A friend told me about a house he was building. It took months to
get it nearly complete. Lots of work by lots of people, creating something of
beauty that everyone could admire. A week before completion vandals broke into
the property and ripped the place to pieces, just for fun.
Vandalism sits on the opposite end of the continuum to creativity.
This story has many parallels in the world. An employee spends hours working
on a new idea only for their boss to reject it without offering any
suggestions for improvement.
A child spends hours on a project only for a teacher to dismiss it without
proper acknowledgment.
The hallmark of intellectual vandals are those that only break down without
offering an alternative. Criticism is always welcome, if constructive.
Intellectual vandals seldom offer anything constructive.
Their interactions mostly consist of vigorous attempts to shoot down ideas and
make them less valuable.
The destruction of ideas, thoughts and concepts is much easier than creating
new thought. Vandalism is much easier than creativity. As in the example of
the ‘house-breakers’, the ‘idea-breakers’ use a fraction of the energy of the
creative.
Like the child who breaks down sand castles on the beach because they are more
beautiful than hers, the intellectual vandal looks to bring all ideas down to
a size that he can feel less intimidated.