Variations on a Theme of Stupidity

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." –Albert Einstein 

Disclaimer: The content in this blog post may at times stretch the truth, modify the truth, or be entirely fictional. It might be someone else's truth, stretched truth, or modified truth. It might not be anything at all.

Narration:

I was minding my own business, mindlessly browsing the internet, hoping my parents wouldn't mind that I was opting not to do the chores that I was assigned, when I happened across something that changed my entire worldview. It was a website that collected asinine and unintelligent things people write on facebook. I was shocked and addicted. I read it for hours. At the end of my journey of discovery, I was a different person. I had become someone who was cynical and angry, all because of what became very clear that night. Humans are fricking stupid. Like, really fricking stupid.

Description:

The teacher was a slightly overweight older man who was childish in the weirdest ways. He had an abnormal speaking cadence and had a hand puppet named "Mr. Hand" with which he had conversations while teaching. He decided that he was going to start the day with some new math problems for the class. He asked them "What is 5 times 2?" and was answered by unsure silence. He encouraged the children not to be shy and to give it their best shot. A kid in a red shirt named Clyde was suddenly enthusiastic, and was called upon. "Yes Clyde?" "Twelve?" Bonus points if you recognize where this is from.

Example:

I was calmly sitting in my US History class, in the front corner seat, closest to both the window and the teacher's desk. We were taking a test on the revolutionary war, or rather, some people were still taking the test, and others, including me, had already finished. I was working on homework when one of the people still taking the test went up to the teacher's desk to ask a question about the test. The question that she was asking about was the freebie question our teacher had put at the end of the test, asking who had won the revolutionary war. And this student didn't know. She was an American that had just sat through an entire unit on the revolutionary war and she didn't know whether or not we won.

Comparison/Contrast:

Don't be stupid about stupidity. That is, don't mistake things for stupidity that are not. Ignorance is not necessarily stupidity. Even for things that everyone knows by age 30, at the current U.S. birth rate 10,000 people learn these things every day. Don't ridicule someone for being one of today's 10,000. Apathy too is not necessarily stupidity. Whether or not you choose to care is independent of your intelligence. Stupidity is where ignorance and apathy meet. All of these things can appear to stupidity, but only judge true stupidity.

Process Analysis:

There are very few people that are beyond the point of no return regarding their stupidity; it is possible to improve. When trying to improve someone who has fallen into the pit of stupidity, there are two routes. You can fight their ignorance and hope their apathy is eliminated as a result, or fight their apathy and hope their ignorance is eliminated as a result. The latter seems to be the much better method, and it is used frequently by teachers. Show somebody why they should care, and they will then learn based on their own motivation.

Division of Analysis:

Stupidity is a broad term, comprising many different aspects. As elaborated on previously, stupidity is a combination of ignorance and apathy, that is, not knowing and not caring. Besides those elements, the main part of stupidity is a lack of intelligence. A lack of intelligence can have numerous effects worthy of ridicule, including but not limited to the complete inability to reason and/or the rejection of logic entirely, a dense mind impervious to all basic knowledge, and a tendency to make bad decisions.

Classification:

There are many different types of stupidity. There is quiet stupidity, where it is not obvious that a person is stupid. This stupidity is more excusable, and it is more sad than reprehensible. It begs for intervention and rehabilitation. There is also aggressive stupidity. This is when someone either knows they are stupid, and for some reason embraces it like it is positive and as a result shows it off to whoever is unfortunate enough to be near them, or when someone is so incredibly stupid that they think they are smart. The effect is the same as the other form of aggressive stupidity, but their observers have a little more pity and a little less hope.

Cause and Effect:

The stupidity that is seen in most humans is the unfortunate effect of a number of causes. One major cause is when kids learn it from their parents or other authority figures. When a culture of stupidity is the surroundings in which children grow up, many of these children are ruined intellectually. If a kid has parents that don't see education as a high priority and see reading as a waste of time, and then goes to school and has a biology teacher that says evolution is a liberal lie from Satan, they are unlikely to be an intelligent participant in society when they are an adult (But they still get to vote).

Definition:

Stupidity is not somebody holding a different opinion than you. Unless their opinion is stupid. Stupidity is not somebody simply being annoying. Stupidity is the lack of brainpower to be a positive contributor to society intellectually. It is almost always accompanied by a lack of understanding by the stupid person about the negative effects they have, which is  shown through their hostility when challenged by smarter people or a silly sense of pride about their lack of contributions.

Argument/Persuasion:

Due to our silly obligation to be polite, stupid people have been left to hurt our society unchallenged. This has to stop. Take a stand! When you see someone rattling off some bullshit that is obtrusively false, challenge them. When someone tries to berate you for displaying some intelligence ("lol u nerd, no1 carez if its 'technically correct' or not...") then make them recognize the absurd position they are taking. Anti-intellectualism is running rampant, and it's up to us to stop it. Good luck.

THIS BLOG POST TOOK SUCH A LONG TIME. IT WAS LONGER THAN THE GUIDED CRJ, EVEN. THAT'S LONG.