A Letter from INTJs (We Don't Conquer the World)

Possibly you've read Opal’s letter to extroverts, Aimee’s response letter, and Heather's response response letter. I couldn't help but jump in on the train; but instead of introducing letter-Inception, I decided to add in a flair of world domination.

(Confused about this whole MBTI thing? Check out my analysis of INTJs in literature and pop culture.)

Dear world,

You should be glad, really, that we're one of the rarer MBTI personalities. The only reason we haven't taken over the world is that we're too busy snarking at each other and countering each other's evil plots. That's what you think, isn't it?

Here's the truth: you're wrong.

We may be Masterminds, but we don't all want to take over the world. Promise; we apparently prefer to stay in the background until everyone else has proved their stupidity. We're not all Loki; some of us are Spocks, or Princess Tianas, or Tyrions. Personally, I can't come up with a chess plan to save my life, but I'm pretty killer with designing lab manuals. Not everyone is clever in the world-domination way.

And yeah, we won't hesitate to snark the hell out of you. But that doesn't mean we're complete loners, either. For one, you need minions to take over the world.

Just because we don't like to sugarcoat doesn't mean we can't. We're just disinclined to acquiesce to your request to do so, but fifteen or so years in real life have taught us some basic social no-nos, just as artistic types learned to do algebra or geometry. And at least you lot get to give up the test tubes and the triangles after graduation; social skills are necessary.

When we do outright call you out on your apparent idiocy? There's an upside to it (beyond curing you of your idiocy, I mean.) Because of our efficiency-oriented mind, we're equally okay with other people making valid points about our own weaknesses. Once that happens, our pragmatism allows us to step back and re-evaluate.

Besides, where would the world be without snark?

Why this gif? Why not?

Speaking of the good Captain, we're as dedicated to our ambitions as he is to his title. Even if we're all would-be world conquistadors, we have to work at it for a while. Rome was not built in a day, Caesar didn't veni vidi vici in a week. Call us ruthless, call us ambitious, but once we set our sights on a goal, we don't give up easily. We just aim to finish it with the best speed and quality.

And you know, we don't always plan out the entire world, plus three hundred back-up gambits. The "n" for intuition is there for a reason; even INTJs go with their gut feeling sometimes. I play BS (the card game) a lot, and in the absence of actual-formed plans, I just grin at random times.

We're not all evil. It's time to see INTJs in a different light: dedicated, intelligent human people. (tweet this)

Or at least that's what I aim for. In the meantime, I'll continue to snark.

Yours,
Non-world dominating INTJ

What MBTI personality are you? Also: write a response for your own MBTI, whether on your blog or in the comments, and I'll visit + link to you here!

Share for INTJ solidarity/support on Twitter:

• It's time to see #INTJ people as dedicated, intelligent humans. (Click to Tweet)
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(I recognise MBTIs of many popular figures are hotly debated; feel free to start a discussion in the comments if you disagree with my interpretation. Please also note that I don't really speak for all INTJs, but am merely expressing my opinion as one.)