Pretentious, haha!

[Collin Li]

Someone I know recommended me for tutoring to some MacRob girl, and she recognised me from FSN: 'coblin?' She then said she found my posts pretentious, haha!

Vote here, I don't care what you say, I'm not going to go emo

I will not keep my assumptions of her reserved, here they are: a typical artsy MacRob lefty who brands anyone who supports free-market principles as an 'evil capitalist'. It's not possible to be the supporter of free markets that I am without keeping pretentiousness at an minimum. Anyone that deviates is more pretentious because they wish to impose some set of morals on the society as a collective.

[Eriny]

Hmmm... well, unless you're joking, labelling anyone a "typical artsy MacRob lefty who brands anyone who supports free-market principles as an 'evil capitalist'" does come across as a bit pretentious. I think pretension is mostly about how disrespectful you are towards other people and attempting to justify that through intimidation or showing off how clever you are (there's a fine line between standing up for what you believe and being downright preachy). Also, just an air of pompusness or a 'holier-than-though' attitude can come across as pretention. So, I would say, (from the posts you make on FSN, lol) that no, you generally aren't pretentious. I'm sure you probably have your moments though

Off topic (sort of), I tend to find contemporary plays quite pretentious. Although I've had a few bad experiences with people into theatre which could warp my view on things.

[Collin Li]

Points taken.

I find arthouse movies pretentious. I find Donnie Darko pretentious in the way that there is no definite ending to it. There is the air of suspicion that the director left it like that so the arthouse followers would applaud it as a masterpiece and with "depth" when really the depth is only created by the supporters and not by the director at all. I also find Atonement extremely pretentious with the unnecessary time splicing: it is not suitable for the storyline, and tells you a lot about how boring the plain linear storyline would have been (yet it was already boring!)

[Eriny]

I find arthouse movies pretentious. I find Donnie Darko pretentious in the way that there is no definite ending to it. There is the air of suspicion that the director left it like that so the arthouse followers would applaud it as a masterpiece and with "depth" when really the depth is only created by the supporters and not by the director at all. I also find Atonement extremely pretentious with the unnecessary time splicing: it is not suitable for the storyline, and tells you a lot about how boring the plain linear storyline would have been (yet it was already boring!)

Well, I've never seen Atonement, but I liked Donnie Darko. I just think it's well constructed. The directors cut goes into the plot way more, so does the website. I also tend to enjoy post-moderny things. But yeah, it's true. Sometimes I think the only reason why people like weird things is because they want to come across as 'unique' when they just end up looking like a wanker, lol.
[/offtopicness]

[Collin Li]

However, here pretension is defined as: a claim to dignity, importance, or merit.

If defending individual responsibility from government paternalism is a claim to dignity, then I am pretentious.
If showing a basic respect for freedom is claim to importance, then I am pretentious.
If helping students here is considered a claim to merit, then I am pretentious.

I am pretentious

[midas_touch]

I find custom number plates to be pretentious.

[kingmar]

I find coblin pretentious, based on his own arguments.

[brendan]

I find it pretentious when people express disdain against the economic aspect of freedom as being important. Such persons tend to express contempt for what they regard as material aspects of life, and to regard their own pursuit of allegedly higher values as on a different plane of significance and as deserving of special attention.

I find it arguments against freedom of choice to be typically smug and arrogant. Such arguments typically assume that people are simply too stupid to make decisions for themselves. It's the fact that in a free market, it is just so hard for socialists to impose their own will on others that annoys them so much. The free market gives people what they want instead of what other people think they ought to want.

[Ahmad]

I don't think so, but then again, I don't read the politics forum.

[Collin Li]

I find it pretentious when people express disdain against the economic aspect of freedom as being important. Such persons tend to express contempt for what they regard as material aspects of life, and to regard their own pursuit of allegedly higher values as on a different plane of significance and as deserving of special attention.

I find it arguments against freedom to be typically smug and arrogant. Such arguments typically assume that people are simply too stupid to make decisions for themselves. It's the fact that in a free market, it is just so hard for socialists to impose their own will on others that annoys them so much. The free market gives people what they want instead of what other people think they ought to want.

Yes, that is exactly what I mean, but I think Eriny had something constructive to say when she was referring to my actual character. Just before, when you said that it is an "insult" to year 12 students if a teacher considered the Corey debacle as an issue, I would say that is pretentious, by the definition I provided above (a claim to the year 12 student's merit and dignity).

[Eriny]

I find it pretentious when people express disdain against the economic aspect of freedom as important. Such persons tend to express contempt for what they regard as material aspects of life, and to regard their own pursuit of allegedly higher values as on a different plane of significance and as deserving of special attention.

I find it arguments against freedom to be typically smug and arrogant. Such arguments typically assume that people are simply too stupid to make decisions for themselves. It's the fact that in a free market, it is just so hard for socialists to impose their own will on others that annoys them so much. The free market gives people what they want instead of what other people think they ought to want.

I wasn't really aware that this was in regard to left/right-ness specifically, I thought it was just a question as to whether coblin in pretentious in general. Which I don't think he really is, so I voted no. I think that pretention is hardly in what the person thinks, it's more of a question of how they are wording it and the sort of attitude they are projecting.

[enwiabe]

My opinion is reflected in your custom title.

[enwiabe]

Awww damn, you removed it.

Pretentious git.

[brendan]

I think this definition is what the anonymous girl is trying to mean:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pretension
1.    a false or unsupportable quality
3.    the quality of being pretentious (behaving or speaking in such a manner as to create a false appearance of great importance or worth) [syn: pretentiousness] [ant: unpretentiousness]

..

3.   making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.

[Rietie]

I find it pretentious when people express disdain against the economic aspect of freedom as being important. Such persons tend to express contempt for what they regard as material aspects of life, and to regard their own pursuit of allegedly higher values as on a different plane of significance and as deserving of special attention.

I find it arguments against freedom of choice to be typically smug and arrogant. Such arguments typically assume that people are simply too stupid to make decisions for themselves. It's the fact that in a free market, it is just so hard for socialists to impose their own will on others that annoys them so much. The free market gives people what they want instead of what other people think they ought to want.

*whispers* I think he's referring to me.... well... I'm not sure actually. I'm a bit tired and all I can make of it, is that it's something to do with the economy, socialists and pretentious people. I hate anything to do with the economy - too hard to understand.