Flimsy Sanity: Does it Pay to Be a Jerk?

Flimsy Sanity

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Does it Pay to Be a Jerk?

Wise Bread article by Andrea Dickson poses the question of whether being mean or being nice gets one further. She not only uses Ann Coulter ("the bleached flamingo") as an example, but she also links to This American Life episode on NPR that discussed why the mean kids were popular. Much of the discussion centered on the revelation that aloof waitresses receive higher tips than nice ones. My compliments on an interesting article.

2 Comments:

  • At 11:48 AM, Blogger Peacechick Mary said…

    The mean kids usually were snobs who came from very wealthy families and they were not popular where I came from, they just got a lot of attention. Of course, this was a small town - maybe things were different in the big city.

     
  • At 2:08 PM, Blogger Not Your Mama said…

    I'm a formerly "nice" person. Stop laughing, it's true, I was.

    My work life and real life have taught me that mean and aggressive does get more results sometimes.

    I'm selectively "mean". I have my own personal rules about it and a lot of people are off limits as targets of my nastiness. Other "mean" people are always fair game. Snobs and elitists are definitely prime targets.

    Sadly being an absolute jerk is the only thing some understand.

     

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