pylint --generate-rcfile
shows it like this:
[MESSAGES CONTROL]
# Enable the message, report, category or checker with the given id(s). You can
# either give multiple identifier separated by comma (,) or put this option
# multiple time.
#enable=
# Disable the message, report, category or checker with the given id(s). You
# can either give multiple identifier separated by comma (,) or put this option
# multiple time (only on the command line, not in the configuration file where
# it should appear only once).
#disable=
So it looks like your ~/.pylintrc
should have the disable=
line/s in it inside a section [MESSAGES CONTROL]
.