Treating people well so often means being polite and nor hurting their feelings. When I sit and listen to people talking nonsense about climate change not existing, about the government exaggerating the seriousness of Covid, about the earth being flat, about 9/11 being an inside job, how Jesus saves, I don’t think they’re smart. I think they are stupid and ignorant.

But it’s not the measure of their intelligence that is important — it’s the poison that they’re spreading to those who don’t have the knowledge and wit to know that what they are hearing is nonsense.

Today we have a world full of conspiracy theories and religious nutcase. These aren’t smart people. They are taking us back to the dark ages and their collective power is frightening.

I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever of saying what needs to be said. I will stand against that ignorance no matter how many egos (feelings) I hurt.

What you’re talking about here is status anxiety. Alaine de Botton has a video on it on YouTube. He runs the London School of Life. He also has a book on it called Status Anxiety.

Being smart is high status. Being rich is high status. Being good-looking is high status. Being a top athlete is high status. Wearing the right labels denotes high status.

It appears that the vast majority of people are more concerned about their status than anything else. That is what drives the rush for extreme wealth and all these other status symbols.

I prefer genuinely smart people. I don’t want to speak to people who tell me capitalism is the best economic system in the world. I don’t want to have to be polite and make small talk to someone who is ‘sharing’ how they found Jesus with me.

So, yes, I admit that how I treat people is directly related to how smart they are. It is also related to how ethical they are. I wouldn’t go around being nasty to people, but don’t ask me to be instrumental in the floating around of bad data just to maintain someone’s ego (feelings).