# I have seen what madness lies ahead, and it is pure, unadulterated stupidity. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 8, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574 "2004-09-08T01:02:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/41 "2004-09-12T12:34:15Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Well, no one ever said that _smart_ people applied to enter the military 😃 :: dazed look of stunned enlightenment :: My word! That could explain a _lot_. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/42 "2004-09-12T12:40:41Z")
If there are any Dopers smarter than General Franks or General Schwarzkopf, I haven’t heard from them yet. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/43 "2004-09-12T15:55:35Z")
I just need to add that no one should be allowed out of high school without reading _Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds_. That would at least cut down some on the number of nutjobs out there. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/44 "2004-09-12T17:42:57Z")
> [@pantom](#): > > I just need to add that no one should be allowed out of high school without reading _Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds_. That would at least cut down some on the number of nutjobs out there. While I agree with your basic premise, I must point out a problem (or two). Merely requiring that HS graduates _read_ said book (or something similar) will not cut down on the nutjob population; but requiring that they _comprehend_ it will cram our high schools with 45 year old knuckledraggers. The sad truth is, sometimes you just can’t win. But that doesn’t mean that the good fight shouldn’t be fought—which is why we’re here. isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/45 "2004-09-13T20:55:56Z")
I was in the grocery checkout line and saw the WWN headline, “November elections cancelled, voting machines made in FLORIDA!!!” I got a chuckle from it and hear the guy behind me state the headline. I was about to turn and say something like, “they reall come up with some whoppers.” when he said “yeah, them Bush brothers are something else. It’s all because of the hurricane you know.” I realized he was dead serious and believed the headline. We’re doomed. The following day I saw one of those refrigerators with a TV built into the door. $3,000 at Fry’s. That clinches it. This is why the Roman empire fell. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/46 "2004-09-13T22:23:32Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > One of my fellow airmen was showing the infamous Flash movie that “shows” that the Pentagon [was not hit](http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pentagon.html) by Flight 77 on September 11th. [This](http://www.freedomunderground.org/memoryhole/pentagon.php#Main)? Anyone familiar with the DC Sniper case knows that witnesses are not entirely infallible. White van? What white van? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574/47 "2004-09-14T03:47:07Z")
About twenty or twenty-five years ago, it was people who accepted the Warren Report who were largely considered by “critical thinkers” to be the ones wearing the tinfoil hats. The current trend to dismiss other possibilities is probably an over-reaction to Oliver Stone’s junk movie that threw in _every_ possibility as if it were true. If you put the _possibility_ that someone else was involved besides Oswald into the same category as we-really-didn’t-land-on-the-moon thinking and the belief that an airplane didn’t hit the Pentagon, then your hat needs some fine tuning also. Young whippersnappers… 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-seen-what-madness-lies-ahead-and-it-is-pure-unadulterated-stupidity/263574.md?page=2)