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Those People

You know what I can’t stand? Those people who disagree with absolutely everything you say just because they can. More than half the time, they don’t even disagree with your idea or the topic in general – but they’ll find a way to say the same thing differently enough so that it sounds like they’re disagreeing with you.

It seems to me that there’s only two reasons people would be like this:

1. They cling strongly to a fragile and often challenged (though deeply entrenched) system of beliefs and morals – and if they agree with anything that comes out of the mouth of anyone who doesn’t subscribe to that dogma, well they figure that’s the first step on the road to hell.

2. They’re disagreeable assholes in general (usually hiding behind the facade of “I like to be different” or “I’m more enlightened”).

I can’t decide which option annoys me more.

Not that I know anyone like that or anything….

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13 thoughts on “Those People”

  1. Someone once told me that he feels that he needs to be abrasive like that so that “there is something to hold onto in the relationship” and so that it won’t get boring. I laughed in his face and walked away.

  2. While I enjoy a good rousing debate now and then, the more often I feel argumentive just for the sake of it, the more often I feel like crap about myself.

    Some people just seem to thrive on conflict. Others seem to get their only boosts of self-confidence from trying to prove they are superior to others. The worst kinds of people are those that have both those qualities: they like to argue and they get off on winning arguments.

    Meh.

  3. I’m not talking about people who actually have differing opinions. Those are fine. But disagreement for the sake of disagreement just pisses me off. Go join a debate club if argument is that important to you. Just leave me the hell alone with it all the freakin’ time!

    (That wasn’t aimed at any specific commenter – just the “disagreeable” people I posted about in the first place.)

  4. erm… isn’t it possible that they just don’t agree?

    Of course by writing this, I end up sticking myself firmly into the position of “those who argue” but I figure I was already in that category and it doesn’t really bother me much, so whatever.

    Personally, I see no trouble with disagreeing. If one’s statements can’t hold up to a disagreement, then they’re not very good statements, are they? I don’t disagree because I think I’m “different” (in fact, it kinda pisses me off when people disregard my opinions because I’m an “anomoly” — what, my experiences don’t match yours, therefore they don’t matter?) I don’t think I’m more enlightened, I just have a different opinion or a different experience. Not that I’m different, but that my opinions might be different. Everybodies are.

    If nobody ever disagreed, life would suck. We’d all be little GeorgeBushites where either you’re with us, or you’re against us, and how dare we disagree don’t you know that disagreeing is going to lead to the country crumbling and the terrorists winning?

    I had an employer that basically made debating a job requirement. If you had an idea and your faith in the idea couldn’t withhold an argument, it wasn’t a very good idea. I’ve been known to change my mind on things, or to agree to disagree, or to have the other person change their mind. I see nothing wrong with this.

    Not to mention — if two people come from sufficiently different backgrounds, they’re going to have different experiences and different opinions. So are these people automatically assholes, just because they don’t agree with you?

    That seems narrow. I’d much rather have a conversation with someone that includes differing opinions and a discussion of them than one where everyone agrees on everything. That’s boring, and leads to a very AOL’like conversation of “Me too.” I’d rather have some new perspectives. And I have no problem offering up my perspective on things as well. Like this. 🙂

    Does that make me an asshole? Not in my book, but others may disagree… 🙂

  7. I HATE THOSE PEOPLE.

    Hate them. “I like to be different.”

    Yeah? Well I don’t like you, then. Shove that in your “different” pipe and smoke it!

  8. Gawd… not another reason. Is there a book somewhere about this?

    And I thought being a Devils Advocate sounded badboy-ish.

    Ya just cant win…ya know?

  9. I have a friend who does exactly that, you tell him something and he will disagree with you.

    He’s not a bad person, but he’s very left-brained and thinks that:

    1. Anything anybody says is up for debate, and

    2. It’s fun to debate.

    So he will often just take the opposite side of what you’re saying and argue with you, even if you’re talking about something personal.

    There’s a reason here, I think, as to why he doesn’t have a girlfriend.

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