The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Unsolved Mystery Book4 Why now, Elaine?
Arjan:
--- Quote from: Kindler on November 20, 2017, 02:44:24 PM ---Used to work in low-level IT back in the day. The number of times I've heard, "My laptop/computer/discman/et cetera isn't working, FIX IT," was staggering. The number of times my response was "You have to turn it on first," was in far greater numbers than you might think. Legitimately, without exaggeration, I can tell you that approximately 70% of all issues were related to the fact that these people simply did not turn their devices on. Most of them turned red and got embarrassed, but enough of them were extremely angry with me, as though their lack of thought was my fault (though I recognized then and now that they felt dumb and just wanted to blame me). Left the industry about a year after college, when cell phones were becoming a popular thing, specifically because I knew that it was just going to create a new kind of dumb customer, and I'd had enough.
But yes, I've also experienced people trying to open the doors when we were closed, calling before or after posted hours, pushing on a pull door, and a whole bunch of other stuff. When I was freelancing as a writer/editor, price negotiations were fun, because I charged by the word. You would be stunned at the number of people violently angry that $0.05/word for 10,000 words is $500 and not $50, even after I had explicitly explained the math down to the middle school level (I drew one guy a sarcastic picture, with bunches of twenty words equaling a dollar, then adding groups until I hit the word count of the document, with each group clearly numbered; he still didn't get it).
As for Elaine, I don't think it's safe to assume stupidity where she's concerned. She lived with the Summer Fae for a long time, and while it's not as treacherous as Winter, I think assuming that survival requires quite a bit more savvy than you'd think. Look no further than her manipulations in Summer Knight, up to and including her false flight out of town, knowing Harry would chase after her.
--- End quote ---
She is smart generally but the wish not to confront unwelcome truths especially if you don't have to face them immediately is a strong one and can be difficult to resist. Elaine desperately wanted to be free from the Sidhe so putting your head in the sand and hope it is true is only human. She might have reconsidered later but she just recently had gone through a lot.
So she rationalized it in such a way that it could at least stand her own reluctant immediate logic and went on thinking that if a Sidhe really thought she had a claim she should come to her and explain. Find a home and forget.
How often did Harry hide from unwelcome truths?
Kindler:
Sure, I think that's a perfectly reasonable interpretation.
jonas:
--- Quote from: Arjan on November 20, 2017, 08:14:22 AM ---That way you do not have to think about why stupidity persists even with intelligent people.
--- End quote ---
Nonesense. Stupidity exists for all the same reasons all the problems of humanity exists, the Ego. The need to define the self, sticking to that definition without adaptability, lash out against anyone who threatens said self definition, or just to reinforce said self-defining definition by belittling others....
Even other less ephemeral problems like monies, wars between countries or ideologies are a result of constructs that are all defined in the ego.
We believe in them, we willfully act stupid to continue without irregularity our own sense of reality.... Same reason some people argue theories foreign from their own :-x
Kindler:
--- Quote from: jonas on November 20, 2017, 05:03:40 PM ---Nonesense. Stupidity exists for all the same reasons all the problems of humanity exists, the Ego. The need to define the self, sticking to that definition without adaptability, lash out against anyone who threatens said self definition, or just to reinforce said self-defining definition by belittling others....
Even other less ephemeral problems like monies, wars between countries or ideologies are a result of constructs that are all defined in the ego.
We believe in them, we willfully act stupid to continue without irregularity our own sense of reality.... Same reason some people argue theories foreign from their own :-x
--- End quote ---
I think you're conflating willful ignorance to support self-interest with stupidity. I define stupidity as the inability to correctly grasp concepts as they are introduced at a speed that deviates significantly from the norm. Your categorization requires motive, though it may be unconscious; mine is concerned with ability.
Arjan:
--- Quote from: Kindler on November 20, 2017, 05:16:27 PM ---I think you're conflating willful ignorance to support self-interest with stupidity. I define stupidity as the inability to correctly grasp concepts as they are introduced at a speed that deviates significantly from the norm. Your categorization requires motive, though it may be unconscious; mine is concerned with ability.
--- End quote ---
That covers only a small subset of human stupidity because a lot of people do have the mental capacity but do not use it for some reason.
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