Page 54 - The Religion Of The Ignorant

THE RELIGION OF THE IGNORANT

ers find important or feel excitement or concern about, is one way to
upset them. One often encounters this behavior in young people's
attitudes towards their parents. A young girl who wants to get back
at her mother for not letting her go out in the evening will respond
to all her mother's questions in a very calm, indifferent tone of voice.
While the woman frantically searches for car keys she has mis-
laid and asks her daughter to help her look, the girl may reply, "I
haven't seen the key," in a placid tone and keep on reading her mag-
azine. When her mother is talking on the telephone and urgently
needs a pen and paper to write something down, her daughter may
get up—very slowly—and bring her those items in an annoyingly
laid-back manner. When her mother asks happily what she did at
school that day, she may reply merely, "Nothing much." Asked how
her day went, the daughter may just reply, "Fine," and carry on with
whatever she's doing, knowing that all such behavior will annoy her
mother.
Acting in a very calm manner is designed to hinder someone in
a hurry and to slow them down—another method of annoying oth-
ers with Ignorantism. For example, telling someone who's late for
work that he's left his briefcase upstairs, just as that person is head-
ing out of the door, and then walking very slowly upstairs to re-
trieve it, is performed with the sole purpose of irritating that other
person. A student who listens with obvious lack of interest to some-
thing his teacher is telling him excitedly, and finally replies, "I have
no idea what you are talking about" makes himself feel good by an-
noying that teacher. This is also behavior appropriate to the
Religion of the Ignorant.
Another variation of "playing it cool" is failing to provide satis-
factory answers to questions posed. For instance, when asked, "I've
looked everywhere, but I can't find my shoes. Have you seen them?"

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