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(Big Think)   "The problem with stupidity is that it often goes hand-in-hand with power. Every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity"   (bigthink.com) divider line
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    More: Stupid, Stupidity, Public sphere, Evil, Reason, Person, Ignorance, Debate, Theology  
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1560 clicks; posted to Politics » on 27 Jan 2023 at 4:50 AM (9 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



58 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


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Wanebo [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 12:31:11 AM  
I'd have to disagree.

The human population is thoroughly infected with stupidity already. The problem is more what inflames that infection and drives it to illness.
 
Alphax
2023-01-27 1:36:58 AM  
Time to dig that up.

Fark user imageView Full Size


(my main reason to hang onto Facebook right now, it's where my images are)
 
Scorpitron is reduced to a thin red paste
2023-01-27 2:29:53 AM  
Nationalism and other sorts of tribalism is exceptionally easy to harness by unscrupulous leaders and demagogues.

Bonhoeffer knew this well, unfortunately, and we are in the midst of the same thing in our era: incredibly stupid people, grown adults who should know better, falling very easily in with a rancid bouquet of easy, and very wrong, answers to complex changes in their environment.

War and ruin spelled the end of his era. (And took his life.) I don't know what stops what's going on with ours.
 
koder [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 3:56:12 AM  
He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.
 
FightDirector [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 3:57:42 AM  

Scorpitron is reduced to a thin red paste: I don't know what stops what's going on with ours.


*raises hand*

I'll take "War and Ruin" for $500, please.
 
johnphantom
2023-01-27 5:00:13 AM  
LOL! Like humanity isn't the shiat flinging talking monkeys they are!
 
SecondaryControl [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 5:11:57 AM  

koder: He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.


Few seek power to better us - most seek it to better their own position.  Driven by greed, lust, envy, pride - they reach their own goals at our expense.  Most of our altruists seem to be not driven as strongly.

It would seem that the people who seek out positions of power are least likely to use the position to our benefit - and power not exercised for our benefit normally acts to our detriment.
 
Gpzjock
2023-01-27 5:21:49 AM  
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. - Harlan Ellison.
 
adj_m [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 5:37:19 AM  

Wanebo: I'd have to disagree.

The human population is thoroughly infected with stupidity already. The problem is more what inflames that infection and drives it to illness.


Smart evil is capable of preserving what it controls. Like the planet we live on.

Stupid evil is convinced sky daddy is going to take them to heaven, and in fact we should put more effort into wrecking the place to speed that along.
 
wademh
2023-01-27 5:39:49 AM  
Theranos.
The basic idea behind that company is old, it actually can be traced back to an idea from Linus Pauling (not Vit C) but it was far ahead of it's time. But through the 70s, then 80s, then 90s, then the 00s, it was pursued again and again, often with fanfare about how some new technology was going to make things happen This Time.

There were decent attempts along the way, and some good science and even diagnostics were developed. But there was always a signature for companies that were going to fail big. Their executives sold themselves as having essentially invented diagnostics and biomarkers. They sold their internal staff that this was all brand new and they were revolutionaries.

This rather warped view tended to keep them from hiring people who understood the field well, and people with experience. Two reasons for that. One, they are scared of hiring people who know more than they do, and people who know what's going on see  them for the charlatans they are and won't go near them.

People in this environment tell themselves fanciful stories. It's not far from the lies of George Santos. Some naïve and almost innocent people get suckered in. They aren't that innocent as there's an element of being willing to believe attractive lies. But also the not at all innocent ones believe their own lies as well.

Add that up and you've got a special brand of stupid --- believing your own lies. Decide for yourself where you see that brand of stupid in our current world.

\ also note: many call this believing your own lies __positive_thinking__
 
BitwiseShift
2023-01-27 5:43:08 AM  
Occams razor is fine with this.
 
Harlee [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 5:44:04 AM  

koder: He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.



So we should select our future leaders from the ranks of successful comedians? Well, we have at least one shining example of that right now, so that kinda makes sense.

What kind of leader would George Carlin have made?
 
NINDroog
2023-01-27 5:49:36 AM  

koder: I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.


It does typically hold that dictators aren't particularly bright (usually) but I don't know if that really counts as the people who seek power; they tend to operate behind the scenes.

