Getting out of the house.

[Juton]

What I'm about to say may be shocking: The world is filled with stupid people.

I know, I know there is so proof to the contrary.

Normally it's not a big deal, because in the sea of idiocy you can usually find a few decent, intelligent, rational people. My problem is, even though I live in a university town all the intellectuals I knew have packed up and either moved away or become pot-heads. Pot-heads, while amusing tend to fall into the set of dumb people. With summer upon me there is not going to be an influx of new minds for me to pick so my usual tactics won't work.

So I pose this question to my fellow denites: how do you pluck the wheat from the chaff and find people actually worth talking too?

[Kaelik]

find people actually worth talking too?

Does not compute.

[Roy]

find people actually worth talking too?

Does not compute.

Plus Fucking One.

[Josh_Kablack]

So I pose this question to my fellow denites: how do you pluck the wheat from the chaff and find people actually worth talking too?

1. Common interests.

Most people have useful and interesting expertise in a couple narrow fields, if you can engage them in conversation about one of those fields, they will be able to hold forth with a passing facsimile of intelligence.

This is big when you don't know ANYONE in an area, take up a new hobby or interest and join groups related to it.

2. Common associates.

The friend of your friend is also your friend. If someone you can get along with can also get along with a third person, odds are decent that you can get along with the third person.

3. Get over yourself.

You are not a unique and precious snowflake, you are just one more fucking asshole on the internet who presumes themselves to be better than the unwashed masses. Well I got news for you buddy, even the fucking masses have indoor plumbing nowadays, so you ain't so special.

[fbmf]

You are not a unique and precious snowflake, you are just one more fucking asshole on the internet who presumes themselves to be better than the unwashed masses.

First time I have been tempted to have a sig in a long time.

Game on,
fbmf

[Cielingcat]

Imma one up you and actually sig it.

[Juton]

Common interests and making friends through friends is exactly the type of advice I'd expect from my Mom. Not wrong necessarily, but not exactly enlightening.

I have my interests, philosophy, politics/economics and PnP gaming. Those interests aren't too fucking common but there are people out there who share them. The people I knew who shared them with me have generally moved/graduate/given up those activities. Throw me a bone, what other activities do Intellectuals/Pompous asses enjoy besides the ones I've listed?

[the_taken]

I sometimes sit on a roof with a good pair binoculars and watch people fight with a piece of paper that looks like money I glued to the middle of the road.

[TOZ]

So I pose this question to my fellow denites: how do you pluck the wheat from the chaff and find people actually worth talking too?

I dunno, maybe just....TALK to them, and LISTEN to what they say? Rather than look at someone and make a judgement about them before you've even given them a chance?

Edit: It's hard work, I know, but it ain't gonna get done otherwise.

[mean_liar]

Dear Lord, man.

3. Get over yourself.

Unless you're living in a hamlet you need to go out and meet more people to replace the people that have moved.

You're not bitching about there not being anyone worth knowing, you're bitching about the necessity of you "getting out of the house".

[Juton]

Unless you're living in a hamlet you need to go out and meet more people to replace the people that have moved.

Taking a step back, the town I'm in is pretty small. Since I'm stuck here until I finish my degree I think I may just be screwed.

[Josh_Kablack]

Taking a step back, the town I'm in is pretty small. Since I'm stuck here until I finish my degree I think I may just be screwed.

If only there were some way of traveling from a small town to other places...

[the_taken]

Taking a step back, the town I'm in is pretty small. Since I'm stuck here until I finish my degree I think I may just be screwed.

If only there were some way of traveling from a small town to other places...

Sounds like he's been railroaded by his DM. Not very creative, though judging from the NPCs Juton is describing, I see a pattern.

[Kobajagrande]

The moment you start thinking that everyone other than you is stupid and uninteresting is the moment when you should stop, step back, and start wondering if perhaps the problem is in yourself.

