I'm not a nice guy

[greybeta]

When someone meets me for the first time, they usually get the wrong impression of me. I don't know why, but a lot of people tend to think that I'm a "nice guy" the first time they meet me in person.

The whole "nice guy" comment is usually the segue into one of my vitriolic rants on the world. And usually the conversation ends with them being completely confused.

That's because while I say and do mean things, I do kind acts from time to time. Actions may speak louder than words, but man do people ever talk too much these days.

My main vehicle for my channeling my pessimism is sarcasm. Did you know that sarcasm comes from a Greek word that literally means "to tear flesh"?

That's right, when I use sarcasm, I am "tearing flesh". That is to say I am ripping at the facade of a situation to reveal its inner truth.

The scary thing is when I wield that weapon of sarcasm against people. And I've found that quite a few people struggle with the fact that they are not good people.

Bad people never think of themselves of bad people. Even worse, their friends often allow them to wallow in their own putrescence because of the bad person's stubbornness.

Well, I've learned to use restraint in social situations. Yet the instant someone says something ludicrous, you bet I'm going get right there in their grill.

This is about the time I get the "I thought you were cool" crap. This is also the time where I give them the "People think I'm cool because I'm brutally straightforward and honest" spiel.

Heaven forbid they use the "If you want to remain my friend, please stop saying what you're saying" line. That's because they'll instantly receive one of the coldest responses ever:

Losing a friendship like yours wouldn't be that big of a loss anyways.

Comments

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

I subscribe to a philosophy I've taken the liberty of calling "Positive Pessimism". You can catch most of the highlights in my profile under the section titled "The philosophy behind positive pessimism".

First off, I notice you're from the Netherlands so the cultural context may be a bit different. I live in a region called the Bible Belt in America, where the people living here are fairly open about their evangelical version of Christianity. Which means they don't mind asking about your religion and then trying to witness to you the next second.

On the other hand, it's sort of rude to ask about someone's political stance. "Who you voted for President" is not a common topic of discussion.

Now, this may be confusing to you, but people like who I am precisely because I'm negative. This is because I'm not negative for the sake of being negative.

You know how in math that when you multiply two negatives you get a positive? The same principle applies with me: I will use negativity to get rid of the negativity in people's live.

Those closest to me understand the true value of sarcasm. They also tell me that for whatever reason, the good Lord has granted me a lot of charisma in spite of my negative and pessimistic outlook on life! ^_^

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

Well, you didn't exactly convince me, but hey, I'm not a pessimist so I guess I just can't understand.

But I do know Americans are very different from Dutch people. The Dutch are often very open and to the point; they like like to call it honesty while many non-Dutch perceive it as being rude or blunt. I am no exception. Well, except that I know non-Dutch people might find me blunt. Hell, I put my foot in my mouth so often even Dutch people think I'm blunt.

What was my point again? Oh right. The impression us Dutch people usually get of Americans is that they're all Tell-Sell presentors: "Isn't that amazing, Bill?" "It's fantastic, George!"
I can imagine that if everyone keeps telling each other how fantastic they are, whether they mean it or not, it's bound to be very refreshing to run into someone like you who says what he thinks.

That being said, I don't like being negative, and I was never very good at math. =P

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

I subscribe to the philosophy of despair.com. That is to say that reducing expectations is the best way to realize them.

[culculhen.livejournal.com]

Well you also have to remember that you've got the dutch version of negative in mind. As long as I've not met him in person. I'm quite open to that he's actually more friendly as a negative American then a positive dutch person.