I'm also not sure it's that they aren't smart enough to wield power- but rather their base is so dumb they are inherently limited. What I mean is that if your powerbase consists of stupid, greedy people, then you have to continually protect yourself from them, as well as placate them. Because they're generally pretty dumb, that means constant short term solutions. This  goes a long way in explaining the authors point about people getting into office suddenly becoming dumb. It's not really that their IQs dropped, it's that they're shackled by the ability of their supporters ability to understand.

The problem with courting the stupid is that there is always someone willing to come up with a simpler, dumber solution. So you constantly have to  revise any policy down to the lowest common denominator.
 
buster_v
2023-01-27 6:02:55 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Eunice's Social Calendar [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-27 6:21:02 AM  

Alphax: Time to dig that up.

[Fark user image 590x590]

(my main reason to hang onto Facebook right now, it's where my images are)


Yeah, nope.  "Evil" cannot be reasoned with. "Stupid" can be remediated at the margins, and even be fully countered.  Also, Evil defines stupid as a tactic...that's a problem too.  And when evil gaslights purposely with the ends forever justifying the means, the "stupid" are forever vulnerable to that...if you don't educate.  It's why evil suppresses education...because it's effective.  Saying "evil" must be "fought" is too simplistic.  That's got it's own element of evil ingrained in it - never binary.  But I'm naive.
 
HansoSparxx
2023-01-27 6:21:33 AM  
Been saying that for years...  Now, it's the centrists that are worse than the fascist.
 
Eunice's Social Calendar [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-01-27 6:34:07 AM  

Eunice's Social Calendar: Alphax: Time to dig that up.

[Fark user image 590x590]

(my main reason to hang onto Facebook right now, it's where my images are)

Yeah, nope.  "Evil" cannot be reasoned with. "Stupid" can be remediated at the margins, and even be fully countered.  Also, Evil defines stupid as a tactic...that's a problem too.  And when evil gaslights purposely with the ends forever justifying the means, the "stupid" are forever vulnerable to that...if you don't educate.  It's why evil suppresses education...because it's effective.  Saying "evil" must be "fought" is too simplistic.  That's got it's own element of evil ingrained in it - never binary.  But I'm naive.


Also sounds alot like - hey, you and me, we're smart...we just disagree...get rid of these stupid people who are getting in the way so we can reason with each other - they're the problem.  Naive.
 
cryptozoophiliac
2023-01-27 6:34:12 AM  

HansoSparxx: Been saying that for years...  Now, it's the centrists that are worse than the fascist.


Irony: Saying something this stupid in a thread about stupidity.
 
LL316
2023-01-27 6:37:19 AM  
Speaking of stupid, this memory popped up on my timeline today. 
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Harlee [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 6:50:07 AM  

wademh: Theranos.
The basic idea behind that company is old, it actually can be traced back to an idea from Linus Pauling (not Vit C) but it was far ahead of it's time. But through the 70s, then 80s, then 90s, then the 00s, it was pursued again and again, often with fanfare about how some new technology was going to make things happen This Time.

There were decent attempts along the way, and some good science and even diagnostics were developed. But there was always a signature for companies that were going to fail big. Their executives sold themselves as having essentially invented diagnostics and biomarkers. They sold their internal staff that this was all brand new and they were revolutionaries.

This rather warped view tended to keep them from hiring people who understood the field well, and people with experience. Two reasons for that. One, they are scared of hiring people who know more than they do, and people who know what's going on see  them for the charlatans they are and won't go near them.

People in this environment tell themselves fanciful stories. It's not far from the lies of George Santos. Some naïve and almost innocent people get suckered in. They aren't that innocent as there's an element of being willing to believe attractive lies. But also the not at all innocent ones believe their own lies as well.

Add that up and you've got a special brand of stupid --- believing your own lies. Decide for yourself where you see that brand of stupid in our current world.

\ also note: many call this believing your own lies __positive_thinking__


I blame Star Trek and the Tricorder.
 
Dictatorial_Flair
2023-01-27 7:00:38 AM  

Scorpitron is reduced to a thin red paste: Nationalism and other sorts of tribalism is exceptionally easy to harness by unscrupulous leaders and demagogues.

