This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. I’m not an elitist. I think I’m a realist. I try to observe the facts and come to logical conclusions. The more I observe my fellow Americans and the politicians we elect to office, the more I’m convinced we are doomed as a society. Incompetence combined with an irrational feeling of superiority and exceptionalism is a deadly combination. This scientific study just confirms what George Carlin put so succinctly, many years ago:
“Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!”
Scientists say America is too dumb for democracy to thrive
The United States may be a republic, but it’s democracy that Americans cherish. After all, that’s why we got into Iraq, right? To take out a dictator and spread democracy.
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” “One person, one vote.” We are an egalitarian society that treasures the mandate of its citizenry.
But more than a decade’s worth research suggests that the citizenry is too dumb to pick the best leaders.
They know what’s best for the country.
Work by Cornell University psychologist David Dunning and then-colleague Justin Kruger found that “incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people’s ideas,” according to a report by Life’s Little Mysteries on the blog LiveScience.
“Very smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt, because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is,” Dunning told Life’s Little Mysteries.
What’s worse is that with incompetence comes the illusion of superiority.
Let’s say a politician comes up with an ingenious plan that would ensure universal health care while decreasing health care costs.
According to Dunning-Kruger, no matter how much information is provided, the unsophisticated would 1) be incapable of recognizing the wisdom of such a plan; 2) assume they know better; and 3) have no idea of the extent of their inadequacy.
In other words, stupid people are too stupid to know how stupid they are.
If this seems elitist to you, you are probably not alone. Maybe we should only let Ph.D.’s, Mensa members and Jeopardy! champions vote? At least require a passing an IQ test before you get to cast a ballot?
The scientists do say that the incompetent can be trained to improve, but only if they acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, which would seem to be a catch-22 since they are too ignorant to do so on their own.
Life’s Little Mysteries said that Mato Nagel, a sociologist in Germany, ran a computer simulation of a democratic election based on Dunning and Kruger’s theories:
“In his mathematical model of the election, he assumed that voters’ own leadership skills were distributed on a bell curve — some were really good leaders, some, really bad, but most were mediocre — and that each voter was incapable of recognizing the leadership skills of a political candidate as being better than his or her own. When such an election was simulated, candidates whose leadership skills were only slightly better than average always won.”
It would appear then that democracy dooms us to mediocrity and misinformed choices. Not exactly encouraging news for the next round of California’s ballot initiatives.
As the U.S. public school system plunges to 30th in the world, please repeat your local Teacher’s Union Thug Motto: Education Starts At Home (It’s Not Our Fault).
The worst part is that they are loud and proud about their ignorance. Our DA actually stood up in our caucus Saturday and announced that selling raw milk in Wyoming was legal so why do we need a platform to legalize it? Stupid, dumbass lawyer. He got a little red when Marianne pulled the law out of her purse. Formal education is not an indication of intelligence. Ivy League education is an indication that you have none.
Rich and connected families run this country. The illusion is little people think they have a say in what they think is a democracy. But rich families are also made up of stupid people and man have they made a mess of things. The people have become the tyrants in local government while the rich families have become the tyrants in federal and state government. So we the people have a lot of government to support; four levels, federal, state, country, city, all run and manipulated by tyrants issuing arbitrary rule of law in THEIR FAVOR, over the rest of us who just want to live a free life being left alone in our pursuit of happiness.
A good assessment: “Stupid people are too stupid to know how stupid they are.”
A Marist poll released on July 4, 2011 showed that 42 percent of American adults are unaware that the U.S. declared its independence in 1776, and this figure increases to 69 percent for the under-30 age group. Twenty-five percent of Americans don’t know from which country the United States seceded. A poll taken in the Oklahoma public school system turned up the fact that 77 percent of the students didn’t know who George Washington was, and the Texas Board of Education recently voted to include a unit on Estee Lauder in the history curriculum, when they don’t have one on the first president. Nearly 30 percent of the American population thinks the sun revolves around the earth or is unsure of which revolves around which.
