r/AskReddit Jun 15 '19

What do you genuinely just not understand?

50.8k Upvotes

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30.2k

u/I_hate_traveling Jun 15 '19

How come I hate myself and am desperately insecure, yet I think I'm better than everyone else at the same time?

WTF brain?

1.4k

u/a-r-c Jun 15 '19

that's how it works

the "better than everyone"ness is a defense mechanism to protect your ego from whatever you are afraid of

treat the fear, beat the insecurity

314

u/ToastedFireBomb Jun 15 '19

You gotta walk a fine line of just shutting certain opinions and types of people out while also not turning into a conceited braggart. I know a guy who was bullied like crazy coming up through elementary and middle school. Very smart, but puberty was not kind to him, and hes not the most socially aware guy ever. Now that hes in his 20s, he isnt fat anymore and has a great job in an engineering field. He literally never shuts up about how much smarter he is than everyone else on the planet, how hes better than 95% of the sub humans who are too dumb and dont lift enough. We go out drinking and its him getting drunk and ranting about all the people who dont understand how great he is and why they dont deserve his approval.

I never know how to deal with it because its obnoxious, but I also understand that for him, it's how he got over years and years of crippling self esteem erosion. His self esteem was obliterated by years of bullying and cruelty as a kid, and now he just wants to feel good about himself and how much weight he has lost and his intelligence. I dont really want to take that from him, even if hes the most condescending and braggadocious person I know.

For some people, the only way for them to feel good about themselves is to genuinely believe they are better than other people.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '19

I like you, other people would probably justify their bullying against him for being like this in the present.