Rant: Major Bashing

[Kaizy]

I’ll tell you something, there is nothing more infuriating than egotistical people, especially in college. Like it’s one thing to think highly of your major, but to fucking insult mine right in front of me is bullshit. There’s this pretentious computer science douchebag in my class, who’s always debating, never stops talking, ect…the typical kind of person you’d see in an ethics class who always has to play “devil’s advocate” in every discussion. We usually write him off as a joke since he’s just so full of himself and it’s hilarious to watch him take the spotlight in every discussion for an hour.

Anyway, I got put in a group with him, and he was telling a story about how a friend of his was irritated that he had been developing a website for his senior project, describing it as “a real project” while the design major was doing a “30-minute logo” for theirs. I called him out on that, stating I was a design major and we put a lot of effort into our senior projects and have more components than just one fucking logo, and he just say “well all I’m saying is that we (implying computer science majors) envy you” in this condescending tone.

First of all, fuck off with that “we envy you” shit, because the way you were just talking about my major, you think I do fuck all and summarized my senior project as something you could piss out in a half hour. You don’t fucking envy us or our work, you envy the fucking assumption that we do minimal work and effort as a major, so fuck you. And if you’re so fucking envious, why didn’t you become a design major hm? Oh right, it’s because, as you even said, you “don’t know the first thing about design and wouldn’t even know where to begin”. Wow, it’s almost like design majors actually know what they’re doing and have to put actual work into their projects. Who would have thought??

Second, you’re completely allowed to have whatever opinion you want of my major or what I do, but don’t fucking insult me to my face and try to write it off as nothing. My major might not involve the same level of technical knowledge that a computer science major has, but my major has to deal with an incredibly fucking competitive job market, like any art major does. But I wouldn’t expect some pretentious code monkey with minimal knowledge of any other major and wouldn’t know a competitive market if they saw one, to understand just how a design major works. Enjoy programming your stuff, I’m sure it’ll work great, though do lemme know how you intend to make it look visually appealing when you said yourself that you have “no design knowledge whatsoever” and anything you design would "look like it was done in MSPaint".

Hope your clients like a well functioning program with the visual appeal of baby's first blog, bitch.

EDIT: Not sure why the text is grey, near impossible to read in the dark theme

Edited October 22, 2015 by Kaizy

[Toshabi]

Sit them in front of Photoshop and Illustrator and watch them squirm. It's fun!

[Revates]

This sounds exactly like 1/2 of my 'friends' they think they're better than everyone else since they're going into science fields and will take any opportunity they get to put everyone down around them while talking themselves up. They honestly just feed off each others narcissism. This guys honestly sounds like he'd get along with them.

Perhaps this is common behavior among such pretentious people?

 

[Toshabi]

This sounds exactly like 1/2 of my 'friends' they think they're better than everyone else since they're going into science fields and will take any opportunity they get to put everyone down around them while talking themselves up. They honestly just feed off each others narcissism. This guys honestly sounds like he'd get along with them.

Perhaps this is common behavior among such pretentious people?

 

Well you can't really fault most comp sci majors. They don't have much of a social life outside of their code and reddit. 

Edited October 22, 2015 by Toshabi

[Kaizy]

Well you can't really fault most comp sci majors. They don't have much of a social life outside of their code and reddit. 

I'd put money down that this guy regulars Reddit

[Toshabi]

Teehee, my post on r/atheism got +55 upvotes. That's practically Neil Degrasse Tyson status!

 

Ron Paul 2016!!!!

[Wolflich]

Normally it'd be tempting to just casually be like 'Have you ever noticed you're kind of a cunt?' but I suppose if you have to work together it might be easier to just not pay much attention to what he says when it isn't work related. I think people like that are often encouraged by the thought that they have the power to upset you.

[Kaizy]

Normally it'd be tempting to just casually be like 'Have you ever noticed you're kind of a cunt?' but I suppose if you have to work together it might be easier to just not pay much attention to what he says when it isn't work related. I think people like that are often encouraged by the thought that they have the power to upset you.

He's already kind of a joke in the class, just because he's "that guy that probably gets a raging hard-on from the thought of going to Ethics class and debating". Hell, he called out some other student today in the middle of a discussion because he apparently "makes comments to himself" every time he speaks.

