On suffering fools gladly

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Of course, this trashes about half of my rants.

How about stupidity itself, as opposed to individuals or groups in particular?

Also, I am on the fence over this example:

"We, through our own stupidity, are making our planet uninhabitable."

I think that's valid. It's certainly not SMART to be making our planet uninhabitable.

So, saying it in proper context is okay.  "That fool was texting while he was driving, and knocked the ass end off of my car."  In this case, the person WAS a fool.  Same with "The stupid bastard didn't isolate the circuit before he jammed a screwdriver into the panel".

And yeah, your earlier post is right on the money.  Mean is cool, stupid is the victim.

But I get the impression (and I could be really wrong here) that what's on your arse is useless fuckers sitting around complaining that the world is fucked because of stupid people, and that's why they can't get a job/write the great American novel that will expose the alienation inherent in the system, etc.

I see that, every time I log into HFT.  A huge pack of freaks, all sitting around crying that their brilliant social engineering ideas would be AWESOME if people weren't too stupid (or "sheep") to recognize their genius.

Yeah, it's not about calling someone a fool for doing a foolish thing, or being mad because a bunch of people are doing something stupid. It's the smug superiority of "I hate stupid people", because it assumes that stupidity is a character flaw that makes people of less value, and that the speaker is immune from being stupid.

Stupid is situational, and we all do it. Some people are also less smart than others, and that is not so much a character flaw as luck of the draw. Some people are meaner than others, and that is a character flaw.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

"Good thing WE'RE not stupid like all the humans!  HAW HAW!"

Exactly.

[Dildo Argentino]

At university, I think actually in my first ever tutor review, my tutor, a grand dame of cognitive science if ever there was one, put "Doesn't suffer fools gladly" on my report sheet. Being the arrogant young person I was, I naturally took this as something of a compliment, and said so when I went to discuss my report in person. Usually a smiley, chatty person even in her philosophy tutorials, she adopted a very serious stance and tone and gave me a proper bollocking, explaining very clearly that in her opinion, not suffering fools gladly was not the mark of genius but a character flaw. I felt shamed and cowed and of course did not agree with her, but kept that to myself. I now agree with her. If I was stupid enough to maneuver myself into a situation in which I need to suffer a fool (interact with a person who is being wilfully and unconsciously irrational due to prior baggage they are entirely clueless about), I can bloody well do it gladly. I can then be more careful the next time.

There is an exception: when dealing with coercive authorities, fuming about the stupidity of the drones I am forced to do business with is quite alright.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Nigel, I'm going to revise my statement.

The best way to say it is:

"I hate stupid people.  However, the individuals making up the population of stupid people may vary from time to time and issue to issue.  It will often include myself."

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

Our generation seems to be steeped in this sort of shit.

I can remember as early as Junior High being at school dances where none of the "hip" kids would actually dance until something like New Kids on the Block came on. It was very not cool to put yourself out there unless you were making fun of something.

The cute thing is how self-perpetuating that is. The more energy we put into "suffering fools" the more we build the insecurity about being the fool the more we have to put energy into "suffering fools" to assure ourselves that we are not, in fact, the fool in question.

Every act of elitist mockery is isolating. Isolated we are insecure. Insecure we seek to cover it up with elitist mockery.

-or-

Being a dick we become pussies. Being a pussy we become dicks.

--

ALSO -- What ever happened to the "Mean People Suck" bumper stickers/t-shirts, etc...there was a time when that was a cool, wasn't there?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Every act of elitist mockery is isolating.

Tell me about it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Nigel, I'm going to revise my statement.

The best way to say it is:

"I hate stupid people.  However, the individuals making up the population of stupid people may vary from time to time and issue to issue.  It will often include myself."

Upon further reflection, I'm drifting off the dictionary definition of "stupid" again.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Nigel, I'm going to revise my statement.

The best way to say it is:

"I hate stupid people.  However, the individuals making up the population of stupid people may vary from time to time and issue to issue.  It will often include myself."

Upon further reflection, I'm drifting off the dictionary definition of "stupid" again.

Some people are stupid, in the sense that their power of reasoning is deficient. These people are, in the dictionary sense, fools. All people do stupid things, in the sense that their power of reasoning is temporarily or situationally impaired. When they do, these people are, in the dictionary sense, foolish.