# The laws of stupidity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 26, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689 "2001-10-26T01:55:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ThunderBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThunderBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThunderBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/21 "2001-10-27T00:04:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lumpy \* > \*\*Stupid is Cupid’s retarded younger brother. Cupid shoots people in the heart with his arrows and makes them fall in love; Stupid shoots people in the head with his arrows and makes them do something stupid. \*\* That image is just so cool. I love it! But to tweak it just a little bit: Stupid shouldn’t use arrows. Arrows have too much finesse. He needs something more… blunt. I think a club would be much more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/22 "2001-10-27T00:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*Forget about someone’s IQ. How about a CSQ (common sense quotient - a score of 100 being average). A sign would be required on the inside of everyone’s front door, “If your CSQ is less than 100, you may not go outside unless accompanied by someone whose CSQ is 100 or above.” \*\* Minor quibble - I would not consider the average person’s CSQ to be adequate, considering the incredibly stupid things the average person does. Maybe some kind of system where the one person in 10 (WAG here) that actually uses their common sense is responsible for 9 others? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/23 "2001-10-27T00:44:55Z")
> [@](#): > > No offense intended, Dave, but this could mean that high schoolers are much stupider than they used to be. (That would go to the “stupidity is constantly increasing” rule.) I know what you’re saying, and I admit that parental discipline might be slipping overall, but people in general can’t be getting stupider on average. Actually, people have much more ability to encounter ideas, words, and concepts now than they did even in my dad’s childhood in the 40s and 50s. The clincher to this is that it only stands to reason that high schoolers aren’t entirely able to understand these publications I mentioned. The L.A. Times is written by very educated and practiced adults, many of whom have been working at this world-class publication for longer than these kids have been alive. There’s a reason that they call it an 11th-grade reading level. It’s not an adult one. The adults writing the Times are writing essentially for other college-educated adults. They hope to impress award committees. They want to feel that they are using their skills to the best of their abilities. So, while the grammar may suffer in the puff pieces of Newsweek (really, don’t get me started on the sentences that somehow lack verbs), the vocabulary and number of Shakespeare references remain high. I quote from the current N: “(He) has established himself as Europe’s most idiosyncratic author.” “(This musical has) more camping than at a Boy Scout jamboree.” I absolutely guarantee that the VAST majority of high schoolers could not adequately explain either of these phrases. I just last week had to explain “idiosyncrasy”, and no one in the room had even a guess as to its meaning. You may now return to the un-hijacked portion of your thread. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/24 "2001-10-27T06:13:29Z")
Everyone will do something incredibly stupid at least once in their life. But some people will live their whole life without ever once doing something incredibly intelligent. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/25 "2001-10-27T08:24:35Z")
**Stupidity is the building block of the universe.** ---
**Author:** ![DarkJudicator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@DarkJudicator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkJudicator)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/26 "2001-10-27T09:06:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Malchats \* > **Stupid people breed more prolifically than intelligent people. That’s why the world is doomed: eventually, the stupid people will overwhelm the intelligent constructions of human society through the weight of sheer numbers.** [Harvey Danger] Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding…[/Harvey Danger] **Stupid creates its own fields, like magnetism.** Case in point 1) Even people of above average intelligence, when confronted with a “wet paint” sign, will have an irresistible urge to confirm what the sign tells them. “Gee, that sign says the paint’s wet… _poke_ hey, it is too.” Case in point 2) Every entry point in the universe, no matter how clearly marked, will inevitably cause people to attempt to open it the wrong way. Just sit somewhere with a clear view of a door with PULL written on it in big bold black letters and watch how many people try to PUSH it open. (like that old Far Side comic… hehe.) ---
**Author:** ![Slip\_Mahoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Slip\_Mahoney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slip_Mahoney)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/27 "2001-10-27T13:04:18Z")
There ought to be a law against stupidity. Call it the Stupid Law. If you do something stupid in front of a witness, you have to give him ten bucks. That would smarten a lot of people up. Imagine waking up in the morning and saying, "Man, what the hell was I thinking? The elevator button was lit, the elevator was coming down, and I go and press the freaking button. Thank God there were only four of them. But still, fourty bucks down the drain, Good thing that law was enacted _after_ I called those bikers at the end of the bar a bunch of sissies. That would have cost a fortune. Wait, it did cost a fortune. Well, I’ve got medical coverage now. I’m learning." ---
**Author:** ![Badge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Badge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badge)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/28 "2001-10-27T15:32:57Z")
**The difference between genius and stupidity is that there is an upper limit to genius.** ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/29 "2001-10-27T16:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > \*\*There is no instruction so clear, obvious and simple that at least 10% of people will mis-understand, and not do the thing they are supposed to do. \*\* OTOH, no matter how many people fail to understand an instruction, there will always be resistance to revising the instruction. Someone will dig in his/her heels and say, “It’s perfectly clear. They _ought_ to understand it.” One reason why problems don’t get solved is that stupid people are convinced that _shouldn’t exist_ is the same as _doesn’t exist_ – and if the problem doesn’t exist, it doesn’t have to be solved. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/30 "2001-10-27T16:35:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Malchats \* > \*\*This is not exactly a law, just an observation: > > Stupid people breed more prolifically than intelligent people. That’s why the world is doomed: eventually, the stupid people will overwhelm the intelligent constructions of human society through the weight of sheer numbers. > > Enjoy it while you can. \*\* To whatever extent this is true, it’s because a child raised by stupid parents tends to turn out stupid. Stupidity perpetuates itself. This can go on for generations. But pick individuals from, say, 100 different stupid families, secretly clone them at birth, place the clones with intelligent adoptive parents, and watch the results. I predict that the adoped children will will grow up with wildly various intelligence levels. Some will be just as smart as their adoptive parents – potential that had been lying fallow for generations will have finally been realized. But absent such an experiment, it is very difficult to determine which stupid people have fulfilled a low potential, and which have failed to fulfull a higher one. ---
**Author:** ![BoiToi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d26b3c/32.png) [@BoiToi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoiToi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/31 "2001-10-27T16:41:26Z")
I hear this at a party last night, thought it was applicable: **God must really love stupid people, he made so many of them!** ---
**Author:** ![ThunderBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThunderBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThunderBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2001, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689/32 "2001-10-27T17:01:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hazel \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by ianzin \* > > \*\*There is no instruction so clear, obvious and simple that at least 10% of people will mis-understand, and not do the thing they are supposed to do. \*\* > > OTOH, no matter how many people fail to understand an instruction, there will always be resistance to revising the instruction. Someone will dig in his/her heels and say, “It’s perfectly clear. They _ought_ to understand it.” > > One reason why problems don’t get solved is that stupid people are convinced that _shouldn’t exist_ is the same as _doesn’t exist_ – and if the problem doesn’t exist, it doesn’t have to be solved. \*\* So you’re saying that stupidity perpetuates itself. I like that. Or in other words: Knowledge may be fleeting, but stupidity lingers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-laws-of-stupidity/89689.md?page=1)