Upturned Noses — Even the most laid back and egalitarian among us can be insufferable snobs when it comes to coffee, music, cars, beer, or any other pet obsession where things have to be just so. What are you snobbish about?
I’m all for equality — especially in the legal system — but.
I’m picky about computers though I’m not sure it qualifies as snobbery. My machines are big, bad, and fast. I’ve been told I’m using archaic technology. I’m not. My computers — 3 and 4 years old — are as fast and powerful as anything they are selling now. How come? Because I bought state-of-the-art, top quality computers in the first place.
Unlike the el cheapo glitzy stuff people buy, then complain it’s obsolete before they take it out of the box, mine keep up with the Joneses, Smiths, or Greenburgs. Why should I go through the hassle of transferring all my data and applications to a new, but not better, computer when the ones I own do exactly the same thing?
Who’s the snob?
I’m snobbish about cameras. Absolutely. I don’t care how many megapixels you pack into your cell phone. It isn’t a camera. It’s a widget that can take pictures. If you take a horse and teach him to walk on a leash, is he a dog? If the dog can perform a dance on two legs, is he a person? You are welcome to your opinion, but on this one, you won’t get me to change mine.
And then … there’s coffee.
I have a single, unassailable standard. It has to taste really good. If I could find cheap coffee that tasted like expensive coffee, I would definitely buy it. And, in fact, the coffee I buy is mid-priced. It’s not the most expensive stuff … but it doesn’t come in giant cans from the supermarket either. And I buy it online because I get a better price.
If I’m snobbish about anything, it’s people. I need to be around people who think. Are creative. Have ideas. Read books. Can discuss stuff. Intelligently. Who don’t talk in slogans. Who have their own opinions and don’t mindlessly parrot somebody else’s lines.
I cannot abide people who believe what they believe because “that’s the way I was brought up” or “my minister says so.” To parrot words you’ve never questioned? It doesn’t work for me.
I know what Jesus said, but he wasn’t hanging with the hoi-polloi either. He talked about the meek, but he had his own tight group of pals and never left their company.
Intellectual snobbery is the Achille’s Heel of the intelligent and educated. If pride is the ultimate sin, then I’m guilty. Pride of intellect, pride of personal accomplishment, pride of knowledge. Can stupid, uneducated people have great ideas? Maybe, but I’ve yet to see it. Hollywood loves the idea and it makes a great story.
In real life, is it true? You tell me.
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Categories: Computers, Friendship, Humor, Law, Technology
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I live in a part of the country where there are no “old” neighborhoods. Everythings state of the art high tech and ultra modern. Just look around you on mass transit. Everyone’s plugged into their latest, greatest high tech cellphones that keep getting bigger so that now they won’t fit in your pocket anymore. Didn’t we go through this downsizing then upsizing with compact cars? Portlanders are snobs, coffee snobs, beer snobs, pot snobs. I drink McDonald’s coffee, two cups a day, that’s it. I don’t even own a coffee maker. I drink tea, plain old Lipton in tea bags from any grocery store. I don’t drink beer, I’m a recovering alcoholic since 1979.
My iMac 21.5″ computer is a vintage 2010 model stuffed to the max with high-speed RAM. It runs on the latest Apple operating system and is just as fast as the day I bought it. I use what works and load the latest, greatest software on it. Ta Da!
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MacDonalds has good coffee these days. I don’t drink tea at all, so it hardy matters. And my computers, like yours, were high end to begin with and run as well as ever. People buy glitzy and new without understanding value. Newer doesn’t mean better. I may BE better … but often, it isn’t. Go BOB.
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Phones are most definitely not cameras! My phone takes great pictures in decent light of trees and such, but I tried taking a picture of the beautiful moon last night and all I got was a little bright spot in the middle.
Maybe at bonus time next year, I’ll get me a nice camera. I wanted one this year but I was still paying off the extra money I borrowed for legal fees and tax when I bought the house 😦
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Houses make you poor. All of us. An OLD house can clean you out altogether I don’t know camera prices in the UK, but I can’t believe they are that much higher than here, especially since all of them are imported from Germany or Japan. When the time comes, maybe I can help. Meantime, you’re right. A camera is a camera. A phone is … what? I’m not actually sure any more.
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A phone is… jack of all trades, master of none.
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Phones are not cameras! Phones are not cameras! That should be in BIG BOLD LETTERS somewhere!!! Rock on with your snobbishness, Marilyn! 🙂
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THANK YOU. These people make me crazy. A really good snow job by Apple. Brainwashing.
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Rock it g’friend. Hubris…. damned well close to narcissism, Which I grew up with, and always had the “huh?” goin’ on. Very doubtful you’ll ever experience it (narcissism) any moreso than I.
Hellsyeah… always question, always think. Good post/blog/whateverit’scalled Mrs. A. In the meantime, please kiss a moose or osprey for me. 😉
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Hubris is a far cry from narcissistic. I had a father. He was. I’m not … but I’ve got stuff which you could call snobby or not, as you prefer. I just like what I like … and I’m at an age where no one has to agree with me. I’m okay with that.
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From what you’ve written, I would agree your father fits the classic Greek definition of hubris. I think hubris is one of those words that can have different meaning to different folks and situations, especially with the more modern definition as opposed to the classic.
Perhaps it’s one moreso like this… a narcissist will always be hubristic, but hubris does not always define narcissism. 😉
Attitude does change with age, doesn’t it? And I like what I like too…that’s what I like about you. 😀
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I’m snobbish about so things that i carry a ‘Snob Meter’ in my pocket.
