People who are "smarter than you" being wrong

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Do you ever disagree with something a smart person (or someone lots of people think is smart) thinks, but you pretend you agree with them so that others won't think you're wrong and stupid, because you want to be treated like you're smart and right, but then when the "smart" or "right" person finds out they're wrong or other people find out they're wrong they think yoiu were wrong too because you had appeared to agree with what they thought?

if i think someone is wrong i tell them so, or occasionally say nothing &ignore them

No.

I suppose that's the secret I missed my entire life!

I never agree with what another says if what they say is wrong.

I totally didn't get along with many of the gifted students at school because I was usually of another opinion than them and they usually thought of me as 'stupid' for it.

I find it very, very hard to just go along with someone I think is wrong. It's flat impossible if I KNOW they're wrong.

Best I can hope for on any given day is to keep my mouth shut and pretend I didn't hear.

Or make some lame, non-committal remark like... Is that so? Could be. I'd never thought of it quite like that before. All true statements.

Years ago I had a conversation with someone in the top 3% about something we had each seen on a news magazine show. It showed a man who was severely physically disabled and unable to communicate either verbally or non verbally. His wife was talking baby talk to him and I commented how awful it would be for this man if he had all his intellectual faculties and had to endure this indignity on top of everything else. "P" got very angry and said the man deserved to be treated that way and he was right because he was smarter than I was. I was so angry I couldn't speak. I had known this person for years and had seen his clearly sociopathic tendencies and pretty much hated him anyway. I never can come up with a good devastating zinger when I need one.

"Deserved"??! !! !

"P" automatically disqualifies himself as smarter than anything higher than a dung beetle... and I should probably apologize to the beetle for that slur.

"P" deserves to be taken out of the breeding pool.

In the race for Emotional Intelligence, "P" didn't even get invited.

And if "P" thinks that way, I'm afraid to think how he must treat you... what does he feel you 'deserve'?

UGH.

"P" was a regular customer at a little corner restaurant near a university where I worked. This is the pattern I saw over the course of 10-15 years. He would find a young woman who was vulnerable either emotionally or financially; someone who had suffered some sort of trauma and befriend them. He would be the perfect "big brother" and perfect gentleman. He would listen to them and offer kind advice and of course would help them financially. He owned a lot of real estate and didn't need a 9-5. He would bide his time until they fell in love with him and then the control would start and then the sexual abuse. It got to the point I would try to warn them (there were many over the years) and he would tell them that he had rejected me and I couldn't handle it. He would have regular sex with a woman I knew to be mentally ill and mentally delayed. The funny thing is he is smart and handsome and charming and when I first met him he turned his charm on me and I thought he was great. Then thankfully I saw his true nature. I witnessed him verbally abusing a mentally ill person. When I confronted him he told me he did it on purpose because he knew if there was an altercation and the police became involved that the other person would likely have no validity and get taken in. He did this to keep the neighborhood safe he said. He was a divorced dad and I saw him emotionally abuse his small sons in order to "toughen them up". I could go on but I don't want to hijack the thread anymore than I have. I don't live in that town anymore. Last I heard he got hooked on crack and lost everything. BWAHAHAHAHA!

I don't correct people when I know they are wrong because it usually doesn't matter to me whether they know they're wrong or not. That and I suck at debating.

But if it is something really important I'll speak up.

Over time, I have found it easier and easier to voice disagreement with people of higher status.

It's funny how seriously I took their criticism six years ago, before I learned to point out all their fallacies. Being able to tell people "Fallacy of this" and "Fallacy of that" has proved a powerful coping mechanism for me, even in times of distress.

Hang in there. A lot of those people aren't as smart as they think they are.

If someone is incorrect, I will disagree with them.

To agree with someone who is in the wrong seems puzzling to me. If someone is saying something you think is wrong, either argue their point, or keep your mouth shut. But don't agree with them. That just makes matters worse.

i can not engage in conversation with someone i do not understand.

how can i know if anyone is smarter than me? i would have to be as "smart" as them in order to see i am not as smart as they.

i can see an ape is not as smart as me, but an ape can not see i am smarter than he.
in the same way as the ape, i can not recognize any level of intelligence above my own because i have not the intellectual capacity to do so.

if i do not understand someone, it may be due to the possibility that i am incapable of understanding their level of intellect, or it may be due to the possibility that they are talking erroneously.

i only disagree with things people say that contravene what i am certain i know the reality of.
(empirically certain. not faithfully "certain".)

those people i know are not as smart as me at that time about that subject.

while i will not correct them if it is their "show", i will also not engage in any type of encouragement to their notions.

sometimes if they are authoritative, i will say why they are incorrect, but usually i leave them stagnate in their puddle of misconception and i leave.

people can not stop me leaving when i decide to leave.

never "sell" your soul by pretending to be in agreement with what you do not believe.
it is being a traitor to your deepest design if you abandon it and hop aboard another persons ideas that are wrong.

And sometimes, if you keep your mouth shut, either they will think you agree with the wrong person because you aren't saying anything, or they will think you have no opinion even though you have an opinion and it is right. So you don't get credit for being right all along if you were.

I will never agree with someone I think to be wrong regardless of what other people think. This has caused me problems many times. I wish people would not be so afraid of disagreement. I learn a lot more if someone disagrees with me as even when they are still wrong, I learn new arguments against my position (such as when I argue with creationists) and I am forced to think of new ways to defend my position.

Well for a start there are very few people who are smarter than I am (in raw IQ figures)

Even if they are smart I assume that I am right and they are wrong.

However I must say that all my ideas and convictions are provisional.

If you can prove to me that I am mistaken then I will admit it and change my views accordingly.

I never "pretend" to agree with someone that I think or know is wrong. In fact, I always let them know of their mistake, in a tactful manner of course. And I always make sure I can find the facts to back it up.

This has gotten me in trouble in the past, but it has also gotten me respect from worthy persons. And if I am wrong, I admit that I am wrong, rather than getting mad. I love getting corrected on my errors, because I learn something new!