The Savagery of an Irate Rationalist

Watch out for rationalists. People who deem themselves cool-headed intellectuals. Such people feel as if they've transcended emotion, but mostly it's suppression. So when they spring a rare leak, it can be a gusher.

Naturally emotional people have learned to function within emotional maelstroms, like Norwegians driving safely in blizzards. Rationalists are more like Floridians skidding helplessly out of their lanes during mere flurries. They're simply not equipped for it.

A rationalist might stab you in the eye over some petty slight or misunderstanding. They lack all control and measure. They flail and they spazz, and, worst of all, their detachment has left them merciless. Note that this is a corollary of a tip I once got from my father: Somebody who kills a bunch of people? You can be friends with him. But somebody who suddenly kills his wife after 35 years of happy marriage...now that guy watch out for.


FWIW, I'm not a rationalist. I have trained myself to resist my natural inclination toward ditzy fake drama and tragic victimhood, and opted out of the Skinner Box of it all, but that doesn't mean I lack feeling or passion. Regular readers who've overlooked the feeling and the passion have missed pretty much everything.

I've actually spent my entire life working tenaciously against the Enlightenment, as I once explained after a particularly unsettling experience with Salvadoran quesadilla.