The choice of stupidity

[Ravi]

I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while but was still trying to gather my thoughts on it, but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

So...

I've been accused of saying that stupidity is a choice. This is incorrect. I believe that it is possible that people are born that way. The choice is whether or not a person acts on their urge.

There are many urges we get everyday. Sometimes we feel hungry so we decide if we are going to eat or not. If we decide to eat, then we must decide what to eat... salad, candy bar, etc.

Some people are very driven to succeed, some are lazy. These are urges or inclinations that we either obey or fight.

Some people want to be rich so bad they will risk their life and others lives robbing banks. It's an urge. Some act upon it, some don't.

If we want to say any urge we get is natural and normal and should be honored then by all means stupidity is a great and wonderful thing. So is binge eating and armed robbery. So are many, many other things, some good some bad. This is how animals live. Hungry? Eat whatever isn't faster than you. Need to poop? This looks like a nice spot. Got the urge to fuck? Find a partner!

But is this really how people should live?

I don't think so. I think that people should be more principled than animals. I don't think that God gave us brains so that we could only use them to satisfy our desires.

This is really incomplete, but there should be enough here to get some dialog going.

 

[jillian]

I personally think people should repress their urges toward stupidity. I mean, if they're stupid, that's fine, but perhaps the rest of us shouldn't be subjected to it.

 

[Ravi]

I personally think people should repress their urges toward stupidity. I mean, if they're stupid, that's fine, but perhaps the rest of us shouldn't be subjected to it.

CAM (Couldn't Agree More)! Stupid people may not be able to help being stupid, but they can certainly STFU. I'm quite sick of seeing them in public, getting in my face with their sheer idiocy.

 

[Truthmatters]

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Amanda]

Ravi, I try to take people at face value and give them the benefit of the doubt, but you seem to be trying to communicate to me that I shouldn't take you seriously. Is that the case, or am I misreading your signals?

 

[strollingbones]

stupid people dont realize how stupid they are...nor how annoying they are...i have always noticed that the more brains the more depression and broodiness...perhays being stupid is really a happy state

 

[Article 15]

 

[Amanda]

stupid people dont realize how stupid they are...nor how annoying they are...i have always noticed that the more brains the more depression and broodiness...perhays being stupid is really a happy state

If that's true it confirms my theory that I'm dumb as fuck, cos I'm happy almost all the time. And if being smart means I have to be bitter or depressed then no thanks I'll stay stupid.

 

[Truthmatters]

Your not stupid Amanda your just uninformed.

 

[Ravi]

Ravi, I try to take people at face value and give them the benefit of the doubt, but you seem to be trying to communicate to me that I shouldn't take you seriously. Is that the case, or am I misreading your signals?

I'm always deadly serious, Amanda.

Since you couldn't, or wouldn't, tell us your motive in posing your question about homosexuals I decided to try to put myself in your mindset.

There are many groups of people that I think don't benefit society, or at the very least, annoy me. Fundamentalist religious groups of any type. Republicans. Heck, even black people sometimes annoy me because I swear they purposely walk slower when I stop my car to let pedestrians pass. But I decided to pick stupid people as the subject because I think stupidity is a non-partisan, non-racial and non-denominational group. And I also have this nebulous theory that no one is limited by their stupidity...stupid people can always work to improve their intelligence level.

So stupid people...do they benefit society or not? I could argue on either side of the issue. If they don't benefit society, should we care? Should we do something about it? Is the individual's right less important than the well being of society...even among a group that doesn't purposely harm anyone? Should we force stupid people to stop acting like stupid people? It all sounds vaguely communistic to me, but I'm not always correct.

 

[editec]

Ignorance is only skin deep, but stupid goes all the way to the bone.

 

[manu1959]

i read a study a few years ago in a leadership class about incompetence.....

turns out incompetent people are unaware of their incompetence.....they think everyone else is incompetent ....

therefore one could extrapolate that …… stupid people are too stupid to know it ......

 

[Sky Dancer]

Stupidity. There's a reason it's called pigheadedness. It's closed mindedness.

 

[xotoxi]

I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while but was still trying to gather my thoughts on it, but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

So...

