I just want to start off by saying that I am not, at all, trying to place blame on Marilyn vos Savant for any of this.
When someone gets declared as the smartest/best in the world it first off sets people's expectations so high that they expect perfection, and secondly it places the individual onto a plateau for which others would love to knock them down.
The article doesn't discuss this, but I'm sure that played a part in why her detractors jumped on her so fast and so fiercely. They got told that this person was smarter than them, and they were inferior, and now was their chance at proving that that wasn't the case.
She was of course right, and she likely didn't declare herself the "world's smartest woman" but unfortunately for her, that connotation was still attached to her character, and no matter how modest she was it would have been difficult for other people to take an ego knock by feeling like this person was "better" than them.
Essentially the title of "world's smartest woman" set her up for something like this to happen. Luckily for her her detractors jumped on something she was correct about making themselves sound like morons. However it could have happened when she made her first public mistake (it would have happened eventually).
Fortunately this episode may have helped release the pressure somewhat that was placed on her character. She saved face, but her detractors feel like they took her down a peg so didn't continuously stalk her looking for mistakes.
PS - Just to reiterate I am in no way trying to blame Marilyn vos Savant or deflect any of it onto her. Someone else likely declared her the "world's smartest woman," that is outside of her control, and she dealt with this as well as anyone could hope to.
> The article doesn't discuss this, but I'm sure that played a part in why her detractors jumped on her so fast and so fiercely. They got told that this person was smarter than them, and they were inferior, and now was their chance at proving that that wasn't the case.
If only they had stopped to see if she was even wrong first, they wouldn't have proven the claim.
When someone gets declared as the smartest/best in the world it first off sets people's expectations so high that they expect perfection, and secondly it places the individual onto a plateau for which others would love to knock them down.
The article doesn't discuss this, but I'm sure that played a part in why her detractors jumped on her so fast and so fiercely. They got told that this person was smarter than them, and they were inferior, and now was their chance at proving that that wasn't the case.
She was of course right, and she likely didn't declare herself the "world's smartest woman" but unfortunately for her, that connotation was still attached to her character, and no matter how modest she was it would have been difficult for other people to take an ego knock by feeling like this person was "better" than them.
Essentially the title of "world's smartest woman" set her up for something like this to happen. Luckily for her her detractors jumped on something she was correct about making themselves sound like morons. However it could have happened when she made her first public mistake (it would have happened eventually).
Fortunately this episode may have helped release the pressure somewhat that was placed on her character. She saved face, but her detractors feel like they took her down a peg so didn't continuously stalk her looking for mistakes.
PS - Just to reiterate I am in no way trying to blame Marilyn vos Savant or deflect any of it onto her. Someone else likely declared her the "world's smartest woman," that is outside of her control, and she dealt with this as well as anyone could hope to.