Fic: People are stupid
[- So what do people normally say?
- ’Piss off’.]
(i)
People are stupid.
It’s not a credo or a motto or a principle, it’s not an emotional judgment, not a desperate cry born of frustration. It’s just a fact, a simple fact, even: People. Are. Stupid. It’s part of the human condition. (And yes, Sherlock knows he is human, too. He knows he’s not above stupidity. That’s kind of the point here, if he could be allowed to get to it.) They are emotional, they act rashly, they jump to conclusions, they have preconceived notions and prejudices; it’s basically the definition of being human, for goodness’ sake! Pattern recognition. Categorization. Seeing similarities, seeing differences, even tiny ones, especially tiny ones, making split-second decisions. They do it all the time, and they don’t even know it. They call it intuition, as if that explains anything. Or, worse, they call it ’gut feeling’ - as if it’s their bowels making the deductions for them, something that actually would explain quite a lot! - or they speak, mysteriously, of a sense of something. As if that lets them off the hook, logically - as if that removes the need for analysis, for rationality, for knowing what you’re bloody well doing! When in fact the opposite is true; intuition is just another word for very rapid facts-gathering, and you need to be so, so careful when collecting so many facts in such a short time. Things are bound to end up in the wrong boxes. That’s why it’s so important to take care!
He knows he is remarkable in a few, significant ways. His off-the-chart IQ is fairly obvious; his memory, too, is way above average. But where he really shines is in the ability to discipline his own mind. To realize that he is human and prone to error, and therefore to work incessantly with weeding out any illogical leaps or preconceived notions, with keeping himself under constant surveillance. He hates making mistakes, but he never makes the even bigger mistake of hiding or forgetting them. Mistakes are just additional data; if he understands why he made them, he might not make them, or others like them, again.
He knows that not many people would be able to do what he does. And to hate or despise someone just because they lack his exceptional natural abilities would be as petty and as irrational as hating someone because they are smaller than him. And, while arrogant and impatient, he is not actually a petty man by nature. But what burns through any patience he might have left is the complete and utter lack of interest in even trying. And what really, really, really makes him angry is when these humans turn around and attack him for doing what they can’t. When all he ever does is strive for perfection (and God, does he strive, because contrary to popular belief, he does not consider himself perfect) and all they ever do is mock him for getting a little closer to it than they would manage even if they did try (which they don’t) … well. As mentioned, he’s not a petty man by nature. But nurture might in some ways affect a personality almost as much as natural bent. If he hadn’t kept his sarcasm almost as sharp as his deductions, he would have lost his temper for good, decades ago. Plus it’s a lot easier [and safer] for him if they believe they hate him for being an arrogant bastard, not because they know he’s better than them.
It’s also an easy way of keeping them from getting close.
(ii)
It’s not that John’s not stupid; he is. People are stupid, and although John Watson might be less so than most people; that’s not the point. Not entirely. The first, smaller, point is that he tries to follow the logical process that Sherlock has dedicated himself to. But the main point is that he sees the value in it, and admits it. That he is generous, and decent, and honest, and courageous enough to admire what Sherlock does, even though he could never do it himself.
No, Sherlock might not be a petty man. But he’s only just generous enough to admit to himself that he does not have John Watson’s generosity. He can not openly express his admiration for an ability he knows he does not have.
Fortunately, John Watson’s generosity is big enough to cover them both.
- ’Piss off’.]
(i)
People are stupid.
It’s not a credo or a motto or a principle, it’s not an emotional judgment, not a desperate cry born of frustration. It’s just a fact, a simple fact, even: People. Are. Stupid. It’s part of the human condition. (And yes, Sherlock knows he is human, too. He knows he’s not above stupidity. That’s kind of the point here, if he could be allowed to get to it.) They are emotional, they act rashly, they jump to conclusions, they have preconceived notions and prejudices; it’s basically the definition of being human, for goodness’ sake! Pattern recognition. Categorization. Seeing similarities, seeing differences, even tiny ones, especially tiny ones, making split-second decisions. They do it all the time, and they don’t even know it. They call it intuition, as if that explains anything. Or, worse, they call it ’gut feeling’ - as if it’s their bowels making the deductions for them, something that actually would explain quite a lot! - or they speak, mysteriously, of a sense of something. As if that lets them off the hook, logically - as if that removes the need for analysis, for rationality, for knowing what you’re bloody well doing! When in fact the opposite is true; intuition is just another word for very rapid facts-gathering, and you need to be so, so careful when collecting so many facts in such a short time. Things are bound to end up in the wrong boxes. That’s why it’s so important to take care!
He knows he is remarkable in a few, significant ways. His off-the-chart IQ is fairly obvious; his memory, too, is way above average. But where he really shines is in the ability to discipline his own mind. To realize that he is human and prone to error, and therefore to work incessantly with weeding out any illogical leaps or preconceived notions, with keeping himself under constant surveillance. He hates making mistakes, but he never makes the even bigger mistake of hiding or forgetting them. Mistakes are just additional data; if he understands why he made them, he might not make them, or others like them, again.
He knows that not many people would be able to do what he does. And to hate or despise someone just because they lack his exceptional natural abilities would be as petty and as irrational as hating someone because they are smaller than him. And, while arrogant and impatient, he is not actually a petty man by nature. But what burns through any patience he might have left is the complete and utter lack of interest in even trying. And what really, really, really makes him angry is when these humans turn around and attack him for doing what they can’t. When all he ever does is strive for perfection (and God, does he strive, because contrary to popular belief, he does not consider himself perfect) and all they ever do is mock him for getting a little closer to it than they would manage even if they did try (which they don’t) … well. As mentioned, he’s not a petty man by nature. But nurture might in some ways affect a personality almost as much as natural bent. If he hadn’t kept his sarcasm almost as sharp as his deductions, he would have lost his temper for good, decades ago. Plus it’s a lot easier [and safer] for him if they believe they hate him for being an arrogant bastard, not because they know he’s better than them.
It’s also an easy way of keeping them from getting close.
(ii)
It’s not that John’s not stupid; he is. People are stupid, and although John Watson might be less so than most people; that’s not the point. Not entirely. The first, smaller, point is that he tries to follow the logical process that Sherlock has dedicated himself to. But the main point is that he sees the value in it, and admits it. That he is generous, and decent, and honest, and courageous enough to admire what Sherlock does, even though he could never do it himself.
No, Sherlock might not be a petty man. But he’s only just generous enough to admit to himself that he does not have John Watson’s generosity. He can not openly express his admiration for an ability he knows he does not have.
Fortunately, John Watson’s generosity is big enough to cover them both.