# In which I defend stupid, ignorant people. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 11, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397 "2009-02-11T18:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/61 "2009-02-12T20:54:50Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Half of us will always be below average. Median, not average. Speaking of which, I’m way above the median according to tests – and have made a really long series of bad decisions. I don’t know the details of the women who let a criminal inject industrial silicone into their asses, but it sounds like they were obsessed with their appearances. Obsession, like addiction, tends to overwhelm reasoning powers. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/62 "2009-02-13T00:15:36Z")
> [@Ichini\_Sanshigo](#): > > “Good” isn’t an ethical judgment, it’s a value judgment. Ah _cofcof_ yes, very true. It doesn’t change my point, but my mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/63 "2009-02-13T01:02:17Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > There is a difference between “hasn’t yet developed the skills to live successfully in this society” and “can’t develop the skills to live successfully in this society.” > > You know what? Being either one of the doesn’t make you a bad, worthless, or immoral person. > > Maybe “refuses to develop the skills to live successfully in this society” does, but I’m not so insightful and all-knowing that I can make that judgment, especially about people I’ve only known through one newspaper story. > > Being unintelligent is a disability, just like any other. When someone gets run over by a truck because they are missing a leg and can’t outrun it, we don’t go “Well, that gimpy guy sure was one for Darwin! Another lame guy removed from the gene pool! By god, how can some people be so bad at walking? He shouldn’t even go outside if he can’t even outrun a truck. Thank god he didn’t have kids! What a piece of human garbage!” In a subsistence farming village, a stupid person is a liability. Not necessarily bad or immoral, but quite possibly worthless, or less than worthless. The stupid person, or disabled person, is taking food and other resources away from the others in the community. In a wealthy society, we can afford that. However, if a group of people is just scraping by, then they can’t afford to support dead weight. This is why ancient societies would expose deformed infants, and why the old people who could no longer work would voluntarily (or not so voluntarily) go off in the woods or an ice floe to die. If a disabled person was able to do something like carve, or otherwise make a contribution, s/he did the best e could, because doing otherwise WAS bad and immoral. Only rich societies are able to afford to keep people with severe disabilities alive. I should note, for the record, that my medical issues make me disabled, though I could make a contribution to an impoverished village, as I can do various handicrafts with quite a bit of skill. I can knit and crochet and sew and carve and do lots of stuff, and I have the capability and willingness to learn new skills. However, I’d probably have died about 30 years ago, from complications of pregnancy if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/64 "2009-02-13T01:24:29Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > No, but it’s “silicone” anyway. Oh. ☹ I knew I should have put my glasses on to read the instructions. Then again, we’ll see who’s laughing when my arse begins to reprogram the nuclear launch codes approximately 1024 seconds from now. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/65 "2009-02-13T01:28:31Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Honestly, it depends on how much damage was done (as John Stewart said when Dick Cheney shot his friend, comedy gold if he is only minorly hurt, tragic if he dies), > > If getting kicked in the nads weren’t funny, it wouldn’t be such a stock piece of comedy. Even small children laugh when Mike lands on his crotch in Monsters, Inc. I suspect its simply human nature - and while I try and nurture compassion for all my fellow human beings, I really can’t get too worked up about it when I fail, and since I’m human enough to fail, I get even less worked up about it when someone else fails. [QUOTE=Mel Brooks] “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” [/QUOTE] And that sums it up right there. ---
**Author:** ![AllWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AllWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllWalker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/66 "2009-02-14T02:18:38Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > Then again, we’ll see who’s laughing when my arse begins to reprogram the nuclear launch codes approximately 1024 seconds from now. Um… I think _everyone_ will be laughing when that happens. The laughing stops when your arse _finishes_ reprogramming the nukes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/67 "2009-02-14T13:54:29Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > No…in a sustenance farming village, you might be IGNORANT about farming. If you’re intelligent, you’ll probably be able to learn how to farm and all the associated skills. A stupid person will not be able to learn, or won’t learn very well. There’s a difference between stupidity and ignorance. Ignorance can be cured, with some effort. Stupidity is forever. I’m smart at computers, science, reading, creativity, and not smart at auto mechanics, plumbing, and gardening. I’ve put a lot of effort into learning auto mechanics but it no go. If you’re so smart explain that. edit: smart as compared to the average person. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397/68 "2009-02-14T14:09:35Z")
Excellent post, **even sven**. For me, this isn’t even about stupidity, it’s about the right of fellow humans to make poor decisions that have painful consequences and have their suffering recognized as valid. I really don’t give a shit whether a person’s suffering resulted from their own poor choices or from the abuse of another person – suffering is suffering. I don’t understand the Dope’s overwhelming tendency to declare that anyone who fucked up deserves to suffer. While I agree that our bad decisions, when we must fully face the consequences, teach us important lessons about future choices, I do not agree that we should be without mercy, without kindness, without compassion. I think the conclusion, ‘‘s/he had it coming’’ indicates a very narrow and pitiable perspective. Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes, and we all hurt from them. If people had kicked me to the curb when I was making my mistakes, I wouldn’t be nearly as productive or valuable to society as I am now. The only thing apathy (or malice) breeds is more apathy and malice. The whole purpose of existence is to be there for others and to have others be there for us. We are all the prodigal son. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-defend-stupid-ignorant-people/485397.md?page=3)