I've been accused of saying that stupidity is a choice. This is incorrect. I believe that it is possible that people are born that way. The choice is whether or not a person acts on their urge.

There are many urges we get everyday. Sometimes we feel hungry so we decide if we are going to eat or not. If we decide to eat, then we must decide what to eat... salad, candy bar, etc.

Some people are very driven to succeed, some are lazy. These are urges or inclinations that we either obey or fight.

Some people want to be rich so bad they will risk their life and others lives robbing banks. It's an urge. Some act upon it, some don't.

If we want to say any urge we get is natural and normal and should be honored then by all means stupidity is a great and wonderful thing. So is binge eating and armed robbery. So are many, many other things, some good some bad. This is how animals live. Hungry? Eat whatever isn't faster than you. Need to poop? This looks like a nice spot. Got the urge to fuck? Find a partner!

But is this really how people should live?

I don't think so. I think that people should be more principled than animals. I don't think that God gave us brains so that we could only use them to satisfy our desires.

This is really incomplete, but there should be enough here to get some dialog going.

I believe that stupid people can be healed.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Your not stupid Amanda your just uninformed.

Amanda is not uninformed.

 

[Amanda]

Ravi, I try to take people at face value and give them the benefit of the doubt, but you seem to be trying to communicate to me that I shouldn't take you seriously. Is that the case, or am I misreading your signals?

I'm always deadly serious, Amanda.

Since you couldn't, or wouldn't, tell us your motive in posing your question about homosexuals I decided to try to put myself in your mindset.

There are many groups of people that I think don't benefit society, or at the very least, annoy me. Fundamentalist religious groups of any type. Republicans. Heck, even black people sometimes annoy me because I swear they purposely walk slower when I stop my car to let pedestrians pass. But I decided to pick stupid people as the subject because I think stupidity is a non-partisan, non-racial and non-denominational group. And I also have this nebulous theory that no one is limited by their stupidity...stupid people can always work to improve their intelligence level.

So stupid people...do they benefit society or not? I could argue on either side of the issue. If they don't benefit society, should we care? Should we do something about it? Is the individual's right less important than the well being of society...even among a group that doesn't purposely harm anyone? Should we force stupid people to stop acting like stupid people? It all sounds vaguely communistic to me, but I'm not always correct.

So mocking me is actually your way of trying to start a meaningful discussion?

 

[Sky Dancer]

I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while but was still trying to gather my thoughts on it, but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

So...

I've been accused of saying that stupidity is a choice. This is incorrect. I believe that it is possible that people are born that way. The choice is whether or not a person acts on their urge.

There are many urges we get everyday. Sometimes we feel hungry so we decide if we are going to eat or not. If we decide to eat, then we must decide what to eat... salad, candy bar, etc.

Some people are very driven to succeed, some are lazy. These are urges or inclinations that we either obey or fight.

Some people want to be rich so bad they will risk their life and others lives robbing banks. It's an urge. Some act upon it, some don't.

If we want to say any urge we get is natural and normal and should be honored then by all means stupidity is a great and wonderful thing. So is binge eating and armed robbery. So are many, many other things, some good some bad. This is how animals live. Hungry? Eat whatever isn't faster than you. Need to poop? This looks like a nice spot. Got the urge to fuck? Find a partner!

But is this really how people should live?

I don't think so. I think that people should be more principled than animals. I don't think that God gave us brains so that we could only use them to satisfy our desires.

This is really incomplete, but there should be enough here to get some dialog going.

I believe that stupid people can be healed.

Healed?

I didn't realize it was an illness. It's a mental state of ignorance. The opposite of ignorance is wisdom. Of course, you have to be interested in a topic, do some homework, do into things. Contemplate a topic, ask questions, probe deeper and really be interested in opening your mind.

Some people are unwilling to learn. They prefer ignorance. They think ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is like praying to be a Hindu cow. They won't kill you for meat in India, you'll live a long life, but you'll still be stupid.

I'm having too much fun milking the udders of this metaphor.

 

[Valerie]

I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while but was still trying to gather my thoughts on it, but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

So...

