Smiley People Aren't Fun

Following yesterday's warning to watch out for rationalists, you should also beware Smiley people, who've trained themselves into a perma-smile to project happy benevolence.

Me, I have trouble conjuring a smile out of nowhere. Say something the least bit amusing, and my face will discombobulate and blush into a spasmodic mess. But I have no pre-rehearsed camera-ready, pearly-toothed smile. I honestly wouldn't know how to do it.

I understand that certain professions require people to keep such a presentation handy. But it's a whole other psychopathy to plaster it on and leave it on while out and about. It signifies a person who's not reality-based; who is 100% marketing/presentation; who is visiting from Planet Bullshit.

What's beneath a perma-smile? Nothing good. If there were no toxic wells to conceal, they wouldn't go to such trouble to cloak. Like a cheap hotel room with way too much disinfectant, the countermeasure itself signals the danger.

I'm not judging. I respect and celebrate diversity, including choices sharply dissimilar to my own (in fact, I often prefer those!). But I want to better understand motivations in order to sidestep some of the pummeling. The beatings become tiresome after a while. And since Smiley people are intrinsically two-faced, you always must watch for a concealed knife. For example, the person who posted the deranged comment below this posting is, in real life, a Smiley. Under (assumed) veil of anonymity, the true self releases, with discernible relish.

Smiley people aren't fun. Fun people don't pose as fun people. The joyful and kind-hearted never freeze their features into an emblematic clench. Smiley people, on the other hand, have nothing to smile about, hence the pose.


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