Bonhoeffer knew this well, unfortunately, and we are in the midst of the same thing in our era: incredibly stupid people, grown adults who should know better, falling very easily in with a rancid bouquet of easy, and very wrong, answers to complex changes in their environment.

War and ruin spelled the end of his era. (And took his life.) I don't know what stops what's going on with ours.


Global drought and famine. And probably war.
 
cryptozoophiliac
2023-01-27 7:03:56 AM  
Americans: the wealthiest people in the world, and all they can do is sit and contemplate their own downfall.

What a bunch of pussies.
 
AdmirableSnackbar [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 7:52:01 AM  

HansoSparxx: Been saying that for years...  Now, it's the centrists that are worse than the fascist.


It's not that they're worse, exactly, it's that they end up helping the fascists more than they fight fascism while claiming they're against fascism. Because we gotta be bipartisan!
 
Kit Fister [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 7:52:30 AM  

Wanebo: I'd have to disagree.

The human population is thoroughly infected with stupidity already. The problem is more what inflames that infection and drives it to illness.


I see you, too, are a denizen of the Poltab.
 
Kit Fister [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 7:52:55 AM  

cryptozoophiliac: Americans: the wealthiest people in the world, and all they can do is sit and contemplate their own downfall.

What a bunch of pussies.


Yep. Total pussy here. Can confirm.
 
Kit Fister [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 7:53:51 AM  

Harlee: koder: He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.


So we should select our future leaders from the ranks of successful comedians? Well, we have at least one shining example of that right now, so that kinda makes sense.

What kind of leader would George Carlin have made?


Nah.  I'd go with the advice of Marcus Aurelius: "Politicians should be installed in office at swordpoint."
 
AdmirableSnackbar [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 7:55:24 AM  

Harlee: What kind of leader would George Carlin have made?


A good one, probably, until he got assassinated by the wealthy and powerful whose station he would have threatened.
 
Nurglitch
2023-01-27 8:05:00 AM  
The author takes a really optimistic view of evil. Also, I'm reminded of a Warhammer 40k quote:

"The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance."
 
Fereals
2023-01-27 8:16:35 AM  

HansoSparxx: Been saying that for years...  Now, it's the centrists that are worse than the fascist.


In the French revolution, it was the centrist who pulled the most guillotine levers.
 
koder [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 8:16:37 AM  

Harlee: koder: He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.


So we should select our future leaders from the ranks of successful comedians? Well, we have at least one shining example of that right now, so that kinda makes sense.

What kind of leader would George Carlin have made?


It could be tried (e.g., Al Franken and probably why he was hiatjobbed), but being a professional, successful comedian isn't actually needed, and in fact the personality type of an entertainer might interfere with leadership, as it comes with the downsides of being a "charismatic leader" as the I/O psych literature would term it.

It's more that, like I said, comedians necessarily need to have many of the critical traits a good, effective leader needs, so, frequently, a good leader can also use or "speak" the language of comedy conversationally--not necessarily fluently, nor professionally, nor have the personality type of an entertainer.

As a "razor," you're really more just looking for someone who can roll with punches and adeptly use comedy situationally across diverse audiences.  Those alone will eliminate most of the worst leaders in the world, past and present.
 
cryptozoophiliac
2023-01-27 8:23:26 AM  

Kit Fister: cryptozoophiliac: Americans: the wealthiest people in the world, and all they can do is sit and contemplate their own downfall.

What a bunch of pussies.

Yep. Total pussy here. Can confirm.


Me, too...but I'm not really talking about willingness to do manly violence. I'm talking about a spirit of optimism and possibility, rather than a world-weary shrug justified by lots of cynicism.
 
Wasteland
2023-01-27 8:26:23 AM  
I'd tend to agree.  A malicious intelligence wants things; and while it'll cheat or break rules, it still usually needs to keep the larger systems in place- both to preserve its prize, and to have something to cheat with.  It recognizes the need for structures to support its power, and that means leaving some support for others.  Even the most lawless people throughout history have still needed other people to have orderly lives, for them to have someone to prey on.

Stupidity, no matter whether it's well-intentioned or malicious, tends to eventually flip the table and ruin things for everyone; either out of frustration at the world not operating how it thinks it should, or from sheer incompetent mismanagement.
 
