614 Stupidity

[Martin Hash]

[TheReal_ND]

[brewster]

Too many people conflate stupidity and ignorance. Ignorance leads non-stupid people to make stupid decisions. I always say calling someone ignorant 'stupid' is like calling a car with no gas 'slow'. It may well be, but you'll never know unless you fill it. I think true sub functional stupidity is actually rarer than you think. Clinical cretins like Forrest Gump can actually be relatively functional people give proper structure, but get into Dunning–Kruger effect territory, where stupid or normal people think they're geniuses and the damage can be extraordinary. IMO intelligence and cunning are not the same thing, as our President illustrates.

Vast numbers of Americans are astoundingly ignorant of history, science, and geography. We're asking people to make intelligent decisions about geopolitics and climate who can't tell you whether the earth revolves around the sun or vice versa, and how long it takes. Seriously, NSF poll. How many Americans do you think actually know anything about our history of meddling in Iran's domestic politics and how that affects current tensions? Or how China's economic imperialism in Africa is right out of our own playbook?

[TheReal_ND]

I always say calling someone ignorant 'stupid' is like calling a car with no gas 'slow'.

Well that's the stupidest thing I've seen posted online this week.

Vast numbers of Americans are astoundingly ignorant of history, science, and geography.

Yep. They are called "women."

[Fife]

"intelligent decisions about climate"

[brewster]

"intelligent decisions about climate"

What were the good Christian people who were absolutely certain the earth was flat, and arrested and tormented Galileo for saying otherwise? Ignorant, stupid, or just self interested for wanting to keep everything the same as it always was and not rock the boat?

[Speaker to Animals]

"intelligent decisions about climate"

What were the good Christian people who were absolutely certain the earth was flat, and arrested and tormented Galileo for saying otherwise? Ignorant, stupid, or just self interested for wanting to keep everything the same as it always was and not rock the boat?

I really appreciate the irony of this quote in the thread about stupid.

[brewster]

"intelligent decisions about climate"

What were the good Christian people who were absolutely certain the earth was flat, and arrested and tormented Galileo for saying otherwise? Ignorant, stupid, or just self interested for wanting to keep everything the same as it always was and not rock the boat?

I really appreciate the irony of this quote in the thread about stupid.

Not a clue what point you're making.

[TheReal_ND]

Heliocentric model not "flat Earth" which nobody believed in until the past few years.

[brewster]

Heliocentric model not "flat Earth" which nobody believed in until the past few years.

Fair nuff, I fucked that up, but you obviously understand my point. And many, many ancient cultures believed in a flat earth, even medieval Europeans were not all aboard 'round' until after Magellan.