"I don't care what others think"

I think I've heard this phrase 50,000 times in my life. Each time I hear it, it gets more absurd. It's absurd because it's a lie-if you didn't care, you wouldn't feel the need to tell anyone. It's also absurd because it shows your general disdain for others and how you grossly over value yourself. After all, if you "don't care what others think" why should they care what you think?

First off, let's get the obvious out of the way. You do care what others think. Yes, even you reading this. I'm a firm believer in individualism and I'm a very private guy-but yes, I do want others to view me with respect and admiration. For no other reason than it makes my own life easier. Life can be difficult and at one time or another you will rely on someone else for assistance. If you've alienated everyone else with your "go to Hell" attitude, you are making life much more difficult for yourself. That and if you truly, absolutely didn't care what others thought about you-you wouldn't feel the need to broadcast it. You'd just accept it and move on.

The other thing that bothers me is saying this shows how arrogant you are. If you don't care what others say-why should we care about what you have to say? Saying that you don't care what others think then expecting the rest of us to listen to you shows a seriously warped sense of self.