A Little Stupidity Goes a Long Way

“Stupid people should seek out other stupid people and restrict their communication to those individuals”. I first became aware of this bit of advice a number of years ago and regrettably, I get daily reinforcements of its simple wisdom. I don’t think it should become law though, but if somehow the message could get out, it sure would make conversation a lot easier for those of us who have taken the time to get an education and learn social graces.

In my formative years, my Dad, who was and is a great man in my eyes gave me continuous instruction concerning this very subject and unless he’s mellowed considerably without my knowledge, will not tolerate stupidity in any form.

So, what exactly is stupidity, especially in the context of my initial quote? Stupidity implies that the attributed party is not mentally retarded but rather is willfully ignorant and/or unintelligent, and displays poor use of judgment or insensitivity to nuances.

Being stupid does not mean a person has a low I.Q., or is mentally challenged in any way, as opposed to being an imbecile, a moron, or an idiot; terms used of old to denote levels of mental dementia. Sadly, these terms have lost their original meaning and are used carelessly in common conversation and truthfully, have lost all meaning. Folks will call someone an idiot for some reason and it means absolutely nothing. “George Bush is an idiot”. “My teacher is an idiot”. “That idiot kid of mine”! “My boss is an idiot”!

What stupid verbal garbage and total waste of audio bandwidth. An idiot is traditionally defined as the severest form of retardation, so is that what they are trying to communicate – I think not. The word stupid is a much better fit.

Stupid people reveal themselves by asserting uninformed strong opinions. They broadcast their stupidity by refusing to become educated on real facts and social graces. They go even further by publishing stupid and ignorant statements on public forums and get angry if anyone questions their “facts”. Their opinions and biased remarks are the result of inbred and rebellious anti-social tendencies and most of the time lack common courtesies necessary for social interaction. They charge in, where a reasonable and educated person would fear to tread.

They spew nonsense into conversation and social exchanges with crude insulting remarks, as if everyone is privy to their misinformation and in agreement, not having a clue that the group gets the impression their words and thoughts are uncouth and uncivilized. Many times they reveal themselves as stupid by delighting in base and vulgar talk, as if everyone were equally amused by its decadence. They pose questions which have no solution and demand an answer.

Unfortunately, those of us who read and post responses on the online local forums come in close contact with these stupid people every day. They have no sense of right or wrong, or social grace. An example is someone posts the loss of a loved one and the stupid poster replies that they were trashy and needed to die anyway. Fully half of the Forum agrees the person who died had their share of problems, but only the socially challenged stupid poster would ever voice it.

Our society has a way of dealing with people who regularly vomit caustic social intercourse – we ostracize and label them…and avoid them. The online Forums and Boards, as they are called, offer these stupid people a clown’s mask by hiding their identity. No one knows who they really are, so the stupid anti-social person feels free to insult anything and everything with impunity.

I am all for protecting the identity of honest posters by allowing anonymous log-in monikers, as it encourages the free exchange of information, but like all such liberties we enjoy, someone is going misuse it and this brings up another great quote:

“Freedom of speech might better serve the welfare of its citizenry if restricted to those individuals who understand and adhere to its limits”.

That last quote, like the first, is mine and I officially enter them, tongue planted firmly in my cheek, for your consideration. Can we get them added to a list of rules somewhere? It sure would make conversation (conversating in today’s vernacular) and the exchange of ideas a lot more pleasant.

The sad sad sad reality is the very people I am writing about, for the most part, are not reading this column. They couldn’t care less, so they will continue on, as before, spreading worthless, senseless and hurtful tripe; their paths strewn with victims and verbal litter.

My younger brother, T.J. Bustem once told me something I will never forget and it was after I complained about something hurtful I had read in an online forum. “Don’t waste your time on stupid people”.