Wit & Attitude Quote by Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt’s line lands like a deadpan confession from the tech executive suite: the shock isn’t that people can be dismissive, it’s that dismissal is the default setting. The joke is built on a double inversion. First, it punctures the comforting assumption that we’re generally regarded as competent adults; second, it suggests we’re oddly naive about how ruthlessly others are sorting us into “smart” and “not worth listening to.”

Coming from a businessman who ran one of the world’s most influential information companies, the subtext is less about manners than about power. In corporate and tech culture, intelligence isn’t just a trait, it’s a currency, used to grant access, credibility, and authority. “They’re idiots” is often shorthand for “they don’t share my priors,” “they’re not in my network,” or “they can’t translate their value into the language this room rewards.” Schmidt’s phrasing quietly indicts the arrogance baked into high-status environments while also normalizing it: of course people think this; why are you surprised?

The intent feels pragmatic, almost managerial: stop assuming good faith, stop assuming you’re being seen accurately, and start understanding perception as a battlefield. It’s also a neat explanation for why debates online and in offices escalate so fast. If you enter a conversation expecting respect and the other side enters expecting incompetence, you don’t get dialogue - you get performance, defensiveness, and the steady churn of contempt that modern institutions run on.