[TrishaCat]

One of my friends is a CSE major and he constantly bashes all the art majors at the school as having easier work. I never really know what to say to him when he says this, but its bugged me for some time, as I really love the work art majors do and I'd probably do something like that if I wasn't going into CS. It makes me uncomfortable whenever he goes off talking down about art majors. He often cites how they're pretentious somehow, filled with people making dumb modern art. As if everyone makes the same kind of artwork. He's also talked down to an Economics major in a similar manner, talking about how it has much easier math somehow. I understand how you feel. Almost everyone in college is working hard, and each major has its own struggles and hardships, both in and outside of school in the job market. Its really douchey for someone to talk down to people like that and be so quick to assume they know much about a major that isn't their own. 

Hopefully that dude will come to appreciate your major in due time, probably when he realizes that programs need to look good when used in the real world as you said. 

Well you can't really fault most comp sci majors. They don't have much of a social life outside of their code and reddit. 

Hey! That's not true! I also spend a lot of time in this place!

Edited October 22, 2015 by Battlechili

[Luca]

Maybe you should find some common ground. Like bashing Liberal Arts students. Everyone does that.

[Ginpanther]

"But what do you mean underwater basket-weaving isn't a viable major?"

[Conker]

I always bashed my own major in college (English (I still bash it)) and sometimes other liberal arts majors as well, figuring we were all "in it together." Most agreed, but we were having fun.

Not everyone shared that view though, but come on, majoring in theater is just as stupid as majoring in English.

That was the one girl I had half a crush on in college too. Burned the shit out of that bridge

Maybe you should find some common ground. Like bashing Liberal Arts students. Everyone does that.

What this guy said! We expect it :\

Edited October 22, 2015 by Conker

[Wolflich]

I think there are still career opportunities in English... if you're willing to go to some Asian or South-American country and teach it.

[DrGravitas]

Ugh, I had to debate with a guy like that at work today. The conversation turned to what "easy" jobs people wish they had instead of this one (pulling from the end of Office Space where the guy becomes a construction worker after the software company burns down.) So many misconceptions and ill-thought out ideas. Thinking that dump truck drivers just drive all over the city all day and aren't tasked with difficult/impossible timetables. No consideration of manual labor. But this guy said his ultimate easy job was a teacher. A High School teacher, no less. I wasn't able to convince him that it wasn't an easy job but at least he was surprised to learn that they don't get paid over the summer months.

 

As a CS degree holder, I will say that unfortunately I am very argumentative a lot of times, but I at least try to avoid being egotistical about it and do aim for accuracy, even if it means pulling up Wikipedia or something to correct myself. Really, every major has its uses even if some have attracted far more people that its associated job market can hold. Except for underwater basket weaving, which was joke invented in the 1950 by a magazine. And the business majors, which is just plain a joke. :V

Edited October 22, 2015 by DrGravitas
grammar

[Toshabi]

 

Hey! That's not true! I also spend a lot of time in this place!

You fit into the "not most" category, which is not in the "mostest" category. You get Toshabi approval. 

[Troj]

Sounds like your standard "big fish" who probably hails from a little pond.

Here's to hoping he gets confronted with a bigger fish than him, so that he can learn some humility.

I particularly loathe how people in "the sciences" and in so-called "practical" majors will get a big head and act like douchebags to "liberal arts" people, and those whose majors aren't "practical."

 

[Kaizy]

Sounds like your standard "big fish" who probably hails from a little pond.

Here's to hoping he gets confronted with a bigger fish than him, so that he can learn some humility.

I particularly loathe how people in "the sciences" and in so-called "practical" majors will get a big head and act like douchebags to "liberal arts" people, and those whose majors aren't "practical."

I hate inflated egos, they're an enormous pet peeve of mine. Like it's pretty common to hear people call art majors pretentious and such (as an art major, I know they definitely can be), but they're a dime a dozen. Most of the students I work with are incredibly humble, love the work they do, and put a lot of effort into it. So to hear some pretentious loser with no understanding of the major drop it to the status of sitting on your ass doing nothing really struck a nerve, especially because of how much work I put into what I do and how much I love it.

[Vallium]

Art is a waste of time and we should be doing more important, practical, and constructive things for society like farming and being heads of the new world order

Edited October 22, 2015 by WolfNightV4X1

[Brass]

You'd be an asshole too if you were a STEM major. You have no fucking idea how awful everything is. Computer scientists are barely people by the time they finish their degree IF they manage to get that far. In fact we have some of the higher suicide and drop out rates of most occupations. It doesn't justify anything I guess, but you guys don't get it. Arts majors are not practical. They are a sink.  