there are lots of high IQ, highly educated people who are (fucking) stupid. or repeatedly, regularly, predictably do stupid things.
i use the word to mean thoughts and actions that are against the long-run best interest of the person. like starting or escalating a land war in asia. high IQ, highly educated people, did this really fucking stupid thing.
i know lots of doctors. really smart, very well educated and well informed people. really stupid, in the way they carry out the business side of their practices, the way they run their offices and manage their employees, the way they bend over for the insurance companies, little by little, year after year. (i am not talking collectively–the way we as a profession have been incredibly stupid is another story). doing the same thing over and over, vainly expecting a desired result, but receiving the same undesirable result. over and over.
but that is just how i use the word. as opposed to dumb (unintelligent, low iq) or ignorant (uninformed, intentionally or otherwise). and lord knows, i’ve done plenty of stupid things. and for long stretches of time, i have fully earned the label (see relations with women) (but i digress).
i happened on a quote on this topic last night. and i tracked down the source; robert kirkman, one of the authors of the comic book “The Walking Dead”, inspiration for the awesome tv show (bu-bye shane, you fucking asshole!):
“The thing about smart people is sometimes they sound like crazy people to stupid people.”
(feel free to substitute for to derive the original quotation)
“A Marist poll released on July 4, 2011 showed that 42 percent of American adults are unaware that the U.S. declared its independence in 1776, and this figure increases to 69 percent for the under-30 age group”
See, boomers ARE smarter than X’ers and M’ls. 8^P
One of the leading history profs I had at Wayne State, practically the only non-liberal on the faculty, once told me that the professoriat is filled with people who know how to run the world, but who cannot balance their checkbooks. I like the article, agree substantially with the findings, but must point out that howard is correct in stating that highly-educated, intelligent, successful people are often hopelessly impractical, etc. Besides, pure meritocracy might not be something we’d really want to live under, as it could be immoral or ruthless, as the Mamlukes, who began as foreign slave-draftees who won promotion through skill in war and intrigue, and who often succeeded to supreme power through assiassination, knew.
“A poll taken in the Oklahoma public school system turned up the fact that 77 percent of the students didn’t know who George Washington was”
If you have ever been to Oklahoma this wouldnt be shocking news to you.
word press mistook a word for html code. the last line of my post didn’t make any sense. try this.
“The thing about smart people is sometimes they sound like crazy people to stupid people.”
(feel free to substitute “motherfuckers” for “people” to derive the original quotation)
Americans began getting stupider when: 1) The DOE got involved with education. We put a man on the moon and brought him back with fucking slide rules, for the love of god. Also designed an atomic bomb with the same level of tech.
2) Teachers unions started caring more about teacher’s collective bargaining rights than teaching the damn kids to read, do sums and fucking think.
3) 24/7 programming on tee-vee, cable.
4) Infiltration of the schools and universities of the leftie hippies and acceptance of bullshit degrees in “women’s studies”, “sociology”, “underwater basket weaving” in place of degrees in the hard sciences like MATH, PHYSICS and BIOLOGY.
5) Cultural rot brought on by a mind-set of trophies for everyone, PC, moral relativism and a complete abrogation of the idea of a meritocracy based on TRUE ACHIEVMENT AND NOT SOME IMMUTABLE CHARACTERISTIC.
6) Fed.gov programs that have rewarded people for mindless breeding rather than using their BRAINS to make their way in the world.
The reason people in America are so stupid is because our democratic republic has generated so much wealth and a ginormous welfare state, that being stupid is now a survival trait in the positive. You get rewarded for not working, for having no real employment skills, for having kids you can’t afford and even get great medical care in the jailhouse if you mess up.
The real dumb people are those that go to work, pay their taxes, and obey the law.
I thought this was a post about DaveL. Well, it is actually, although he wasn’t named specifically.
What the hell did you think was going to happen? 45 million people are reproducing courtesy of Welfare (reproducing FOR/TO GET Welfare). People that won’t work, aren’t married, no education. The people that do get an education, will work, and want to get married are buried up to their eyeballs in student loan debt and will never be able to reproduce. Over time, the dumbfucks outnumber the educated people 100-1, and you get what we have today. No big surprise. And what HZK said.
