In classical English, idiot was a term that denoted poor IQ. However, the information age seems to be changing that. Finding somebody with poor IQ may be difficult these days when information is available for free. This age has brought among other things a new class of people, the pseudo intellectuals, ‘the infolectuals’. While infolectual may not be a standard expression of the lingua franca, yet it very aptly describes a new class, and a growing one that has emerged from the deluge of the data that has otherwise submerged the thinking being mankind was once supposed to be. The presence of this infolectual has created a new problem at the work place and medicos suggest it is stressful to a very high degree. Rightly has a Swedish team of researchers from the lindberg University Medical Centre concluded that the most common cause of stress nowadays is dealing with idiots. But this idiot is of a different kind. There was a time when idiot was a term indicative of Intelligence Quotient (IQ).
That has changed with information, rather data is freely available in overdose. It is not poor IQ but poor Emotional Quotient (EQ) that has become a parameter of idiocy. It may be worthwhile to define this infolectual mind-set that is an information driven idiocy. Roman wise man Cicero had described four kinds of man. One who knows not and knows that he knows not. He is the gullible, the innocent type. Rely on him. There is the second type who knows but knows not that he knows. He is the simpleton. He can be trusted. The third type is the one who knows and he knows that he knows. He is the knowledgeable. Join him. The fourth type, however, is the one who knows not, but knows not that he knows not. He falls in that category of the infolectual, the idiot who can kill you with stress. Avoid him. This is the type of person about whom Dr Dagmar Anderson, the author of the Swedish study team mentioned above warns that working with them is hazardous.
The good doctor says that you can cut back on smoking or improve your diet or even change your life style, but the kind of coping skills that is required to deal with the stupidity of these infolectuals is lacked by most people. Quite tragic that this tribe is growing. The interesting thing about this class is that they can be so confident to that you may find difficult to disagree, rather be forced to agree. Persistent, pushy and loud. little wonder, post — truth was voted as the Oxford word of the year in 2016. Thanks to the infolectuals. The one interesting feature of this type is their assumption that they are knowledgeable and hence can ignore knowledge. They are not receptive to knowledge and not amenable to reason. Their favourite stance is ‘I-know-what-I-believe-and-do-not-confuse-me-with-facts’. They are the knowledge-proof guys, the hard nuts to crack. So hard that they can frustrate you to the breaking point. Rightly has the Swedish team warned that it is not those dopes that you get at the stores, but these dopes that can kill you. Unfortunate that your probability of working with such people is on the rise. Rightly did George Carlin say: “Never argue with an idiot. They will first bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
The writer is a professor of management and public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com