I've been accused of saying that stupidity is a choice. This is incorrect. I believe that it is possible that people are born that way. The choice is whether or not a person acts on their urge.

There are many urges we get everyday. Sometimes we feel hungry so we decide if we are going to eat or not. If we decide to eat, then we must decide what to eat... salad, candy bar, etc.

Some people are very driven to succeed, some are lazy. These are urges or inclinations that we either obey or fight.

Some people want to be rich so bad they will risk their life and others lives robbing banks. It's an urge. Some act upon it, some don't.

If we want to say any urge we get is natural and normal and should be honored then by all means stupidity is a great and wonderful thing. So is binge eating and armed robbery. So are many, many other things, some good some bad. This is how animals live. Hungry? Eat whatever isn't faster than you. Need to poop? This looks like a nice spot. Got the urge to fuck? Find a partner!

But is this really how people should live?

I don't think so. I think that people should be more principled than animals. I don't think that God gave us brains so that we could only use them to satisfy our desires.

This is really incomplete, but there should be enough here to get some dialog going.

I believe that stupid people can be healed.

Yeah, a mind is a terrible thing to waste! And you know we all have a limit to our capacity.......So what? Some people are just born stupid, God bless 'em. Stupid people are people too!

 

[Sky Dancer]

Ravi, I try to take people at face value and give them the benefit of the doubt, but you seem to be trying to communicate to me that I shouldn't take you seriously. Is that the case, or am I misreading your signals?

I'm always deadly serious, Amanda.

Since you couldn't, or wouldn't, tell us your motive in posing your question about homosexuals I decided to try to put myself in your mindset.

There are many groups of people that I think don't benefit society, or at the very least, annoy me. Fundamentalist religious groups of any type. Republicans. Heck, even black people sometimes annoy me because I swear they purposely walk slower when I stop my car to let pedestrians pass. But I decided to pick stupid people as the subject because I think stupidity is a non-partisan, non-racial and non-denominational group. And I also have this nebulous theory that no one is limited by their stupidity...stupid people can always work to improve their intelligence level.

So stupid people...do they benefit society or not? I could argue on either side of the issue. If they don't benefit society, should we care? Should we do something about it? Is the individual's right less important than the well being of society...even among a group that doesn't purposely harm anyone? Should we force stupid people to stop acting like stupid people? It all sounds vaguely communistic to me, but I'm not always correct.

So mocking me is actually your way of trying to start a meaningful discussion?

Wake up, Amanda. We're hip to your tricks. You're not stupid, you're udderly transparent.

 

[xotoxi]

I've been thinking about starting this thread for a while but was still trying to gather my thoughts on it, but today I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

So...

I've been accused of saying that stupidity is a choice. This is incorrect. I believe that it is possible that people are born that way. The choice is whether or not a person acts on their urge.

There are many urges we get everyday. Sometimes we feel hungry so we decide if we are going to eat or not. If we decide to eat, then we must decide what to eat... salad, candy bar, etc.

Some people are very driven to succeed, some are lazy. These are urges or inclinations that we either obey or fight.

Some people want to be rich so bad they will risk their life and others lives robbing banks. It's an urge. Some act upon it, some don't.

If we want to say any urge we get is natural and normal and should be honored then by all means stupidity is a great and wonderful thing. So is binge eating and armed robbery. So are many, many other things, some good some bad. This is how animals live. Hungry? Eat whatever isn't faster than you. Need to poop? This looks like a nice spot. Got the urge to fuck? Find a partner!

But is this really how people should live?

I don't think so. I think that people should be more principled than animals. I don't think that God gave us brains so that we could only use them to satisfy our desires.

This is really incomplete, but there should be enough here to get some dialog going.

I believe that stupid people can be healed.

Yeah, a mind is a terrible thing to waste! And you know we all have a limit to our capacity.......So what? Some people are just born stupid, God bless 'em. Stupid people are people too!

If you want to be stupid behind closed doors, that's your business.

But I don't want to have stupidity shoved down my throat with stupid parades, and stupid TV shows, and stupid movies.

They shouldn't be covering stupid curriculum in schools and indoctrinating our kids to be stupid.

And stupid people should not be allowed to marry!