Idiocracy.
“Twenty-five percent of Americans don’t know from which country the United States seceded.” –Admin
That’s only because 93.5% of Americans don’t know what “seceded” means.
HZK
60 Minutes this past Sunday did a story about Kahn Academy.
MILLIONS of students worldwide now learning all kinds of subects online. Teachers are now “facilitators”. (“Babysitters”, imho).
What say you? (Others welcome to comment.)
The 60 Minutes segment
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57394905/khan-academy-the-future-of-education/
Kahn Academy
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Avalon has used Kahn Academy to teach our kids concepts they were having trouble with. It’s a great tool.
“Cornell University psychologist David Dunning and then-colleague Justin Kruger” spent ten years of research figuring this shit out? They have to be the TWO dumbest motherfuckers on the planet. Seriously. All they had to do was ask me and I could have saved them ten years of their lives and millions in research money. Dipshits. Why do people research stuff that is fucking self-evident? Guess they need to know the answer before they do the research. That really chaps my ass.
Wyoming Mike – I like you. But watch the comments about Ivy Leaguers. Never know who you might offend.
llpoh-How much dough did the Cornell boys rake in scientifically measuring the obvious for 10 years? Pointless, but not so stupid when you look at it that way.
AKA – gee, you are a ray of sunshine, aren’t you? So you prefer to think of them as thieving slimeballs instead of ignoramuses? Generally, the most obvious answer is correct, but it is possible you are right. I will stick with ignoramuses, tho.
Admin,
When my kids have conceptual problems I introduce the horse whip.
I grew up in the upper class. I made friends with all types of people over the years. I was probably the biggest socialite the world ever had. I got along with everyone. The entire education system is based on stupidity, ignorance and greed. I found that lower class people are generally dumb. I mean dumber than dumb and dummer, dumb. So called intelligent people are actually not much smarter.
School never taught one person to think. People just memorze stuff and regurgatate information. They hold on to these thought procress usually for life. Pride causes them to have quick judgements and this causes a lot of problems. A lot of times under certain cirmstances Classrooms or retaded people actually score higher in school than normal students. Any moron or mouse can memorze stuff. There isn’t anything to learn. There isn’t much to life but messing with chemicals and businesses and general to pointless workers. I can know every aspect about doing a heart transplant and be the best at what I do. Any moron can do it. It’s all about the money to a college and working your butt off for it. Then when they get there, out of debt, they start kicking back and messing up.
The current dumbed-down decadent state of the US inherently due to a lack of discipline and standards which have debased American culture to the point of self-destruction.
Dumbasses are easier for tyrants to control.
Charlotte Iserbyt – Deliberate Dumbing Down of the World
John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams is a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our second President.
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence said. “[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind.”
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said, “[T]he Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.”
Gouverneur Morris, Penman and Signer of the Constitution. “[F]or avoiding the extremes of despotism or anarchy . . . the only ground of hope must be on the morals of the people. I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. [T]herefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.”
Fisher Ames author of the final wording for the First Amendment wrote, “[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind.”
John Jay, Original Chief-Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court , “The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.”
James Wilson, Signer of the Constitution; U. S. Supreme Court Justice, “Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. . . . Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other.”
Noah Webster, author of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary stated, “The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. . . All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House, “Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”
George Washington, General of the Revolutionary Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, First President of the United States of America, Father of our nation, ” Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”
Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence “[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
“Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof.” Continental Congress, 1778
Note that the above quotes are but a small sample of hundreds of quotes the Founding Fathers made in regards to the importance of a religious and moral people in a successful Republican Democracy.
In our young nation, the Bible was used as a text book for the purpose of teaching children moral principles to live by. As time went on, the Bible was gradually replaced by other text books such as Noah Webster’s Primer. Webster’s Primer taught children to spell but was also filled with moral Bible verses. In the front of his Primer was his picture with the inscription, “Who taught millions to read but not one to sin.”