If it snobs past 5 (on it’s scale of 10) I ask anybody close by to slap me.
If it reaches 10 I ask them to punch me.
I’ve been knocked cold several times.
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I’m okay until I bump into someone who quotes some stupid slogan at me. Then I just lose it. Slogans are the death of thought.
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I’m snobbish about snobs. People who look down at westerns and baseball among other things.
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You those really stupid people who think they are better than us because they drink expensive wine? Those jerks?
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If looking at people with a surprised expression because they cannot pronounce simple words while reading out loud makes me a snob……I’ve been told it does, but I apparently cannot control that “I can’t believe that you read worse than a 10 year old” look…..oh well, I’m a snob
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Yup. It isn’t that they are stupid. They are ignorant. Stupidity is genetic and incurable. But ignorance can be fixed by anyone who cares enough to bother. I think that’s why it bothers me so much.
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Exactly!
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Love it! I too am snobbish about people- I need to be around those who think. Intellectual snobbery- what a great line. 🙂
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My brain is the best of me. The rest doesn’t work so well … so maybe it is snobby, but I admit it. I can’t deal with people who don’t read, don’t think, and talk in slogans or worse, quote old rock and roll songs!!
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I agree with what you said. Maybe all of us have a snobby side, right? 😛
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Hopefully, we are all proud of something we’ve done or are. Is it snobbery? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we need that pride in our accomplishments to encourage us to aim high!
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Loved this post. You don’t mince your words and strongly convey what you want to. We don’t buy camera, computers and other expensive electronic gadgets off and on therefore must not compromise with the quality. I love my Nikon D7100, in process of learning.
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That’s some camera!! I love the quality, but those big boys are just too heavy for my arthritic wrists. I’m grateful for the high-quality compact Olympus and Panasonic lines (and others) now available. I used to buy cheap stuff until I realized I was wasting my money. I was never satisfied with it and wound up replacing it. If you buy it twice, it’s not cheap any more!!
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I bought an expensive camera once, but even with the best of equipment, you have to have the skill to use it. I caught one or two really fabulous shots with my nice camera and the rest were… meh. My sister, on the other hand, took photography classes in high school and learned a few things. She could coax good shots from a mediocre camera when she was at her best. But she never had the wherewithal to buy a good camera. I gave her my good camera and she used to take excellent pictures with it until it gave up the ghost a decade or so ago.
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You do need an “eye.” Everyone likes snapshots, though, so there’s always a reason to have at least a modest little camera for family occasions and the like. They’ve come down so much in price, too. You can get a good little camera — not great, but good — for around $100. Sometimes less. Small, compact, point and shoot.
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I used to have a PHD (Push Here Dummy) camera that I took on family trips but ended up with loads of film that I never bothered to get developed. Then digital cameras came out and bought the digital version of the PHD camera and had tons of pictures on my computer that I’d share with friends/family but hardly ever looked at.
I still have a PHD somewhere… but mostly I rely on my cell phone because I keep forgetting my camera whenever I go anywhere. I know that the cell phone is a sucky camera, but I try. ^_^
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I have a tiny, compact Panasonic point-and-shoot that lives in my bag. A lot of the pictures I post on this blog were taken with it. It’s not a GREAT camera, but it is surprisingly good. And small, which is important for a camera that goes everywhere.
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Yep, and I love your pictures. You, my lady, are a photographer. You take pictures and good ones. I take a notebook and write stuff down. We each have our own thing. ^_^
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It has been my hobby for more than 40 years, but I always had a decent eye. I used to paint before I discovered photography. Once I got a camera, I never looked back. It was obviously my “thing.” And digital makes it so much easier — and cheaper!
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Ooo I love that blog, we are almost soul sisters, although I am not with you on the coffee. I can no longer drink it, digestive recycling problems of the most acute type. Otherwise I love quality in my computers, the problem being that I like to remain mobile, so I no longer have a desk top model. I am still debating my transfer to an Apple and they are expensive.On the other hand I am happy with my Acer, it does everything I want it to. I saw a preview of Windows 10 today and I am not happy. A real messed up system with a little bit of the old and some of the new. Help! I love Windows 7. I love my Nikon camera, but treated myself to a Canon G15 which is easier to pack away in the pocket or handbag. As a golden oldie, if you can, do it. There are not many years left to think about it.
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Totally agree with you. Including the G15 which is one of the cameras on my wish list, but it’s still pretty expensive and I have other cameras. I gave up the big DSLR years ago and it now belongs to my granddaughter. She has good wrist strength; I don’t!
I was hoping for better news on Win 10. I love Win 7 and fortunately, you can still buy it and install it, which is what I did recently with a Win 8 machine I got for Garry. I did that with Vista, too … downgraded to XP.
I still have a desktop, but I don’t use it much. The laptop, since my surgery, has been my constant companion and fortunately, it’s a good one. It runs Win7, it’s got a big, fast hard drive, a lot of RAM, and a decent monitor. AND it’s faster than the “new” machines. I get aggravated with people who don’t know the difference between “new” and “better.”
You are right. There aren’t that many things left for us to yearn for and I try not to delay everything because who knows how long any of us have got? This IS tomorrow and this IS the rainy day we were saving for.
Sooner or later, I’ll have to get a new computer … but later works for me. As long as this one keeps working, I’ll stay with it. I don’t like my other options.
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