[Conker]

You'd be an asshole too if you were a STEM major. You have no fucking idea how awful everything is. Computer scientists are barely people by the time they finish their degree IF they manage to get that far. In fact we have some of the higher suicide and drop out rates of most occupations. It doesn't justify anything I guess, but you guys don't get it. Arts majors are not practical. They are a sink.  

They're only a sink if you come out of the experience thinking it was a complete waste of time and money. My English degree hasn't helped me much in the job market, but I'm still happy I went that route. If I could do it over, I'd have maybe minored in something a bit more practical, but I"d have still kept English as my primary.

Edit: At the end of the day, I can say I enjoyed college and that it didn't beat the humanity out of me. The one STEM major I know kinda turned into an asshole, and he's having just as much trouble finding a job in his field as I am.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Conker

[Kaizy]

You'd be an asshole too if you were a STEM major. You have no fucking idea how awful everything is. Computer scientists are barely people by the time they finish their degree IF they manage to get that far. In fact we have some of the higher suicide and drop out rates of most occupations. It doesn't justify anything I guess, but you guys don't get it. Arts majors are not practical. They are a sink.  

I don't think I would be an asshole if I was a STEM major because I don't think my major is going to change my personality. If you're a dick after STEM, chances are you were a dick before it too.

[Lucyfish]

Going to college in America is shitty in general. :3

[Brass]

I don't think I would be an asshole if I was a STEM major because I don't think my major is going to change my personality. If you're a dick after STEM, chances are you were a dick before it too.

The stress changes you. If you go into college and your personality did not change then you went about college wrong. The entire point of college is to expand the way you think. This change could be for the best (or not). A lot of STEM majors buckle under the pressure. It's kinda like a sleepy person being grumpy, but all the time. No rest ever. Art gives art students a good way to voice their emotions. We don't have that and it turns us into awful people. 

Edited October 22, 2015 by Brass

[DrGravitas]

The stress changes you. If you go into college and your personality did not change then you went about college wrong. The entire point of college is to expand the way you think. This change could be for the best (or not). A lot of STEM majors buckle under the pressure. It's kinda like a sleepy person being grumpy, but all the time. No rest ever. Art gives art students a good way to voice their emotions. We don't have that and it turns us into awful people. 

I don't think that's necessarily true. We have gaming and our own creative outlets. But, just like Art majors, an outlet can only help so much. We're all pushed to our own limits, differently for different majors but all still stress to the point of warping. That's the process of learning and growing, regardless of what is being learned.

[Kaizy]

The stress changes you. If you go into college and your personality did not change then you went about college wrong. The entire point of college is to expand the way you think. This change could be for the best (or not). A lot of STEM majors buckle under the pressure. It's kinda like a sleepy person being grumpy, but all the time. No rest ever. Art gives art students a good way to voice their emotions. We don't have that and it turns us into awful people. 

I'm not saying my personality hasn't changed at all since being in college, just not in the way you're describing it. There's a difference between not adapting to stress and pulling a 180 and becoming a total dick. I know quite a few CS students, most of which are seniors, and they're really nice. My roommate is a CS major and they're great to talk to, they don't act like a dick and talk down on mine or other majors. Just because some STEM students don't handle stress doesn't give them a free pass to be rude for no reason, and trying to say that people who get like that after STEM didn't already have that negative egotistical disposition when it's uncalled for is ridiculous.

But the topic here wasn't that college doesn't change people or that STEM people are dicks, it's that people don't respect certain majors, specifically this one particular pretentious CS major who irritates everyone in the class, including other CS majors.

[Troj]

I don't think I would be an asshole if I was a STEM major because I don't think my major is going to change my personality. If you're a dick after STEM, chances are you were a dick before it too.

Or, if you weren't an overt dick before, you weren't strong enough to resist or transform the pressures that ultimately turned you into one.

It's wonderful to be proud of your accomplishments--but, you can be proud of your accomplishments without falling prey to the delusion that your shit doesn't stink and that you're the biggest fish in the whole ocean.

