High intelligence vs Social Grace

Question. Does being highly intelligent excuse you from being socially competent?

Recently, I have been pondering the concept that those who are attributed higher intelligence (in the realm of genius) are somehow excused from being socially acceptable. I don't simply mean "weird" either, such as the classic image of a nerd who is awkward around women and sometimes doesn't know cultural references. I mean people who are very intelligent, very assertive and very confident (all good qualities) who cannot seem to afford the time and effort to interact with people in a polite and acceptable manner.

A good example (although highly exaggerated) is Sheldon in "Big Bang Theory", a popular show in America. This show follows the daily life of four extremely intelligent individuals and their interactions with the world around them, specifically with a girl who lives across the hall in their building. While all of them are socially challenged and a bit weird, Sheldon takes the cake. He will say and do things that are often completely factual, and yet with no regard to the opinions or sensitivities of others. The rational is that he is a super genius, and due to that and his upbringing, he is simply "unaware" of these social constraints and missteps.

Another great example is Dr. Brennan from the show "Bones", in which she is an incredibly intelligent and talented anthropologist who helps detective Booth solve crimes relating to homicide via the analysis of the victims bones and injuries (another CSI style show). She too often times says and does what can only be described as factual, but once again with little regard to the feelings of others. In addition, when placed in many social situations, she is completely inept at behaving like a normal and socially acceptable human being. Sometimes, this is due to an ignorance of social convention, while other times it is a willful disregard.

While the first condition is unfortunate and somewhat saddening, it is the second that i find myself so irritated with. It implies that, because one is highly intelligent and accomplished, that they need not concern themselves with the nuances of civil society and the opinions of others. This, i find, to be offensive and unacceptable. To be honest, I even find the ignorance thereof to be alarming and something that should be at least attempted to be corrected by the individual at hand.

No, really, I suck at this.

Like, seriously? Seven, almost eight months without posting? I"m so good at this.

Consider this a restart of said blog. Now, i just have to figure out the best way to put as much thought and emotion in this, without revealing too much to those who don't need to know.

Fuck I'm so tired right now...

In anycase, i feel like dumping creative shit into this blog, as well as (some) personal rantings. Hopefully, some of this will be reviewed (helpfully) by readers out there. I love constructive review, even if it sometimes is...unpleasant. 

Uh, yeah, so my D&D campaign is a big deal to me. It exercises my creative streak, and I like this. Recently, i have been playing Skyrim, and one of the most impressive aspects of Skyrim is all of the background "fluff". Books that give you skill points are written out, and so are the ones that give you nothing. Never mind that they are, in fact, small books. Many many many books. While I do not intend to create that much for my campaign, I have been working on a language and a history.

To this end, i have discovered that (specifically with the history) it is the easiest for me to write when I have questions to answer. Aka "what happened to cause this" or "tell me about this nation". As for the language, maybe someone out there can help me smooth it out, so to speak. My players have commented that the language is hard to remember and pronounce. I translate that, with my personal observation, as it being very hard to digest and very "harsh". Anyone who knows about that, i'd love to hear it.

Well, that seems to be it. Maybe more stuff later? I dunno. Lets keep in touch though, yeah?

~Prohack