I absolutely detest arrogant people. We're going to come across arrogance everyday; out in the streets, in the workplace, in the home, at school...I hate it.
In academia I feel that I've come across two types of it. The first kind, "I know this is true, been proved many times and what you're saying is utter nonsense." is tolerable. This I've seen from professors who have maybe 40 odd years of experience and accumulated knowledge and are willing to listen to arguments. In the end they may be wrong, but these types of people are willing to change their minds. I can accept this...the brief flare up of anger inside me can be just that, brief.
The second kind, "I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. I've personally never seen this and I don't think that it can be true" type of arrogance just gives me a peptic ulcer. I've noticed this sort of thing come up in post-docs and other PhD students most often. What nerve !!! In your academic learning life of maybe 6-8 years, you're trying to tell me you've never seen this?? Absolute rot. I've experienced this first hand. It normally starts of with little disagreements, then finger pointing at how inept you are and then finally to open disdain. Well...screw you.
Another form of arrogance, and this may pass of as unnoticed, comes from success. You're successful (in this I mean by how much you earn..nothing to do with whether you're doing a good job or not) and I've heard many times - "Hah ! How can you not get such and such?! Please stop complaining about money. Let's go on a vacation. Come on...are you serious? Surely you can do this..." I've been the giver and receiver of such arrogance before - I hope I've improved in the giving department.
I cannot stand arrogant people and I am more than willing to tell someone to take their stupidity and immaturity somewhere else. No one deserves to be arrogant.
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