Apparently, speaking of my accomplishments is arrogance.

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I made a post in a geek group on Facebook that I recently decided to separate myself from.

I passed a Mensa test a few days ago. I posted about that, and I also posted about how video gaming was not nearly as rewarding to me as it used to be, and about how I felt like I needed to find a healthier ball for my brain to bounce.

That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

Several people told me that my post was little more than begging strangers to give my ego a handjob.

Others told me that I was arrogance incarnate, flaunting my superiority over the mere plebeians.

Still others used the r-word against me, stating that anybody can make up a story on Facebook, and that if I truly had passed a Mensa test, I would be smart enough to not want to share about it with people I used to think of as decent acquaintances.

None of what they were saying is connected to the realities of my intentions behind that post whatsoever.

Still, it stings a lot more than it should. Probably because it is not their voices I am hearing. Probably because it is the voices of my blood family that I am hearing through them.

I get cut down far too easily for my own good.

Why, when I've brought up intellectual-topics in the past, I got called arrogant and egotistical all the time...! ;o

Ignore them. Humans boast about their accomplishments all the time. But, they can't stand when others do it, too.

It happens to me a lot. After all, I worked and became friends with a lot of celebrities, world leaders, business billionaires, writers, reporters, famous models and, and, and....

Even that last sentence makes me cringe now when I should be proud have worked with such people. But, nooo, some haters see the need to "correct" my thinking instead of just realizing that I am talking about real events with real people in my life. So, they recognize their names, so what?!?

So, yeah, IGNORE THEM and be proud of yourself, your work, your friendships and your accomplishments!

And, you should be proud about your Mensa test. Congratulations!

Last edited by AspieUtah on 17 Jun 2016, 2:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

For what it's worth, it doesn't sound like you were being arrogant at all. These people are likely acting out of their own petty insecurities.

Congratulations on passing the Mensa test! That's a very cool accomplishment .

Cheers, then. Let's toast with ginger ale and root beer.

I'm staying away from Facebook for the time being. I guess it is too easy for people to project upon me what was never there when they have no clue who I am. I get enough of that from my family, who really should know me better than that by now.

Yum! I haven't had root beer (or ginger ale) in ages!

Yep, people tend to try inferring too much from few lines of text they read on the internet. These people are silly.

I have a different perspective on what may have happened.
You mentioned this was a geek group. A lot of gamers, maybe? And you announced your Mensa test results and your decreased interest in video games at the same time, which might lead people to infer that you're equating a love for video games with stupidity. Not hard to see why this idea would not be well received.

Congratulations on your test results.

I'd try not to let such an experience of rejection sting too much. I've never identified with the gamer culture that is, even though I've been playing games since as far back as I can remember. There are a lot of overly emotional, highly opinionated, and gratuitously rude sorts in the group. It is pitiable when a group of people hold something material so dear, that they take it as a direct stab at their person when anyone makes even the slightest objective criticism toward that which they like. I enjoy video games, but if someone told me that they didn't find them mentally stimulating, my response would be something along the lines of "Yeah, I hear you.".

Personally, as for announcing my own accomplishments, I tend not to myself. Namely because I don't wish to cultivate pride in excess. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with pride, I just find myself more at peace without it's jealous presence. Without it, I can fail at things as much as I need, to learn something new or create a new approach to something old, and not concern myself rigid and anxious over potentially looking like a fool in the process.

I did not quite express a decreased interest in gaming.

I more or less expressed a decreased interest in gaming that offers zero challenge. Such as playing easy kiddie games for the achievements and the trophies. I did express an interest in exploring games that offered me more stimulation and more brainy challenge. I even named a couple I was playing currently to give an idea of what I was going after (XCOM Enemy Unknown on Impossible difficulty, and Divinity Original Sin). There are more games out there like that, I believe. I just need to know what they are and where to find them.

Still, folks that enjoy those "kiddie games" might feel insulted.
I game a lot, though I reject the "gamer" label. I'm less interested in being challenged than I am in compelling storylines and beautiful, immersive environments. Right now I'm enjoying Fallout 4. I also liked Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.

I was off Facebook for nearly a year as I got tired of all the bragging. I am probably the minority on here....but what was your point if not to brag?

Telling friends and family in person or email is one thing . You put it on Facebook and it is "hey look at me."

Perhaps that wasn't your intention but that is how it was received.

On afterthought, I can see how people could interpret my post like that.

Doesn't justify the f*****g hostility. And I dislike it when people attach agendas to my words that were never there to begin with. But I am also not the most socially adept person in the world, and I appreciate you pointing this out to me in a civil way, because when people start going at me in all caps and lots of profanity, I really do not care to look for an underlying message.

This.

There may have been a failure of communication. They may have thought the OP was dissing them because of their passion for video games, and were pushing back because of that, and not because he had made it into Mensa.

Still, it's bad manners on THEIR part to get angry with you in public like that. I know at least two people who spend most of the time talking about all the great things they've achieved, and just about nothing else. It does gets irritating after a while, but this isn't a couple of incidents: it's all they ever seem to say. Even so, the furthest I'd go in criticising them is to make* a gentle joke about it. They're not actually trying to put me down, so it's rude to start a fight over it.
*or "attempt"....

Yeah, their response was kinda like hitting an ant with a sledgehammer. It was WAAAY over-the-top.

It's all good . You didn't know your behavior could be seen as rude. I wouldn't have attacked you had I been on your Facebook gamer page. I just ignore that which doesn't pertain to me. However NTs are likely to see your post as showing off.

You must have wanted that FB community to know you are especially smart or you would not have posted it. NTs are often fighting for a place in the hierarchy. I just got sick of all the jockeying for position that people constantly do.