They Know When You’re Faking It

I’m a genius. Literally. Intelligence-wise, I’m in the top 1% of people worldwide. And along with that superior intellect comes the uncanny ability to tell when someone is faking it, when they’re not being genuine. It doesn’t even have to be in person. I can read your blog post and tell whether or not you know what you’re talking about. Sometimes it’s obvious, but other times I just know, despite the fact that I can’t put my finger on exactly why.

That’s pretty arrogant isn’t it? But that’s apparently the way I think, judging by some of the things I’ve tried to pass off in my life. Whether it’s tests, essays, term papers, research projects — you name it, I’ve tried to fake my way through it. In more recent history, it’s been blog posts. I can go back over the past year and find several posts where I wrote hundreds of words on the very shakiest foundations of knowledge, or where I tried to hide my true intentions for writing. Did I really believe that I was one of the elite few who could tell when people were faking it? It seems so ludicrous now that I’m aware of it.

I realized this last night as I thought over Mother Jones’ post about the Virginia Tech tragedy. It was a horrible, horrible event, and her post was such a great commentary on it not only because of what she said, but because it was written with such obvious authority.

I was especially sensitive to it because I had braced myself for the onslaught of people using this tragedy to further their own agendas. Under the guise of being caring or sensitive or providing insightful commentary, all these people really cared about was getting more traffic to their own site or making more money. Some of the stuff I saw after Anna Nicole Smith, for instance, was just horrible.

Thankfully, though, I didn’t see much of that. If I saw anything, in fact, it was stuff like Mother Jones’ that really, truly had something to say.

But in the interest of heading this off next time, or preventing you from looking stupid in some other way, I wanted to highlight for you what it took so long for me to realize: people know when you’re faking it. Don’t ever think that you can hide behind a computer screen and pretend to be an expert in anything you want. You can’t. They can tell if you actually know what you’re talking about, and they can read between the lines to see your true motive.

Be honest. Be open. Be true to yourself and everyone else. You’ll definitely find that it works out better in the end — plus it’s just so much easier.