This is the exact opposite of the school curriculum today. The courts in this country have revised the First Amendment, thus erecting a wall of atheism around every public school in America, where in God is not allowed to be mentioned. This is not the same wall that Thomas Jefferson envisioned.
“democracy dooms us to mediocrity ” — from the article
Well, that’s optimistic. I find it’s much worse. When those at the levers of power found out how dumb the voting populace was, it became just a matter of time before they learned how to manipulate them with hot buttons like abortion, gays, guns, xenophobia, misogyny, jew-baiting, or whatever. You can get people to vote against their interests time after time…and better, you can get them to think that those with their interests are heart are commies, idiots, un-patriotic, and worse.
Neither Obama nor Romney are mediocre. Both those guys are smart, both in IQ and in real world savvy . However, one is smart in how to extract the most power and money from the system, and the other is smart in how to get to power. Yet the ideas that the smart Romney must espouse in order to get elected include: deism, anti-evolution, anti women’s rights, pro Ayn Rand, pro income bimodal distribution, anti-equal rights for all including homosexuals. Those are some dumb ideas. Even smart candidates cannot espouse smart policy if they want to be elected.
moil – how the fuck did you dredge up this long dead thread?
“Ivy League education is an indication that you have none” –Wyoming Mike
Mike, when I fly over your state I often wonder what kind of bigots live below, and you’ve helped me understand. You dare insult me because I have an Ivy degree? Lemme suggest you set foot on an Ivy League campus some day before you mouth off. I’m sure they’d let you visit.
In life, I’m used to impressing people. I’m wealthy, and still have time to comment on blogs. I run two businesses, one is consulting, and people frequently hire me to explain their businesses to them. As I interact with people, I have a habit of surprising people with my depth of knowledge on science, technology, history, and logic. Then we might touch on the subject of how I speak Spanish at home 100% of the time, not because I have ANY Spanish ancestry…just because I wanted the challenge and to challenge my kids, who are native speakers now at ages 6 and 10 – of course, also fluent in English, of course. But I’m also completely fluent in French, having lived in France and Belgium for stretches in my youth. I came top percentile in a Physics test in high school, so I was started as a physics major, but ended up an economist, and I have an IQ of 145. I am no geek. I’m also pro-level certified ski instructor and play ice hockey twice a week, though I’m mid 40s.
I don’t brag like this in the real world, I just let knowledge speak for itself. But you bring my “smartness” into debate, so this is my rebuttal. And my bragging here is just to make a point. Since I’m posting anonymously, I get nothing from bragging. So here’s the point:
In my two year master program, despite the fact that I’m no loser myself, I WAS CONSTANTLY IMPRESSED, SURPRISED, AND HUMBLED BY THE HIGH QUALITY AND INTELLIGENCE OF MY CLASSMATES. Sure, a few were dumb ones, but most were not. When hanging out with a few friends, they would just keep surprising me. Walk pass a piano…one of them would sit down and bash out Rachmaninoff, then get up and pound three more beers. Discuss Africa?…one would then tell you that her time spent with the Tutsis in Rwanda during a stint in the Peace Corps taught her how the Hutus were merely reacting to fear of loss of control. Point is…she was there. The list goes on. Some had been Olympic skiers, professional poker players, news editors. Almost everyone had the smarts…and also something more.
It may be comforting for you, who was not admitted to a Ivy League school, to claim that we’re no smarter, no better. And sometimes that may be true. School selection isn’t a hard science and many brilliant people go to lesser schools. But in general, these schools are able to only accept the best and brightest candidates. Don’t be sour grapes.
So, my long screed, shortened, is STFU, you stupid. This article is talking about you.
Ilpoh – was searching for the Cornell research in question. Google gave me this link. Then…something on the Internet got me angry.
mo4g49.
Wouldnt your IQ be 145 without attending an ivey league snob fest?
moil – you will/may catch shit for your second response. For not liking to brag, you sure did a lot of it.
People do not understand the quality of the teaching and the quality of the students at Ivies – because they see a lot of dumbfucks from Ivies that have screwed the pooch at major institutions. Hard to blame them for that. I know a lot of serious asshats that came out of Ivies. Many grads are the typical “born with a silver spoon” types – and they have an incredible sense of self-entitlement.