I will cop to making fun of certain majors sometimes, but I try not to be a dick to people with those majors. Your major in college doesn't define you.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Troj

[Tsuujou]

I hate fuckmooks that say arting isn't hard. Usually engineers of some kind in my experience. Learning any skill takes commitment, guts, and persistent practice. There are thousands of nuances, hundreds of mediums, and too many anxiety issues that art fields have. The last thing I need some boorish, uppity git telling me is that my work amounts to nothing. Fuck off with that noise.

[#00Buck]

I hate inflated egos, they're an enormous pet peeve of mine. Like it's pretty common to hear people call art majors pretentious and such (as an art major, I know they definitely can be), but they're a dime a dozen. Most of the students I work with are incredibly humble, love the work they do, and put a lot of effort into it. So to hear some pretentious loser with no understanding of the major drop it to the status of sitting on your ass doing nothing really struck a nerve, especially because of how much work I put into what I do and how much I love it.

Why are you letting some moron make you upset?

The guy is a douche. 

Deep down inside you must care what he thinks. Otherwise it wouldn't bother you at all. 

[Kaizy]

Why are you letting some moron make you upset?

The guy is a douche. 

Deep down inside you must care what he thinks. Otherwise it wouldn't bother you at all. 

I don't think I said it didn't bother me. I mean I made a big rant about the fact that it bothered me.

I know I shouldn't let it upset me, and usually poking fun at my major wouldn't because even I can joke about it occasionally. I think it's just the way he said it and his already notorious reputation for being pretentious as hell, so having him criticize it in such a negative fashion while putting him and his own major up on a pedestal was just the perfect combination for pissing me off in that scenario. I have self control and respect, so I didn't lash back at him or say any passive aggressive shit, but a nice rant online seemed to be a fine way to vent my frustration with it.

[Onnes]

Well, if you do ever want to lash back at him, might I make a suggestion? Just remind him that, since his social skills have gone beyond poor to completely antisocial, he can be substituted with any other similarly skilled coder on Earth, of which there are many--mostly living in places with far lower prevailing wages.

[#00Buck]

I don't think I said it didn't bother me. I mean I made a big rant about the fact that it bothered me.

I know I shouldn't let it upset me, and usually poking fun at my major wouldn't because even I can joke about it occasionally. I think it's just the way he said it and his already notorious reputation for being pretentious as hell, so having him criticize it in such a negative fashion while putting him and his own major up on a pedestal was just the perfect combination for pissing me off in that scenario. I have self control and respect, so I didn't lash back at him or say any passive aggressive shit, but a nice rant online seemed to be a fine way to vent my frustration with it.

Why not vent your frustration on the actual person who is pissing you off? 

Maybe if everyone told him he was a douche he would crawl away and leave everyone alone. 

Not saying anything just means he keeps doing it to everyone forever. 

[Kaizy]

Why not vent your frustration on the actual person who is pissing you off? 

Maybe if everyone told him he was a douche he would crawl away and leave everyone alone. 

Not saying anything just means he keeps doing it to everyone forever. 

I'm not the kind of person who does that. I'm not confrontational at all, I'm much more passive aggressive. If you piss me off, I won't tear into you right there because it's not in my nature, but you've basically made my shitlist.

Doesn't seem that big of a deal but keep in mind, design majors are close since it's such a small group of students, and the school pushes CS students to befriend them in order to create potential partnerships for their front-end work. So pissing off one of them isn't a great idea.

[Ratmomma]

Sounds like everyone when I said what my major in university was going to be: Fine Art/Illustration.

My favorite story came from one of my professors. He told us the story of how some guy he knew would always say how 'easy' art is, and how 'easy' the art students have it, and how they have 'no tests or exams', and basically just chucked up art majors to be lazy fucks. Well, he ended up having to take a drawing course to fulfill his credit requirements, which he proceeded to fail miserably and go out in flames. My prof said the guy broke down crying during critiques.

DAMN, ART SURE IS FUCKING EASY. I hope people like your asshole and others like him realize that EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THING THEY TOUCH WAS DESIGNED BY OR DRAWN UP FOR MANUFACTURING BY AN ARTIST.

[Luka]

Aaah, grey font and dark theme.

[Kaizy]

Sounds like everyone when I said what my major in university was going to be: Fine Art/Illustration.

