How dangerous is stupidity ?

[kentuck]

A good friend once said, "Stupidity can get you killed."

But what can you do once you're on the bus and you're going 70 mph down a crooked highway and you discover that the driver is drunk?

And what can you do once you've discovered that your profligate son-in-law has been in charge of your life's savings and that there is nothing left?

And what can we do when we discover that our nation is in the hands of incompetent and greedy people with no goal other than to enrich themselves and their friends?

Are we stupid or just unlucky victims?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. well, none of those things makes you stupid

so I cannot really answer your question in regard to the options you provided. The only one that comes close is the son-in-law one, but that is more gullability than stupidity.

But yes, stupidity can be deadly. Along the line of the bus-related question : In ATL several years ago, during one of our famous ice-storms here, one of our transit bus drivers (MARTA for those familiar with the area) was videoed going SIDEWAYS down Intersate85 at about 45 miles per hour (imagine a 20-ton bus trying to iceskate). THAT person was being stupid...and yes, it could have killed people. The poor passengers on the bus (if there were any) were just put in that situation...not out of their stupidity, but out of a desire to get from point a to point b.

sP

[kentuck]

2. So we are victims?

:)

[Speed8098]

4. Well.......If you believe the '04' election results

Bush: 51% (58,941,293):mad:
Kerry: 48% (55,353,453)
Nader: 0.3% (394,578)

Then yes, I'd say that 55,353,453 of us are victims.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. if you want a SIMPLE answer this early...

I would say yes...but, hey, you could still be stupid...how could I know??? :-)

Good morning!
subjectProdigal

[ixion]

3. the problem, IMO, is that it's a collective stupidity

there are always those among the herd that understand what's going on. Unfortunately, there's the herd. The masses have had roughly the same level of collective intelligence for thousands of years, relatively speaking. As such, we repeat the same events over and over and over.

We're not the first nation brought to it's knees by an idiot son. There have been many others, Rome not the least among them.

[izzie]

7. The madness is when the idiot son is voted in. I guess that

means the voters wanted what they got. And in this trip around the country Bush is talking to them and them alone. I wonder if these Right Wing Christians who love this guy have ever looked at what happens in a society that is ruled by Right Wing Religious nuts. From the Tali ban to the Puritans of 'The City on the Hill' most freedoms are lost.

[ixion]

13. yep... that's the herd mentality

people who are otherwise intelligent falling into a pattern of following (what appears to be) the majority -- that perception created part and parcel by the so-called 'liberal' media. :eyes:

[izzie]

15. Lets hope we do not get lost

We are not very old as a country and the thought seems to have passed on to the world and lets hope we will not see it go in your life time. In our history 'we the people' as the rulers has been short and still may not work.

[Minnesota Libra]

5. America collectively lowered its "ignorance" radar and .............

.....that collective ignorance:banghead: carries a hefty price:cry: and we are paying that price now.:grr: Oh, but people are FINALLY starting to wake up.:bounce:

[no_hypocrisy]

8. First, stupidity is only as dangerous as the decision being made.

Second, there is a difference between "ignorance" and "stupidity":

Ignorance is not knowing better and saying or doing something wrong.

Stupidity is knowing better and saying or doing something wrong anyway, that is, ignoring the knowledge, wisdom, and/or experience.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Dupe. Sorry.

[sendero]

10. I vacillate...

... on the one hand, I think Americans are a reasonably savvy bunch. I rationalize that we are given a lot of bad information, and most Americans don't have the time, or take the time, to find out what is really up.

On the other hand sometimes my attitude becomes more vindictive. I knew Bush** was a fraud from Day One. Forget his governorship here in Texas, his presidential campaign was nothing but a bunch of vapid feel-good slogans, all of which have turned out to be blatant lies. I knew they were lies, why did so many people get taken in?

I think America is suffering from massive complacency. The fire, the desire to do better, the willingness to take the right risks - these things made America great. These things came about as a result of enduring tough times and hard challenges. But the generations that comprise most of the population now have never really had a tough time or a serious challenge. Simply put, as a country we've gone soft. Everyone takes the things our fathers and grandfathers worked their asses to get for granted.

That is about to be over. America is on an economically unsustainable path right now, and there seems to be no way to stop the bus, even if the Average American had the cognizance and the will to do so. We are headed for hard times. And the only good thing about it is IF we survive, we will, as a people, once again understand how fragile REAL democracy and a REAL economy is.

[warrior1]

12. This happens

http://images.google.com/url?q=

[hobbit709]

11. Heinlein said it

"Stupidity is the only universal capital crime. And sentence is carried out immediately, with no hope of appeal."

[OneBlueSky]

14. Albert Einstein said . . .

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity -- and I’m not sure about the former."