I understand that. What they do not understand is the overall quality required to even get into the position of screwing the pooch – education/intelligence/experience. And when they fuck up, the fuck up big-time.
But you really need to keep it in perspective – there are a lot of Ivy grads out there that have distinguished themselves by crapping on the country. And it should come as no surprise that a great many would thus extrapolate that across the spectrum of Ivy grads.
Glad you are an achiever. World needs more of them. But too bad you are unable to empathize.
KB – maybe not. Education may well add to an IQ. At 145, he was more ore less high average at an Ivy. There are some seriously smart fucks running around those places. I was one of the top handful of math students from my state, and was in classes with some of the top handful of math students from NY state. Relatively speaking, I was a total moron. Those guys were capable of extreme abstract thought and visualization. Socially ackward, but smart as hell they were.
Bragging is something stupid people do.
Education may well add to an IQ. -llpoh
Im sure it can help some score higher on the intelligence tests. My point is that people are born with varying degress of intelligence and its not somethng that an Ivy degree created.
Did you know stupid people in Spain speak spanish?
Relatively speaking, I was a total moron.-llpoh
Got news for you buddy, nothing has changed.
Ivan, your like one of those shiny metal balls bouncing off the pinball bumpers.
Guess what moil?
You dont have to be best and brightest to take Ivey courses.
http://theweek.com/article/index/232522/virtual-princeton-a-guide-to-free-online-ivy-league-classes
CrazyIvan – you really are a stinking piece of shit. Nobody gives a fuck about you around here – you are the laughing stock, or haven’t you noticed? Go back and look at the responses to your comments on some of the old threads – either you get ignored or you get ridiculed for being an idiot. Just why is that? Simple – it is because you are truly an ignorant clueless moron. You seem to get your jollies from following me around and tossing some horseshit into the thread. Are you reeallly that much in love with me? Are you a homo, and have a man-crush? It must be something like that, because you hang on to my every word. I guess I should be flattered, but I have higher standards. What the fuck is wrong with you, anyway?
No one argues with you, because no one can figure out what you are saying. You are illiterate, barely can string two words together, and interject the most inane comments into a thread. You are not respected in any way – you are a nothing. You add nothing. You are incapable of adding anything.
eople cannot even get into a lather over anything you say, because it is of no consequence. The entirety of your contribution is an attempt to cause trouble. That is truly beneficial to everyone. You are not funny – too stupid for that. You do not provide anything educational – too stupid for that, too. You are not successful, so cannot enrich us with any of your experiences. You are not smart, so we get no insights. You are… nothing. How sad.
But the most amazing thing I have noted is just how much of a hypocrite you are. You are always happy to toss in a ridiculous opinion about what owners of business should do with their money, and how they should care for their employees. But, lo and behold, you then comment how you hire and fire an employee each year, as you are too greedy to pay them when you do not have enough work for them. you really must be proud of yourself.
Poor little CrazyIvan. I pity you.
Yeah Kill Bill, I know. But it’s kind of a physics thing.
KB – I guess I understood your point. It was the number I was talking about, although it is also somewhat possible that an educatio can actually make you smart (exercises the brain and all that – if you do not use it you lose it.) I agree with you re moil. He did himself no favors.
Nice CI analogy.
Also Kill Bill there is the entropy thing. You know – disorder from order.
But what really grabs my attention now is in the aftermath of llpoh’s discourse of wrath, is I realize how much easier it is to spin him up than even two days ago.
Fuck… I didn’t hardly say anything.
So I got the desired result with less work. This is called efficiency.
Stupidity is only a third of the problem.
To get the real picture you have to add a generous helping of both ignorance and meanness to the mix.
Yeah. Americans would be an awesome people if it weren’t for the widespread ignorance, stupidity, and meanness.