Concrete Donkey
2023-01-27 8:27:16 AM  
Wow. Now the rethantard is being put into pol.


Can we please block this garbage site
 
like tears in rain
2023-01-27 8:29:45 AM  
As pointed out, these are not separate things. Being evil is usually stupid, and being stupid often leads to doing or supporting evil things.

Not to mention that there are many kinds of stupid. People who are very smart in one field can be very stupid in others, for example. (Often seen in academia.)

Also, I'm not sure people get stupid when they go into politics. People go into politics because they're idealistic (or think it's a good grift, I guess) and then they find that they have to work with others to get anything done. After all, politics is the art of the possible.
 
AdmirableSnackbar [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 8:33:12 AM  

like tears in rain: After all, politics is the art of the possible.


Unfortunately, stupid people often completely misunderstand this, mostly because cynical people have twisted its meaning to something completely different from what it is meant to be.
 
Kit Fister [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 8:34:34 AM  

cryptozoophiliac: Kit Fister: cryptozoophiliac: Americans: the wealthiest people in the world, and all they can do is sit and contemplate their own downfall.

What a bunch of pussies.

Yep. Total pussy here. Can confirm.

Me, too...but I'm not really talking about willingness to do manly violence. I'm talking about a spirit of optimism and possibility, rather than a world-weary shrug justified by lots of cynicism.


...I'm a cog in the AMerican capitalist system. So I qualify even by that definition.
 
jso2897 [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 8:38:46 AM  
Even if the stupid are less dangerous than the evil per unit, there are so many more OF them.
Truly evil sons-of-biatches are relatively rare - the stupid are everywhere.
Stupidity even effects the behavior of intelligent people like me and you.
Everyone practices stupidity upon occasion.
It is ubiquitous, and it is legion.
 
jso2897 [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 8:40:49 AM  

AdmirableSnackbar: like tears in rain: After all, politics is the art of the possible.

Unfortunately, stupid people often completely misunderstand this, mostly because cynical people have twisted its meaning to something completely different from what it is meant to be.


And stupidity is more than just the sum total of the actions of stupid people - it is a force of and unto itself.
There are days I think it must be in the f**king air/water.
 
cryptozoophiliac
2023-01-27 8:44:25 AM  

Kit Fister: cryptozoophiliac: Kit Fister: cryptozoophiliac: Americans: the wealthiest people in the world, and all they can do is sit and contemplate their own downfall.

What a bunch of pussies.

Yep. Total pussy here. Can confirm.

Me, too...but I'm not really talking about willingness to do manly violence. I'm talking about a spirit of optimism and possibility, rather than a world-weary shrug justified by lots of cynicism.

...I'm a cog in the AMerican capitalist system. So I qualify even by that definition.


I don't see myself as a cog...even though I might be. Neither am I a "temporarily embarrassed" millionaire. I know perfectly well what's wrong with the system. I don't know how to fix it, but knowing cynicism and weary acceptance is Old Europe style, and that's why my ancestors lit out for this land.
 
chucknasty [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 8:46:28 AM  
it's like when you mention that the tissue on the inside of your cheek is the same tissue as inside a vagina and you just know a bunch of people reading that ran their tongue along their cheek
 
menschenfresser
2023-01-27 8:47:19 AM  
Seems like it's often the evil who rise to power by capitalizing on the stupid. The ones with power are cynically using the gullible morons to achieve their power, but the evil power holders don't actually believe any of it themselves.

Sure, sometimes a true believer (moron) gets into power themselves. But the edifice is built by the evil, taking advantage of the stupid masses.
 
cryptozoophiliac
2023-01-27 8:52:59 AM  
It's like the Prophet said (Peace Be Upon Him):

Evil is only able to triumph when good men become pussies.
 
Farkonaut
2023-01-27 8:53:54 AM  
Oh hey it's like the entire republican playbook...
 
Professor Duck
2023-01-27 8:55:01 AM  

koder: He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.


The major problem-one of the major problems, for there are several-one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. --Douglas Adams
 
Farkonaut
2023-01-27 9:06:06 AM  

Professor Duck: To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. --Douglas Adams


Have you ever considered that this is what people who want to retain their power tell stupid people who get tired of the current power structures and think: I can do this better.