[Juton]

The moment you start thinking that everyone other than you is stupid and uninteresting is the moment when you should stop, step back, and start wondering if perhaps the problem is in yourself.

Ladies and gentlemen, the tone of my original post was SARCASM. Clearly I think there are good, interesting people in the world, that's why I'm trying to find them. If I truly thought I was better than everyone else wouldn't this thread by themed 'Why does everyone suck?'.

If you want to argue that the world doesn't have a lot of stupid you can try to make that argument if you'd like. If people don't share my interests or hobbies I don't even assume that makes them stupid, but if they act in dumb ways constantly then yes I consider them dumb.

I don't want to hang out with people who's only goal is to convert me to Jesus, or try to convince me the moon landing was a hoax and the NWO is coming, or for me to let them use my stove to make hashish. I don't want to go to my gaming store to play Yu-Gi-Oh or 4e because those are what's on offer right now and no one is interested in learning anything else.

So if you can advise me to do something I hadn't considered, like take up Falconry, that's good advice, I'd never think of that. If you tell me to grin and bear Yu-Gi-Oh, thats... advice, not particularly horrible but has the makings of a lame summer. If you tell me that my problem is that I think everyone is stupid, well fuck you because it's apparent that I don't but it's so much easier to call someone an elitist then it is to offer a useful suggestion isn't it?

[ubernoob]

Honestly, I'd suggest smoking pot. You meet a LOT of people in the drug culture and a HUGELY disproportionate percentage of people that smoke pot in their early twenties are more open minded and intellectual than the general populace.

[Dominicius]

Well since this thread is massive failure lets change the subject to something sane.

What are some of the news sources the people around here use? I am looking for sources of quick and reliable information.

[Crissa]

Best way to find interesting people is to improve the world you live in.

-Crissa

[Psychic Robot]

Always relevant to any conversation.

[mean_liar]

Play 4e. Have fun. If you really want, DM a series of good 4e games and then tell them that you'd love to play a different system that you'd DM.

[Neeeek]

Try treating everyone like they actually matter. While I've found a few truly worthless people, they are incredibly rare. Nearly everyone has something they are passionate about, and listening to someone talk about something they care about is rarely dull, no matter what it is.

Though, the "get over yourself" is also good advice. Or try going to a bar and sitting down in the same seat every night for a month.

[Vebyast]

Try treating everyone like they actually matter. While I've found a few truly worthless people, they are incredibly rare. Nearly everyone has something they are passionate about, and listening to someone talk about something they care about is rarely dull, no matter what it is.

Good advice. However, I'd like to point out that, while it may not be dull in the general case, it may be something that you don't care about personally (translations of roman histories? meh), can't understand (relativistic time dilation FTL (I see what I did there)), or simply find incredibly offensive (I go to college in the deep south. Go figure.).


My personal technique is to talk to myself. At least for me, it generates random encounters that I can turn into real conversations. I met one of my best friends by randomly announcing to the world that it would be really nice if there were some way to get rid of the freaking sun for a few minutes, just a few blissful minutes away from the cruel yellow face in the sky, gollum, gollum. The best part is that, if you're doing it sufficiently stream-of-consciousness, it will automatically select people that you find interesting. For example, I tend to randomly quote relevant XKCD and sci-fi, so I end up randomly meeting lots of people that read XKCD and watch lots of classic sci-fi.

Of course, this is just what I do, and I don't think I've seen very many other people do this, so your mileage may vary dramatically.

[mean_liar]

My personal technique is to talk to myself.

This is also a good way to get tased.

[RobbyPants]

Tased for talking to yourself? I'm assuming you're talking about being tased by random passers-by rather than by law enforcement?

...or is there some news story I'm missing?

[mean_liar]

It makes you seem crazy.

"Talking to yourself" = crazy.

CRAZY.

It's even better if you skip every other word.

"Boy, it's hot. I'd sure like some ice cream." = "Boy hot. I like ice."

Then you'll be EVEN MORE interesting and all sorts of people will want to be your friend.