Also Kill Bill there is the entropy thing. You know – disorder from order. -CI
Ordo Ab Chao
Thesis + Anti-Thesis = Synthesis
Entropy is a thermodynamic property IIRC
I like Kill Bill. He isn’t the most articulate person who comments on this site, by which many may judge him, but ……. he fixes things, namely aircraft, if memory serves. I like people who can fix things, particularly airplanes, which can be an incredibly complex job. Never, EVER, judge a book by its cover.
Sincerely,
A Retired Air Force Pilot, SSS
Kill Bill asked: “Would IQ not also be high without an Ivy education.” Sure. But my point was that top schools get to select candidates that are proven commodities, polish them up a bit, and help them build a network of strong performers. Whether their grads are strong performers because of the original selection of because of the training is irrelevant to the question of whether these grads are strong or not (from Wyoming Mike). As I wrote “But in general, these schools are able to only accept the best and brightest candidates”
IPOH “For not liking to brag, you sure did a lot of it.” Wait. I never said I “don’t like to brag”. I said “I don’t brag like this in the real world.” Shit, I’d love the hell outta bragging — but nobody but my mom would ever want to listen. I mean, I wanted to get laid and have friends, yes? Bragging doesn’t get you any of that. I learned that lesson in primary school. But that aside, it was on point because Wyoming Mike brought the quality of Ivy grads into question, and I also used it to indicate that despite the fact that I am smart (but not a socially clumsy nerd type), I still was impressed and humbled by my classmates.
IPOH – “lot of Ivy grads out there that have distinguished themselves by crapping on the country” I get it. I know them. Lots of Ivy grads are asshats. They were also that way in school, believe me, I know. Impressive. Smart. But still asshats. Many went on to Wall Street to perfect their douchbaggery. But they *are* smart. And a small portion were obviously there on some grant program, or because their daddy made a big contribution. But most were there on merit.
Kill Bill – RE Princeton Online courses. Yeah, awesome. I understand that Stanford is also opening up courses for online study for everyone. And Khan Academy rocks. eLearning may mean that everyone has access to best-in-class education. It’s democratizing and it’s beautiful. Hey, it takes away part of my competitive advantage, but I’m all for it. I’d rather compete against a country full of well educated people than what we have today. Better training for everyone is fine by me.
The OP assumes we have a democracy. We don’t. We have a sort of mockery of a democracy that had a corporate oligarchy rise from within and taken it’s own power creating a society controlled by ownership.
It doesn’t matter who is the smartest. Intelligence is a very nebulous and situational concept, to begin with, and in our society the real decision makers are owners. It doesn’t matter if I’m the best at what I do, when my pay master tells me to do something, guess what I’m doing? Exactly. Why? Because I’m not the dumbass wh is going to lose his house.
Also, reinforcing the “intelligence is a very nebulous and situational concept”, I talk to dumbasses for a living. The most educated tend to be the most entitled, whiney, and unthinking people when you move outside their area of expertise. It’s like they can’t believe that there’s all sorts of things that are outside what they know that are every bit as complicated as what they know, and it puts them in terrible situations because they don’t have an adequate grasp of risk because “I’m a chemical engineer! How hard can jumping this 4 wheeler off this 6 foot dirt mound really be?” Or “I have a Doctorate in Political Science, and this mortgage maybe steep, but I’m smart enough to work it out.” They do dumb ass stuff, don’t realize the risk when they take it, and they wind up wasting big time resources of their own and everyone else on dumb indescretion.
Then there’s me. I’m no genius, but I’d be lying if I didn’t think I was smarter than the average bear, personally. I’m not rich, I don’t really plan on being so, but you could say I’ve gotten a lot more and kept a lot more than I should have for my age, especially considering where and when I live, because I’m cautious and I think long term. Still, I’m walking the exact same tight rope everyone else is. I’m cautious, but living is flat out a precarious situation right now. Situation and opportunity are all we got.
I think all the stupids of the world should really get hip about how worthless and expendable they are, and conspire to die en masse. Sure better than being a tortured and ridiculed slave, and maybe even a revolutionary act. And considering what’s in store for this society maybe a much more humane thing than the alternative which is to let it happen involuntarily.