Anyway, I think those two things are bullshiat and just lies people in power tell people who don't have it..

"Wanting and affecting change is bad" is what those things say to me, Challenging power structures is bad, and wanting to lead means you're the least qualified to do so...


No wonder we can't find good leaders.
 
Marcus Aurelius [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 9:38:20 AM  

Kit Fister: Harlee: koder: He also argues that stupidity tends to go hand-in-hand with acquiring power - that is, being in power means we surrender our individual critical faculties.

I'd say it's more that people who seek power--and especially those that knowingly manipulate stupid people to get it--are typically just smart enough to get power but too stupid, themselves, to wield it effectively or moderate themselves to use it wisely.

I've noticed this trend across most dictators/shiatty politicians/their businessman ilk.  They only know, and are only able to predict/manipulate, a subset of human emotion/responses, which makes them terribly ineffective (and ultimately dangerous/destructive) long-term leaders. Most easily this can be seen in their inability to ever master comedy, which requires perspective-taking, empathy, and creativity (at minimum), which are critical baseline traits to effective leadership.

Just smart enough, just dumb enough. That's the danger zone.


So we should select our future leaders from the ranks of successful comedians? Well, we have at least one shining example of that right now, so that kinda makes sense.

What kind of leader would George Carlin have made?

Nah.  I'd go with the advice of Marcus Aurelius: "Politicians should be installed in office at swordpoint."


Elections totally killed that idea.  It's still a good idea.
 
Blathering Idjut
2023-01-27 9:38:21 AM  
Stupidity, though, is a different problem altogether. We cannot so easily fight stupidity for two reasons. First, we are collectively much more tolerant of it. Unlike evil, stupidity is not a vice most of us take seriously. We do not lambast others for ignorance. We do not scream down people for not knowing things.

It's worse than this because while the stupid most assuredly take advantage of society's tolerance towards stupidity, they show no such courtesy towards those they deem themselves stupid because they don't share their beliefs/ faith in lieu of reason.  They weaponize courtesy.

All of us most certainly have at least some stupid people in our lives that we tolerate, avoiding deeper subjects in conversation such as politics or religion.  These folks rarely return the favor, instead engaging head on whenever they have the chance.
 
Tinstaafl
2023-01-27 9:59:46 AM  

Alphax: (my main reason to hang onto Facebook right now, it's where my images are)


I don't remember exactly how I did it but I was able to easily migrate all my FB images to google drive before shutting my account off.  IIRC (hard as it is to believe) FB offers that option during the cancellation process.
 
abb3w [TotalFark]
2023-01-27 10:02:56 AM  
Evil has a depraved concept of "ought".
Stupid doesn't grasp "is".
Delusional is so incoherent you can't tell what they're trying to talk about.

The latter seem sometimes causal for the former.  I recall encountering more problems personally from Stupid than Evil or Delusional. Non-delusional, non-stupid evil individuals have caused some of the biggest and least tractable of those problems; however, the stupid seem to have cause more of the really intractable problems by combined efforts.
 
Marcus Aurelius [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-01-27 10:08:58 AM  

Blathering Idjut: Stupidity, though, is a different problem altogether. We cannot so easily fight stupidity for two reasons. First, we are collectively much more tolerant of it. Unlike evil, stupidity is not a vice most of us take seriously. We do not lambast others for ignorance. We do not scream down people for not knowing things.

It's worse than this because while the stupid most assuredly take advantage of society's tolerance towards stupidity, they show no such courtesy towards those they deem themselves stupid because they don't share their beliefs/ faith in lieu of reason.  They weaponize courtesy.

All of us most certainly have at least some stupid people in our lives that we tolerate, avoiding deeper subjects in conversation such as politics or religion.  These folks rarely return the favor, instead engaging head on whenever they have the chance.


It's a test, to see if you're a member of the tribe or not.  It's a belief system that resembles a religion.  You get the same kind of thing from people who say they're "blessed" - right away, you know you can engage them in a certain kind of conversation, and even take egregious advantage of said person, if one were unscrupulous.
 
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  2. When community members submit a link, they also write a custom headline for the story.

  3. Other Farkers comment on the links. This is the number of comments. Click here to read them.

  4. Click here to submit a link.