - PT has stolen from it (old Robert Altman movies are best). Think of pretentious talk like a word association game; then it just feels like fun!
SOCIALLY AWKWARD PEOPLE. Dude. They're socially awkward. They'll probably just be glad you're talking to them. On the other hand, this does not make them any less annoying. It makes them MORE annoying, because they're all simpering in the corner, hoping that someone will talk to them. Then, invariably, the first thing out of their mouths is, "HeyhowareyouI'mgreatIlovedoingstufflikethisdon'tyouyeahit'sgreatandIwouldtalktomorepeoplebutheytheyshouldcometomebecauseI'mthelifeoftheparty! [insert awkwardly loud laugh that lets you know they're making a joke.]" Because they have to say everything that they've rehearsed in one breath. Fucking social rejects.
The best response is to ask them a really uncomfortable question, like "How do you feel about the new study that says mothers like the smell of their own baby's poop?" Which, well, if you read that article, you'll know it's not QUITE that they like the smell of it... but you have enough ammo now to make them hasten for a quick exit. Socially awkward people do NOT want to talk about anything having to do with bodily functions. Feces will guarantee you freedom from social awkwardness for the rest of the night.
UGLY PEOPLE. Please. Just fucking walk away now, before you get infected by their ugly. Better yet, run! Or that ugly's gonna get you! RUN LIKE THE WIND!
Seriously. Ugly people don't even deserve your time. Maybe you're worried about the ugly people coming into your work? Kick them out. You don't want their ugly money anyway - it automatically uglifies your business. Until the government decides that we should put all of the ugly people in the Dakotas (I'm still waiting for that bill to go through Congress; who wants to start a petition?), I suggest just shunning the ugly.
STUPID PEOPLE. Sheesh. This group is the WORST for me. I'm beyond serious, and anyone that really knows me can agree. I'm just saying, you can be the sweetest person on the face of the planet, and if you're stupid, I WILL HATE YOU FOREVER. Unless you get magically smart... and magic is the only way that can happen, because stupid people are FUCKING STUPID. Guh. And I'm not talking book-smart, I'm talking common sense. All I'm asking is that you have AT LEAST a high school education, and the knowledge to not, I dunno, walk down a dark alley at night in the ghetto. I'm always amazed at the number of people who don't have street smarts - it fucking kills me.
Since I could write a whole blog about stupid people, let's move on. The problem with stupid people (besides the obvious one) is that they're probably in your circle of friends, so you can't just insult them outright and leave it at that. Stupid people are everywhere, and unlike ugly people, you can't just shun all of them. There are two ways to approach this problem. You can just randomly pull out big words that confuse them. This works, although if they're that particular brand of stupid, they'll ask you what every single word means, and I'm talking about asking the definition of "could" in "Experimenting with hydrogen molecules could prove to be of great importance for the future development of quantum computation." Because see, these type of stupid people, if they hear one big word, they figure it's a good time to ask about every word. I don't know why... probably because they're stupid. I mean, they know "the" and all those simple words, but anything beyond four letters, and this particular brand of Stupid Person is lost, so they start asking questions. And you're in a quagmire of FUCKED, because you just made up that sentence in hopes of confusing them. Seriously - do YOU know what the fuck that sentence means? I don't.
The other option is to continuously insult Stupid Person, but in a subtle way that will amuse you and your friends without hurting Stupid Person's feelings. This takes a LOT of fine-tuning, though, and you'll often half-heartedly exclaim "I'm just kidding!" while you figure out how to get this exactly right. Let me give you an example of a good insult. Stupid Person: "I just don't know why I have to know math. What good is it?" You: "I know! It's not like you'll ever have to add or subtract anything - McDonald's does all that for you." And they'll never know you just called them a McDonald's employee, because you started the sentence with what sounded like you were agreeing. And then, they'll be hungry for McDonald's, and offer to pay, and you'll get free food, plus extra opportunities to insult them.
Well, People Hater, I hope this has helped you deal with your infuriation. It has certainly helped me in the past. Just remember: when in doubt, find a way to entertain yourself. If all else fails, just fucking kill that asshole and dump him/her in the river. Then read my past blog on what to do if you kill someone.