My favorite story came from one of my professors. He told us the story of how some guy he knew would always say how 'easy' art is, and how 'easy' the art students have it, and how they have 'no tests or exams', and basically just chucked up art majors to be lazy fucks. Well, he ended up having to take a drawing course to fulfill his credit requirements, which he proceeded to fail miserably and go out in flames. My prof said the guy broke down crying during critiques.

DAMN, ART SURE IS FUCKING EASY. I hope people like your asshole and others like him realize that EVERY SINGLE FUCKING THING THEY TOUCH WAS DESIGNED BY OR DRAWN UP FOR MANUFACTURING BY AN ARTIST.

People just don't appreciate the work artists do, and it's so frustrating to hear. Though I do love seeing pretentious people like that take a legit art class and get faced with their first critique, it's hilarious.

I've seen so many people do that, get absolutely ripped apart during their critiques and just lose their shit. Most entertaining thing about being an art major by far.

[AshleyAshes]

Just because the furry fandom would have nothing to look at except for text if it wasn't for artists, it does not mean that art is a real job!  It's just a service they perform, using a skill set they've learned, in exchange for money.  How could that be a JOB!?

[#00Buck]

I'm not the kind of person who does that. I'm not confrontational at all, I'm much more passive aggressive. If you piss me off, I won't tear into you right there because it's not in my nature, but you've basically made my shitlist.

Doesn't seem that big of a deal but keep in mind, design majors are close since it's such a small group of students, and the school pushes CS students to befriend them in order to create potential partnerships for their front-end work. So pissing off one of them isn't a great idea.

Yeah, but one of them is pissing you off and it seems to be a great idea because you're doing nothing about it and letting them get away with it. 

[Brass]

I'm not the kind of person who does that. I'm not confrontational at all, I'm much more passive aggressive. If you piss me off, I won't tear into you right there because it's not in my nature, but you've basically made my shitlist.

Doesn't seem that big of a deal but keep in mind, design majors are close since it's such a small group of students, and the school pushes CS students to befriend them in order to create potential partnerships for their front-end work. So pissing off one of them isn't a great idea.

Kinda sounds like you're a coward.

[Lucyfish]

 

Kinda sounds like you're a coward.

Or someone who knows getting into fights is dumb.

[Brass]

Or someone who knows getting into fights is dumb.

Getting walked on is clearly the smart thing to do. Spineless and brainless. Are you some sort of bacterial? 

Edited October 23, 2015 by Brass

[Lucyfish]

Getting walked on is clearly the smart thing to do. Spineless and brainless. Are you some sort of bacterial? 

Actually avoiding needless conflict and focusing on your own problems is the smart thing to do.

I'm a trained fighter and even I know that.

[#00Buck]

Standing up for yourself does not = fighting or needless conflict. 

[Lucyfish]

Standing up for yourself does not = fighting or needless conflict. 

It does when said person is not affecting you except with what they say.

[#00Buck]

It does when said person is not affecting you except with what they say.

So if someone is using racist slurs against someone they should do nothing? 

[Lucyfish]

So if someone is using racist slurs against someone they should do nothing? 

Ignore the racist fuck, he's already losing all his friends.

[#00Buck]

Ignore the racist fuck, he's already losing all his friends.

Well then I guess Martin Luther King was an idiot according to you. 

So was Nelson Mandella. 

[Lucyfish]

Being called a racist slur doesn't harm you directly. Racial oppression and racist laws harm you. Comparing the two is completely impossible.

I get called shit all the time, it comes with the territory. That's not my problem, my problem is when I can't get a job because of who I am.

[PastryOfApathy]

STEM majors are some of the most insufferable fucks in the world. I mean, I have nothing against the field or anything (I mean I went for a STEM degree), but it just attracts some of the worst, most insufferable fedora-toting fucks on the planet.

[Zaraphayx]

I hold degrees in Mathematics and Philosophy and the latter was by far more work than the former.

Most people are idiots though and think philosophy is just old men with beards sitting around wondering if chairs are real or not so the practical applications of that field of study are lost on them.

STEM snobs are mostly insufferable though because they lack imagination and creativity so pursuing any field of inquiry that can't be proximally converted into currency is something they dismiss offhand as worthless.

 

[Clove Darkwave]

You're a creative type, find a good metaphor that will appeal to his analytical mind. That's about all I can offer, everything else has been said.

Or just be thankful you're not him.