Gunners, and a PSA to “The Hissy.”

Law school discussion. Memba that site? Well, there is (as always) an active gunner thread. Here is the first post:

PSA: How to Avoid Being “That” Guy by Another Chicago 1L

You shouldn’t:

1. Raise your hand more than once per class period. I know the rule sounds harsh, but, when you have 90 others and a professor with a plan, there’s no need for your novice input.

Most of the LR people at my school, I’ve been told, were quiet in class.

2. Approach anyone at the library and begin a long conversation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sitting at a desk, trying to work, when someone comes over to me like they’re ready to shoot the breeze for an hour. The library isn’t a social scene. It’s a library. Acknowledgements should be as limited as a funeral’s.

3. Speak in publishable sentences. Some people think that law school gives them license to throw out clunkers like “egregious recourse to deregulation.” Guess what? Nobody thinks that you’re intelligent because you can string together polysyllabic words.

4. Talk about how much or how little work you’re doing. Please, please, please don’t do this. Someone bragged to me about how they’re working at least 8 hours a day, if not more. Oh, really? Well, none of the rest of us are studying at all, so that makes you very special. Conversely, talking about your slacker tendencies is okay, but not as good as talking about something else.

Another poster added,
“The cynic in me thinks that those guys who are “that” guy are incapable of avoiding such a state. They lack a social sensitivity. It’s almost a sociopathic detachment from acceptable norms.”

And, yet another poster…

“Every guy who is “that guy” suffers from a complete lack of self awareness.”

Also, some people who talk in class daily have wonderful things to add every time. Some people who talk only once a week offer 15 minute monologues that confound the rest of the class every time.

The self-awareness points are pretty valid. I think the key factor that distinguishes a good-faith participant from a “gunner” is the ability to decide which questions are more appropriate to ask after class.

A clarifying question helps you follow the discussion – whereas a random hypo is more likely to be irrelevant to class discussion and annoying to your peers.

And yes, monologues are annoying.

But the people I find equally as irritating as the gunner(s) are those who – no matter who is talking – suck their teeth and roll their eyes. A gunner is seldom obnoxious 100% of the time. Some of the comments he or she makes are going to be valid. Just realize that if you’re rude to the gunner, your peers will notice your mini-hissy-fit and put you in the same socially inept category.