I’ve read several articles that raise the question whether people in general are less intelligent today than in the past. I actually like the phrase “more stupid” as it gets more to the core of the issue but the question raised is one that should not be taken lightly. On an individual basis there is no doubt that there are many more smart people today than in the past. One need only look around at the conveniences of daily living we enjoy to see there are obvious signs that there are many out there who have put their education and native intelligence to work. But the bigger issue is society in the US as a whole. There is thought that with the proliferation of many modern technologies, there is less to stress and exercise the brains of most people. Just look at the result of the use of calculators. Watch a lot of cashiers work out change when you provide the challenge of giving them extra coin so you get back a whole bill. Something is missing. People have gotten lazy as there is less to work at. That too adds to stupidity as a brain unexercised doesn’t grow. Now I don’t need to see large scientific studies to prove this – just look around. Lazy and stupid aren’t too far apart on the continuum of human conditions.

First example – the blizzard that just hit the Northeast. Seems that despite the rather advanced warnings, there were many in Long Island who figured they knew better that everyone else and took their cars out for some reason that only they can probably make sense of. Now, I know that New Yorkers are smarter than most of the rest of us and are much more experienced and worldly (they always seem quick to make it clear that they know more than those of us that don’t live or haven’t lived in New York) but in looking at the number of vehicles that figured they could traverse the blizzard based no doubt on their superior intelligence, let alone vastly better driving skills, I offer up the following picture.

What do you mean I can’t get my car thru here? It has FWD.

So bad enough that they are that stupid to go out and get quickly stuck, most of them ended up abandoning their cars causing other issues with getting roads cleared or put emergency workers at personal risk when they had to go out to rescue them from their own stupidity. My suggestion would be that any vehicle that was abandoned be picked up and immediately brought to a junk yard to get crushed and recycled. My guess is that those individuals would be a little less stupid next time around.

I do believe that stupidity is our biggest problem at the moment. It invades most every other issue and it is the common denominator across most every situation where anyone who can actually think looks up and scratched their head and says “WTF”. Stupidity hides itself in many ways and is core to many other shortcomings people consistently demonstrate. I have to believe that if you are a Tea Party member, stupidity is at the core. And admitting it is just one more piece of evidence. If you can today still take the stance there is no reason for further control of guns in our country, your proclamation of patriotism and 2nd amendment rights is a cover for stupidity.

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” – Albert Einstein

Just look at the current political landscape. A lot of stupid people in politics – the likes of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz demonstrate that quite nicely. But we also can’t ignore those who actually felt the urge to vote them into office. So without stupidity, many of our politicians would not get elected, let alone be able to take the political stance they do. While I think the Republicans have it down pat (one of our current favorite phrases is from Bobby Jindal where he called on the Republican Party to “stop being the stupid party” – and they still don’t get it), the Democrats aren’t without their share.

To a great extent I think organized religion and most “devout” religious belief is steeped in stupidity – not in whether one believes or even what they believe but that most of these assholes feel they have to have the rest of us live in the same aura of stupidity and bow to the same inane beliefs. Hey – you don’t want to take birth control, fine, but keep it in your own family – and by the way, the likelihood is your son or daughter is out there screwing around anyhow. And by the way, at least 1 in 5 of you have a gay son, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin, mother, father…pay attention – but then again, you are stupid.

Most prejudice is about stupidity. And there is a lot of that going around. I think the Boy Scouts of America are clearly a beacon of demonstrated stupidity. To think that they are upholding a more “moral” standard by discriminating against gays is monumental stupidity. They have enough moral challenge when it comes to patrolling their own ranks of child molesters. Another level of moral question when one looks at the effort to cover it up – more stupidity to think they could actually get away with it. Only to be outdone by the Catholic Church – but that is a another whole story.

Future Leaders of our country?
credit: http://m3foto.tumblr.com

And speaking of Boy Scouts, that shitbag of a human being, Ricky Santorum managed to squeeze into the public eye again as he felt it important to identify another area where he could help report the demise of old and prejudice opinions as he continued his assault on gays – concerned the BSA was abandoning the “founding moral principles that nurture boys into men”. BSA and morals in one sentence is a problem to begin with – having Santorum in your corner doesn’t speak to mainstream longevity.

Ricky with what he thought was a new Ipad 4.

“The wise understand by themselves; fools follow the reports of others” – Tibetan Proverb

Lastly, I did want to share a few experiences that I had recently that brought it home very clearly to me the level of stupidity we are dealing with out there. The first occasion was when I stopped by our local township office to make a “Right to Know” request. I had asked for an organization chart of all our public employees indicating all reporting relationships. As the woman at the desk reviewed my form, she very seriously asked “Why do you need to know who is related to who in the organization”? I will say I managed to keep a relatively straight face as I explained the concept behind the term reporting relationships – maybe I’m expecting too much but really?

Lastly, while getting an order from the deli counter in our local supermarket, I asked for 1/3 of a pound of turkey breast – yes, 1/4 was too little and 1/2 was too much but I digress. As I watched the deli guy get my order, I overheard him ask another deli guy how much 1/3 of a pound was. I was even more amazed at that point that he was actually allowed to operate the deli slicer and that he had all his fingers intact.

End of it all, stupid takes a lot of forms – I recognize that some people are doing their best but the vast majority of stupid is there because of laziness and an unwillingness to think. Unfortunately, I don’t see it getting much better.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. – Martin Luther King Jr.