I was sitting around, munching popcorn, and listening to Psychic TV.  I was trying to read a book but my mind kept wandering, so I figured that I may as well go with it.
 I remembered a guy I knew a long time ago. He was pretty much a twit. A friend of mine had dated him briefly and fled in terror. He was pretty arrogant, and had an annoying habit of , no matter who you were or how few times he'd talked to you, acting like he knew you better than you could ever possibly know yourself.
 On one of these occasions, he started in on me about my comic. The first issue of the first comic I'd ever done had drawn on many details of my life at that time. I had figured it would be a good way to give it character, the old "write what you know" thing.  Well, a lot of folks assumed that meant my comic was autobiographical. I would tell people "no, it isn't, just be patient with the story line and you'll see" Well this one fellow decided that, no matter what I said, the comic was intended as autobiography. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't, I was just making parallels to give it more of a feel of realism, and explained where I planned to go with the plot. The more I explained, the more condescending he became. At one point he said "well. keep telling yourself that, maybe someday you'll believe it."
 Now this baffled me. I had known him, what, three months? Five? And he presumed to tell me he knew me better than I know myself?
 I don't get this. I suppose there's an awful lot of folks who do this on a regular basis. But I always wonder what makes them so sure. Are they really so arrogant? Or are they just simpletons, perhaps they, themselves, can be figured out in one or two sittings so they assume everyone is the same way.
 I'm not sure.
See, I made that mistake once, a long time ago. I was dating a guy. When we started dating,he informed me that he was a real asshole. He told me this many times. Well, of course being young and naive and having the rose colored prescription on my glasses at the time, thought that maybe he just had low self esteem. A few weeks later I learned that, yes, he was indeed an asshole. From that point on, when someone declares something about themselves, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, they've known themselves longer.
 But that places one in a quandry. I mean we've all met people who put themselves down in order to gain compliments. I call this the "I'm fat" syndrome. You don't really want to inform, you want to be contradicted. Well, far be it from me to contradict someone's opinion of themselves. I'm sure they have it for a reason. Maybe they do have low self esteem, but I'm not their shrink. I can't make that decision.
There really is no diplomatic way around it.
 Suppose someone says "I'm a closet psychopath." Well, if they don't back up what they say (i.e. show you their collection of mutilated puppy carcasses in their closet, the list of restraining orders against them, etcetera) it really is hard to answer that. If you take their word for it and say "yeah but that's what makes you so interesting to drink with" then you risk hurting their feelings or offending them in some way.  However, if you play the arrogant card and explain to them that they are not indeed psycho, and after all you should know because they've been your co worker for a whole two weeks now, then you run the risk of compelling them to prove you wrong and then you find puppy carcasses carved into the shape of roses with a card that reads "thinking of you" on your front lawn.
See what I mean?
Well, for me I will practice giving folks the benefit of the doubt. Whatever adjectives and/or expletives you choose to describe yourself I will take on faith until you prove otherwise.  Sure, some folks might be disappointed that I don't take the bait, but fuck it, it beats dead puppies on my lawn.

 pontifications